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Historic Timeline
“Eighty miles up from our river from Jamestown I have surveyed a convenient, strong, healthie and sweete site to plant a new towne.”
- Sir Thomas Dale
1607
A group of approximately 250 Virginia Indians, known as Arrohateck, live near the area now occupied by Henricus Historical Park. They are part of the Powhatan Chiefdom whose population exceeds 13,000 in coastal Virginia. Sir Christopher Newport explores the James and Appomattox rivers five days before Jamestown is settled, along what are now Chesterfield County’s borders.
1611
In September 1611, the English settle on a bluff on the James River, about 80 miles upriver from Jamestown. Sir Thomas Dale, the leader of the expedition, names it “Henricus,” in honor of Henry, Prince of Wales, and builds a fort with extensive palisades.
1612
Coxendale is established on the southern bank of the James. It grows to include five smaller forts, the first hospital and Reverend Whitaker’s parsonage, Rocke Hall. Mount Malady is established at Henricus as the first hospital in the New World.
1613
Pocahontas, reportedly one of Chief Powhatan’s favorite children, is captured by Captain Samual Argall. Initially, she is taken to Jamestown and subsequently is taken to Henricus. She is cared for, and instructed in Christianity, by Rev. Alexander Whitaker. Pocahontas converts to Christianity, is baptized and takes the Christian name Rebecca.
1614
Dale goes to war against the Appamatuck tribe south of Henricus and settles in some of their property, naming this area Bermuda Hundred. It is incorporated as a town and there begins the first system of private land ownership. The first successful tobacco crop is cultivated by John Rolfe and tobacco ensures the economic survival of the colony. Pocahontas meets, and is courted by, John Rolfe, whom she marries in April. The Peace of Pocahontas forges a treaty between the English and the Powhatan Indians.
1616
Pocahontas travels to England with her husband and infant son Thomas to meet King James. While there, she contracts an illness, possibly tuberculosis or smallpox, and dies at the age of 22. She is buried in Gravesend, England.
1617-21
English colonists receive land grants and begin independent plantations. The increased numbers of settlers, poor crops and increased evangelical efforts, rekindle the Indians’ fear of the English. When Opechancanough becomes chief in 1618, the stage is set for renewed hostilities. Small Indian raids begin upon the settlers and Opechancanough gathers support from other tribes. Former Virginia Governor George Yardley and Governor Francis Wyatt try diplomacy to resolve the issues to no avail. The first 20 Africans arrive in Virginia in 1619.
1619
The Virginia Company of London charters the first college in the New World to offer higher learning to both colonists and Indians. Also, good bog iron was found along Falling Creek in 1608 and construction of the first industrial ironworks in the New World begins in 1619 when about 150 ironworkers and their families arrive.
1620
On Good Friday, March 22, the treaty signed between Indians and the English ends when the Powhantans attack throughout the Virginia colony. The ironworks are destroyed and almost 60 are killed including women and children. Henricus is severely damaged, and most of the settlers in Bermuda Hundred are slain or wounded. Recovery is slow after the Indian attacks and King James revokes the Virginia Company’s charter in 1624.
1635
The first Africans are brought to Bermuda Hundred by landowners Francis Epps and Thomas Harris.
1663
Swift Creek Mill is built by Henry Randolph, who acquires a large tract of land in Bermuda Hundred on Swift Creek in 1655. Randolph was born in England and migrated to Virginia about 1640. It is believed to be the oldest grist mill in the country.
1688
Bermuda Hundred town plan denotes the central square as the slave market.
1700
Westward expansion begins when 100,000 acres along the James River are given to the Huguenots, peaceful religious refugees from France. Their settlement, Manakin Town, is located at the site of a former Monacan Indian town. During this period the Monacans and other Indian tribes traded with the settlers. In 1701, coal is found near the town. It is used locally for many years before being commercially mined in 1709, the first commercially-mined coal in the New World.
