Page 6 - Lynchburg Area Timeline 1700-2009

1878- Holy Cross Church constructed (40)
1878- Waterworks on College Hill constructed includinga cast iron pitcher which poured water into College Hill Reservoir from October 1890 to April 1963. Pitcher was cast at Glamorgan Plant. (41, 66, 70)
1878- Pamplin Clay Factory built. It made clay pipes in a kiln until the factory closed in 1951 (127)
1878- (Oct. 16): Rumors that Court Street Baptist Church was on fire leads to widespread panic among those inside. Eight persons are crushed to death in the melee (70)
1878- First iron bridge built across the James River to Amherst County is completed. Bridge served until opening of Williams Viaduct in 1919. (225)
1879- (Jan. 9): Edward Christian Glass appointed superintendent of schools (42)
1879- Telephone service begins with 45 subscribers (42)
1879- Lynchburg Opera House opens at 11th and Main streets with “Julius
Caesar” as first performance (40)
1879- Holy Cross Academy established by Four Sisters of Charity (50)
1880-1890
1880- First horse-drawn streetcar used. On its first run, the car derails on Fifth Street, hits a wall and kills a man (40, 118)
1880- An acrimonious campaign for prohibition in Lynchburg begins. On election day, “Wets” prevailed over “Drys”, by 2 to 1.
1880s- I. Garland Penn publishes the first black newspaper in Lynchburg.
1880- A.H. Pettigrew named Lynchburg’s first chief of police (223)
“The Home and Retreat” at Washington and Church streets. (40) 1886- Clay Street Colored School opens (64)
1886- Carter Glass becomes editor of the Lynchburg News
1886- John W. Craddock, Abe Craddock, George Witt and Thaddeus M. Terry set up a partnership that three years later becomes Craddock- Terry.
1886- Lynchburg’s first professional baseball team is formed, known simply as “Lynchburg. Team competes in the five-team State League and wins the league championship (19)
1886- (Oct. 12-15): Lynchburg’s bicentennial is celebrated with a fair that draws 30,000 people (70)
1886- First Baptist Church at Court and 11th streets completed (70)
1887- (May): Virginia State Baptist Convention founds the Virginia Seminary on Fairview Heights. First students enrolled in 1890 and the school became Virginia Seminary in 1895. Tuition was $1 per month (41,50)
1888- Carter Glass buys the Daily Virginian, a rival morning paper.
1888- Lynchburg Cotton Mill founded, At its peak it employed 850 before
closing in 1957 (143)
1889- Piedmont Electric Illuminating Company begins providing power and lights. Electricity is produced by two generators driven by water wheels located in the James River Canal at Eighth Street (137)
1890-1900
1890- (April): Union State railroad depot opens (41)
1890- Piedmont Club is formed as “the complete men’s club”. Ceased
operation in 1928 (41)
1890- Rivermont Company formed to develop the area between the Blackwater Creek gorge and the James River bluffs (48)
1890s- Adolphus Busch, head of Anheuser Busch, builds state of the art bottling facility in Lynchburg on Jefferson Street. It bottled Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
1890s- Prostitution which dates back to the 1850s in Lynchburg, begins to flourish as women from the riverfront area migrate to Jackson, Monroe and Fourth streets. By 1910 the red light district becomes known as “The Hill” for the steep incline at Monroe and Fourth streets (174)
1891- (Apr. 18): Rivermont Bridge, 1,157 feet long is inaugurated (40)
1891- Randolph-Macon Woman’s College founded by William Waugh Smith through donations by wealthy citizens. College was built on 20 acres donated by the Rivermont Company. College opens on Sept. 14, 1893 with 77 students and 12 teachers. (45, 47,221)
1891- First electric-powered streetcar begins run. They went out of service in 1941. (183)
1891- First African-American newspaper, The Counsellor and Herald, is Published (47)
1892- Lynchburg Electric company organized (137)
1893- Ordinance for the first time outlaws cows roaming city streets (221)
1893- Lynchburg News and Daily Virginian merge.
1893- (Feb. 14): Lynchburg Academy of Medicine formed (40)
1894- Jubal Early dies. His funeral is attended by five Confederate generals (225)
1895- (April 5): St. Andrews Hospital opens on Church Street with 3 beds. Hospital closed in 1917. (40)
1895- The Liberty Bell, with an honor guard, comes through Lynchburg (50)
1895- Kit McKenna, a pitcher, becomes first Lynchburg native to play in the major leagues (19)
1895- St. Paul’s Episcopal Church is finished (50)
1897- Elias Schewel moves his business to 12th and Main where it’s known as “Chicago Furniture Bargain House”. It evolves into Schewel Furniture stores (40)
1880- James Bonsack invents the first cigarette-making machine and has it produced at the Glamorgan Foundry (25)
1881- An afternoon newspaper, The Advance, is started (43)
1881- Blacks in Lynchburg begin attending their own high schools (40) 1881- John Warwick Daniel defeated in gubernatorial election (68)
1881- Biggers School completed at Fifth and Clay Streets. School remained in use until 1966 when it was supposed to make way for a public library. The library was eventually located in other quarters (70)
1882- All buildings in city renumbered in preparation for free mail (221)
1882- Glamorgan Pipe and Foundry Corp. founded as the Lynchburg Foundry and Machine Works. First cast iron was poured in 1887. (41)
1882- U.S. Courthouse built at Ninth and Church streets.
1883- August Forsberg designs new steps for the “9th Street Steps,”
or Monument Terrace, to surround an iron fountain. In August
1883 a Fireman’s Fountain is added to honor five firemen killed
in downtown fire. The Fireman’s Fountain lasted until 1924 when the bottom of Monument Terrace was redesigned. In 1925 Charles Keck’s statue, the “The Listening Post,” was added, replacing a pool (153)
1883- “Great Fire of 1883” begins at Jones, Watts Brothers & Co. hardware store on 10th and Main streets, consumes an entire block, kills 5 firefighters (40)
1883- (Mar. 28): Lynchburg Fire Department formed with 35 members after City Council approves conversion from all-volunteer firefighting until to paid professional department. First fire chief was paid $100 per month (91,92)
1884- Fireman’s Fountain erected. It originally was located at 9th and Church streets, then stood at Monument Terrace beginning in
1934 before being moved to Miller Park where it was destroyed by Hurricane Hazel in 1954. New fountain was erected at Miller Park in 1976. (97,98)
1885- Robert Payne School built for black students (70)
1885- Rivermont Baptist Church established (51)
1885- Jefferson Anderson and Harry Edwards become the first elected black city councilmen (225)
1886- (Apr. 5): Masons of the Marshall Lodge open a hospital known as
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