1749
The House of Burgesses establishes Chesterfield County, naming it after Philip Dormer Stanhope, the 4th Earl of Chesterfield. Stanhope is an English statesman, essayist and philanthropist.
1749-50
Attempts to rebuild Falling Creek Ironworks fail before Archibald Cary establishes a furnace and foundry at the site. Iron is produced until the site is converted to a grist mill.
1770
Francis Eppes VI, Thomas Jefferson’s brother-in-law, builds a Georgian-styled plantation, Eppington, along the Appomattox River. Jefferson is a frequent visitor who praises Eppes as the "nation’s first horticulturalist." In 1782, after the death of his wife, Jefferson leaves his youngest daughters Maria (Polly) and Lucy, and some of the Monticello slaves at Eppington Plantation during his appointment as minister to France.Lucy dies in 1784 at age two of whooping cough and is buried at there. Polly marries Francis Eppes’ son, John.
1774
Baptist preachers imprisoned a Chesterfield County court house.
1795
Bosher’s Dam near Bon Air is the first large multipurpose dam in Virginia.
1784-1786
Salisbury, a one-and-a-half-story frame house with two asymmetrical brick chimneys, is built by Thomas Mann Randolph. Patrick Henry leases Salisbury and lives there while governor of Virginia, 1784-1786.
1791
President George Washington visits Chesterfield County at Manchester and Osborne’s Landing.
Time of the Revolutionary War in Chesterfield County Leading to Yorktown
1743
A tavern and inn called the Half Way House is built on a grant of land from George II of England, by a patent dated 1743. As stop for the Petersburg Coach, all travelers going south of Richmond stop here until the late 19th century. Among its guests are George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson.
1750
The first county courthouse is built, which plays a key role as a recruitment and training center for the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
1775
Coal from Mid-Lothian Mines is used to make American cannons at Westham, located eight miles downstream from Richmond.
1779
- Richmond become the Capital of Virginia.
- Convention prisoners arrive from the Battle of Saratoga. Barracks and prisons at Chesterfield Courthouse.
1780
- Convention prisoners are sent to New York.
- Gen. Peter Mulenburg sets up a recruiting post at Chesterfield Courthouse. He sends 3,000 men to South Carolina in August, 500 on Sept. 3 and 3,000 on Sept. 25.
- Dec. 2 – British General Benedict Arnold arrives in the Chesapeake Bay with 27 ships, 300 British Infantry and Simcoe’s Rangers, the 78th Highland Regiment.
- Dec. 4 – Baron Von Steuben assumes command of the 600 men in the courthouse camp. The courthouse was the home of the Chesterfield Training Depot or “Continental Barracks” where huts for 2,000 men were erected in late 1780. The site was chosen over Petersburg for its cleaner environment and superb drill grounds. Almost all the Continental or state soldiers trained here were sent to the Southern Army under General Gates, but then General Greene. The Chesterfield Depot was a training center, supply center, and hospital
1781
- Jan. 2 – Governor Jefferson call out the Militia, half go to Petersburg and half to Westham. Continentals are sent to Manchester.
- Jan. 4 – Arnold lands at Westover, marches 33 miles unopposed before camping.
- Jan. 5 – Gen. Arnold enters Richmond and the Militia flee and Jefferson escapes to Manchester. Arnold burns the tobacco warehouses and the gun foundry at Westham is destroyed.
- Jan. 6 – The British return to Westover, damage Berkley Plantation and free slaves.
- Jan. 10 – The British leave Westover and sail down the James, looting as they go.
- Jan. 10 – Hoods Landing – British fight with militia commanded by George Rogers Clark Cobham. They seize 60 hogsheads of tobacco and plunder Smithfield.
- Jan. 19 – Gen. Arnold proceeds to Portsmouth for winter quarters.
- Feb. 25 – 400 Continental soldiers are sent to South Carolina. By March, there are 2,000 in camp at Chesterfield Courthouse.
- March 14 – The Marquis de Lafayette arrives at Yorktown, troops left in Annapolis, Md.
- March 20 – British Major General William Phillips arrives at Portsmouth with 32 ships and 2,000 men.
- April 1 – The British assault Alexandria.
- April 18 – British General Simcoe’s Rangers assault Williamsburg.
- April 24 – General Phillips assaults Petersburg.
- April 25 – Battle occurs at Blandford Church with 2,300 British Infantry versus 1,000 American Militia. Americans are forced to withdraw after two hours, burning Pocahontas Island Bridge as they pull back to Chesterfield. The British burn 4,000 hogsheads of tobacco and several ships. “We marched up to Petersburg arriving late in the night. The next day, a detached party was ordered to the General’s Quarters at Blandford. The British had landed at Hood’s Fort. General Muhlenberg and his aids mounted their horses and off they went –saw them no more that day. They (the Militia) then marched to a certain hill and formed a line for battle when the British came in sight. We took off our hats, gave three or four “huzzas” and then were ordered to fire on them. We fired four rounds and were ordered to retreat in action and then marched from Petersburg to Chesterfield Courthouse.” (Private William Goode April 1781)
- April 25 - The Battle of Blandford (Petersburg) was a good showing by the Virginia Militia under General Muhlenberg. General von Steuben commands all the forces to march deeper into Chesterfield county leaving everything to Gen. Phillips and Gen. Arnold. Steuben’s Militia and Continentals reform at the Midlothian coal mines
- April 26 – Gen. Arnold burns Port Walthall.
- April 26 (27?) – Gen. Phillips takes half of the British forces and attacks Chesterfield Courthouse, destroys Branders Bridge, Goodes Bridge and Bevils Bridge. He burns the barracks, courthouse, jail, 300 barrels of flour and destroys several homes.
- April 27 - Arnold takes the other half of the forces, finds and engages the entire Virginia State Navy at Osborne’s Landing. He defeats the Navy.
- April 29 – Lafayette arrives in Richmond with his Corps of Light Infantry from the Main Army just in time to stop Phillips and Arnold.
- April 30 – British troops under Benedict Arnold burn Warwick, an important 18th-centur James River port and manufacturing center. During the Revolutionary War, its craftsmen made clothing and shoes, and its mills ground flour and meal for the Continental troops. Arnold also destroys ships, warehouses, mills, tannery storehouses and ropewalks, much of which is owned by Col. Archibald Cary, of the Chesterfield Battalion. Arnold then surprises the Virginia Navy at Osborne’s Landing in the old river channel by Farrar’s Island. The American fleet, consisting of 20 ships, is no match for the cannon fire from the river banks and Commander James Maxwell orders the Americans to retreat.
- April 30 – The combined British forces attack Manchester, burning warehouses and 1,200 hogsheads of tobacco. Lafayette arrives with Continental troops and occupies Richmond. The British withdraw to Osborne’s Landing.
- May 2 – The British withdraw down river, plundering as they go.
- May 7 – The British reoccupy Petersburg to wait for General Cornwallis to arrive. The Americans re-destroy the bridge and bombard the British with cannon from Colonial Heights.
- May 15 – Gen. Phillips dies of a fever and is buried at Blandford Cemetery.
- May 20 – Gen. Cornwallis arrives and assumes command of the British forces. 1,500 British soldiers arrive from New York. There are 7,000 Continentals in Virginia. The Virginia government withdraws to Charlottesville.
- May 20 – Lafayette moves his army around Richmond and eastern Henrico, mostly at Wilton, keeping the James River between his army and Cornwallis, who arrived in Petersburg. Colonel Robert Goode moves his local militia across the James River and allows his Chesterfield companies, and others, to safeguard (or ambush) Cornwallis’ foragers.
- May 23 – Battle of Sudbury’s Farm was Chesterfield’s Bloodiest Day of the War with 60 casualties. Lafayette wrote, “…profiting by the heavy rain which rendered the Centinnels Arms unfit to fire, and having intercepted the Videtts, surprised a party of militia in Chesterfield about 2 Miles SW of Colonel Cary’s Mill.” One militiaman wrote, “…we were kept between the enemy and our Army (a forlorn hope indeed) until Colonel Tarlton came…” Militiaman John Johnston wrote, “with one hundred sixty men went to the Brittish lines, was attacked by Colonel Tarleton Troop of Horse, a severe battle was fought in which we lost sixty men taken prisoners and killed altogether, I myself escaped by charging baonets together with my fellow soldiers breaking through the British Horse and running for our lives…”
- May 23 – General Banastre Tarlton’s British Legion dragoons raid Chesterfield Courthouse and captures militia troops during a rain storm. Six are killed and 40 become prisoners. This action marks the last Revolutionary War combat in the county.
- May 24 – Gen. Cornwallis launches his campaign to attack and destroy Lafayette. Americans evacuate Richmond and withdraw north. The British pursue them to the North Anna River and then Fredericksburg.
- May 30 – Gen. Simcoe leads an assault against Point of Fork and defeats Stueben. Tarleton assaults Charlottesville and almost catches Jefferson at Monticello.
- June 7 – The British Army advances to Elk Hill and Lafayette retreats to South Anna River.
- June 10 – The Americans are re-enforced by the arrival of General Anthony Wayne with 800 Pennsylvania Continental Line troops.
- June 10 – The British forces withdraw from Elk Hill, at a leisurely pace.
- June 16 – British forces enter Richmond.
- June 25 – British forces enter Williamsburg.
- June 26 – The Battle of Spencer’s Ordinary – American Dragoons fight Simcoe’s Rangers.
- July 6 – Battle of Green Spring Plantation – The Americans, under Gen. Wayne, are defeated and the British withdraw across the James River. They attempt to fortify Old Point Comfort but the ground is too unstable for gun positions.
- Summer – General George Washington and his French ally, the Comte de Rochambeau, move their force of almost 8,000 men south to Virginia, planning to join and lead about 12,000 other militia, French troops and Continental troops.
- Sept. 5 – While the Allied army was still en route, the French fleet commanded by Admiral de Grasse guarded the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. In the Battle of the Capes this fleet engaged and drove off a British fleet that attempted to relieve the British army at Yorktown.
- Sept. 28 – Gen. George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown. His forces completely encircle British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War.
- Oct. 17 – Following three weeks of non-stop bombardment, both day and night, from cannon and artillery, Cornwallis surrenders to Washington. Pleading illness, he did not attend the formal surrender ceremony, instead, his second in command, General Charles O’Hara, carried Cornwallis’ sword to the American and French commanders. Although the war persisted on the high seas and in other theaters, the Patriot victory at Yorktown ended fighting in the American colonies.
1782
Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on Sept. 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation after eight years of war.
”My friend, guide, and self, each with a lighted lamp, sprang into a basket suspended by ropes over pulleys and frame-work, above a yawning abyss seven hundred and seventy-five feet deep. The signal was given … and down, down, went we … In one minute – it seemed five – we came to the bottom with a bump! The underground superintendent made his appearance, covered with coal-dust and perspiration; his jolly English face and hearty welcome augured well for our subterranean researches.”
- Henry Howe
July 13, 1843 tour of Mid-Lothian Mines
Historical Collections of Virginia
1802
Midlothian Turnpike is the first hard surfaced road in Virginia.
1811
The first commercial tramway in America, the predecessor of the railroads, is operated from the Brown, Page and Burr gunpowder plant on Falling Creek to a storage magazine a mile away.
1815
The first school for deaf and hard of hearing people in the U.S. is established at Cobbs, the Bolling home on the lower Appomattox. It was discontinued in 1819.
1817
Castlewood is built by Parke Poindexter, who serves as clerk of the court from 1812 until 1847. Castlewoods five-part design bears no likeness to any other recorded dwelling in Virginia.
1822
Magnolia Grange, a Federal-style house, is built William Winfree and is known for its distinctive architectural features. It was named for the magnolia trees that once graced its lawn.
1824-1825
Mid-Lothian coal mine owners, frustrated by the challenges of transporting coal by horse and wagon, seek a better method of transport. Nicholas Mills, Beverly Randolph and Abraham Wooldridge build a tramway. By 1835, the Mid-Lothian Mines has several 11-foot-wide shafts on its 404 acres of property, the deepest being 722 feet. The 150 employees are expected, with the aid of 25 mules, to raise 1 million bushels of coal per year.
1828
In February, the Chesterfield Railroad Company obtains a charter from the Virginia General Assembly. Construction is completed on the Midlothian to Manchester Railroad in 1831, the first in the state. It uses horses, mules and gravity to move the 160 cars. By 1836, 25,903 cars and 84,976 tons of coal are transported annually. It is reputed to be most profitable railroad in the world.
1830
Clover Hill (Winterpock) coalfield opened.
1840
More than 300,000 bushels of coal are raised from Pump Shaft at Mid-Lothian Mines. Capacity of work is estimated to be 1,000,000 bushels per annum.
1846
The first and oldest African-American Church in the county is the First Baptist Church of Midlothian. It was organized in 1846 by the slaves and free blacks who worked for the coal mining companies. The first church is built at the Mid-Lothian Mines and was originally named the First African Baptist Church of Coalfield.
1850’s
Chester is founded as a railroad town, Ettrick as an industrial village and Midlothian as a mining community.
1855
An explosion in the pump shaft at Mid-Lothian Mines kills 55 men.
1867
Explosion at Clover Hill coal pits kills 69.
1870
First Board of Supervisors Meeting on July 30. Elected were Chairman S. Brooks (Midlothian District), David Woods (Bermuda District), J. Ivey (Clover Hill District), J. R. Robertson (Matoaca District) and John Murphy (Dale District).
1871
Dutch Gap canal opens for shipping. Excavation began in 1864.
1874
Manchester becomes and independent city.
1876
Explosions at Grove Shaft kill nine workers.
1879
A legal first in Virginia occurs in the county when African American George Lewis, age 19, is granted a ‘jury of his peers’ made up of citizens from the African American community. This historic black jury finds Lewis guilty of second-degree murder and sentences him to prison for 18 years.
1880’s
The Victorian village of Bon Air, French for “good air,” lies along Buford Road. It is founded by principals of the Richmond and Danville Railroad as a Victorian resort for Richmonders to escape from the conditions in an industrialized downtown.
1882
Another explosion at Mid-Lothian Mines takes the lives of 32 day-shift miners in the Grove Shaft, leaving 109 fatherless children and 26 widows and mothers.
1882
Virginia State University, Virginia’s first state-supported school of higher learning for African-Americans, is founded on March 6, 1882, when the legislature passed a bill to charter the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. In the first academic year, 1883-84, it has 126 students and seven faculty, one building, 33 acres, a 200-book library and a $20,000 budget. In 1902, the legislature revises the charter act to curtail the collegiate program and changes the name to Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute. In 1923, the college program was restored, and the name is changed to Virginia State College for Negroes in 1930. In 1979, it became Virginia State University.
1883
The Bright Hope Company extends the former Clover Hill Railroad from Chester to Bermuda Hundred to transport coal, timber and agricultural cargo, as well as provide regular passenger service.
1889
The centerpiece of Bon Air, the Bon Air Hotel, burns down.
1890
The Virginia State Board of Charities and Corrections condemns the three-cell county jail known as The Bastile (build in1842), and orders the Board of Supervisors to repair or replace it.
1892
Construction of a new six-cell jail is completed. This jail remained in use through the 1960s. It is still part of the County Museum complex. It has been restored and offers tours and special exhibits.
“The enemy fired at anything that moved and their shots thudded against the opposite side of our works. The order to charge meant that some who mounted that parapet would look their last on earth from its summit.”
-Veteran from the 15th Virginia Infantry after the Second Battle of Drewry’s Bluff, May 16, 1864. The unit, comprised of men from Richmond, Hanover and Henrico counties lost more than 100 men during their bloodiest day.
1861-1865
Throughout the Civil War, the county’s railroads carried supplies to Richmond, capital of the Confederacy, and its coal fueled the ironworks at Bellona Arsenal and Tredegar.
1862
On May 15, the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff halts the Union approach to Richmond. The Federal flotilla, led by the ironclads USS Monitor and USS Galena, attempts to force its way past the Confederate fort at Drewry’s Bluff but they are turned back after a three-hour battle. Richmond is never again seriously threatened by a water-based attack. Cpl. John B. Mackie, U.S. Marine Corps, is the first recipient of the Medal of Honor, awarded for his brave and courageous conduct on the USS Galena during the Battle of Drewry’s Bluff.
1862
During the Appomattox River Raid on June 28, Federal gunboats, led by the ironclads Monitor and Galena, attempt to go up the James River to destroy the railroad bridge at Swift Creek. The attack is abandoned after one ship runs aground and is destroyed. Confederate gunfire from the banks of the Appomattox also assists in turning back the attack.
1862-1864
Drewry’s Bluff becomes an important training ground for the Confederate Naval Academy and the Confederate Marine Corps Camp of Instruction.
1864
- May - Bermuda Hundred Campaign – General Benjamin F. Butler lands 40,000 troops, which includes two cavalry regiments of United States Colored Troops, on the Bermuda Hundred peninsula. His goal is to set up a base of operations and then advance toward Richmond and Petersburg. Battles fought during May and early June prevent Butler from advancing and push his troops back into defensive positions at Bermuda Hundred, where they remain for the rest of the war. Casualties on both sides total approximately 6,000 killed, wounded or missing.
- May - Gen. Benjamin F. Butler constructs the southern portion of his main defensive line at Point of Rocks. His headquarters, an army hospital and a cemetery are established nearby. Clara Barton, founder of American Red Cross, nurses the wounded.
- May 16 - Fort Stevens becomes the pivotal point for a major Confederate counterattack that halts Butler’s advance toward Richmond at the Second Battle of Drewry’s Bluff.
- May 18 - During a skirmish, Union Sgt. James E. Engle volunteers to carry ammunition to soldiers at the front. He remains there for the rest of the day, under constant fire, and is awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroism.
- May 20 - The Battle of Ware Bottom Church establishes the Confederate line in Bermuda Hundred. Known as the Howlett Line, these fortifications effectively block Butler from advancing toward Richmond through Chesterfield County.
- June 2 - Col. Olin M. Dantzler leads an attack from the Howlett line toward a nearby Federal position. He and 16 of his men are killed in the failed assault.
- Sept. 29 - African American troops based in the county spearhead the attack on New Market Heights north of the James River in Henrico County. Fourteen black soldiers and two white officers are awarded the Medal of Honor for their actions.
1865
- The Battle of Trent’s Reach was one of the last naval battles of the war. As recorded by one of the participants, “In late January 3 Confederate ironclads attempted to break through at Trents Reach near Dutch Gap in order to attack Union Supply ships at City Point. The shallow water at Trents’ Reach and the powerful Union ironclad Onandaga combined to make the Confederate attempt a failure.”
- March 27 - President and Mrs. Abraham Lincoln accompany Gen. and Mrs. Ulysses Grant to Point of Rocks to visit the wounded.
- Lee’s Retreat – After the fall of Petersburg on April 2, Gen. Robert E. Lee and the bulk of his army crossed the Appomattox River into Chesterfield County and then further southwest with Gen. Ulysses S. Grant’s Union Army pursuing them relentlessly. During the next week, the Union troops fought a series of battles with Confederate units, cutting off or destroying their supplies.
- April 6, 1865, the Confederate Army suffered a significant defeat at the Battle of Sailor’s Creek, in Rice, Va., where 7,700 Confederates were killed, captured or wounded. Lee continued to move his remaining army to the west but was soon cornered, outnumbered and short of food and supplies.
- Lee surrendered the Army of Northern Virginia to Grant on April 9, 1865 at Appomattox Court House, Va.
1961
Board of Supervisors appoints a County Museum Committee.
1980
The County Museum opens on July 4th, the culmination of Chesterfield County’s 1976 Bicentennial Project.
1906
The first high school in the county, Chester High School, is established. It was known as the Chester Agricultural High School from 1908-1927. Then it went back to the original name, Chester High School, and was renamed Thomas Dale High School in 1941.
1910
The city of Manchester is annexed by Richmond.
1917
A new courthouse on Ironbridge Road replaces the original 1750 courthouse.
1921
Mrs. E. A. Swineford, Kate R. Swineford and Ruby G. Winfree receive a charter for the National Father’s Day Association in May and choose the second Sunday in June as the date. The wearing of a red flower is selected as the symbol for Father’s Day.
1923
The first known public school for blacks in Midlothian was built circa 1877 which was a log building on land belonging to the Midlothian African Baptist Church. Prior to 1923 the original schoolhouse was replaced by a small frame building in 1925-1926 made possible by a matching grant funded by Julius Rosenwald Fund. The school occupied a new brick building in 1948. State historic marker unveiled in 2019.
1930
Pleasant View School is an early twentieth century African-American schoolhouse built with the financial support of the Black community. The school was used until 1947. It represents one of the last preserved early black school houses in the county.
1933
The country, in the grips of the Great Depression, has millions unemployed. The Civilian Conservation Corps, CCC, developed as part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal, puts more than 500,000 young men to work in forests, parks and rangelands across the country, including Chesterfield County.
1935
The first wayside park in Virginia is the Old Stone Bridge at Falling Creek, completed in 1826.
1943
McGuire Veterans Administration hospital opens.
1946
The National Park Service donates the park developed by the CCC to Virginia State Parks. It is renamed Pocahontas State Park operating with the Department of Forestry.
1948
From 1948-1970, George Washington Carver High School serves all African-American students in the entire county, many who left home as early as 5 a.m. to walk miles to reach the bus that would get them to school by 9 a.m.
1952
1,250 acres of farm and marsh land become Presquile National Wildlife Refuge to protect migratory fowl.
1961
The Board of Supervisors appoints a County Museum Committee.
1962
The county’s first school integration is at Ettrick Elementary. Reuben D. Pierce and James Brewer are the first black students.
1965
The old Swift Creek mill is converted into the Swift Creek Mill Playhouse, a restaurant and dinner theater. The site is preserved as a historical landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
1976
The groundbreaking for Chesterfield County Museum occurs. The museum is a replica of the original 1750 Chesterfield County Court House. The museum opens in 1980.
1979
The Bon Air historic district is designated by the Board of Supervisors.
1980
The County Museum opens on July 4, the culmination of Chesterfield County’s 1976 Bicentennial Project.
1981
The Chesterfield Historical Society of Va. of Virginia is founded with 253 charter members.
1984
Magnolia Grange is purchased by the county for $181,000. The Chesterfield Historical Society of Va. of VA pledges to restore and furnish it as a plantation house museum.
1985
Henricus Historical Park is founded as a living history museum, a recreation of the 1611 Citie of Henricus.
1989
A new master plan, funded by the state and Chesterfield County, expands Pocahontas Park and makes it the state’s largest park with more than 7,950 acres and two small lakes
1989
Eppington Plantation is donated to Chesterfield County by the Cherry family.
1998
Historic Castlewood is designated as the headquarters and research library for Chesterfield Historical Society of Va..
2013
Transfer ceremony held for acquisition of Historic Point of Rocks Park, site of a Union hospital during the Bermuda Hundred Campaign in 1864 and the Strachan home.
2017
Pleasant View African American School was listed as a County Historic Landmark.