Charlottesville, Virginia

Founding

An Act of the Assembly of Albemarle County established Charlottesville in 1762. Thomas Walker was named its first trustee. It was situated along a trade route called Three Notched Road (present day U.S. Route 250), which led from Richmond to the Great Valley. The town took its name from the British queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

During the American Revolutionary War, Congress imprisoned the Convention Army in Charlottesville at the Albemarle Barracks between 1779 and 1781.^[10] The Governor and legislators had to abandon the capitol temporarily and on June 4, 1781, Jack Jouett warned the Virginia Legislature meeting at Monticello of a planned raid by Colonel Banastre Tarleton, allowing a narrow escape.

Civil War and Reconstruction

Unlike much of Virginia, Charlottesville was spared the brunt of the American Civil War. The only battle to take place in Charlottesville was the skirmish at Rio Hill, an encounter in which George Armstrong Custer briefly engaged local Confederate Home Guards before retreating. A year later, the Charlottesville Factory, founded c. 1820–30, was accidentally burnt during General Philip Sheridan's 1865 raid through the Shenandoah Valley. However, the mayor had surrendered the city to Generals Custer and Sheridan to keep the town from being burned. The factory had been taken over by the Confederacy and used to manufacture woolen clothing for the soldiers. It caught fire when some coals taken by Union troops to burn the nearby railroad bridge dropped on the floor. The factory was rebuilt immediately and was known as the Woolen Mills until its liquidation in 1962.^[11]

Segregation and Jim Crow laws

After Reconstruction ended, Charlottesville's African American population suffered under Jim Crow laws that segregated public places and limited opportunity. Schools were racially segregated and African Americans were not served in many local businesses.^[12] Public parks were planned separately for the white and African American populations: four for whites, and one for African Americans built on the site of a former dump.^[13] The Ku Klux Klan had chapters in the Charlottesville area beginning at least in the early twentieth century,^[14] and events such as lynchings and cross burnings occurred in the Charlottesville area. In 1898, Charlottesville resident John Henry James was lynched in the nearby town of Ivy.^[15] In August 1950, three white men were observed burning a cross on Cherry Avenue, a street in a mostly African-American neighborhood in Charlottesville.^[16] It was speculated that the cross burning might be a reaction to "a white man [who] had been known to socialize with one of the young Negro women in that vicinity."^[16] In 1956, crosses were burned outside a progressive church.^[17]

In 1947, Charlottesville organized a local NAACP branch.^[18][19] In 2001, the Charlottesville and Albemarle Branches of the NAACP merged to form the Albemarle-Charlottesville NAACP Branch.^[19]

In the fall of 1958, Charlottesville closed its segregated white schools as part of Virginia's strategy of massive resistance to federal court orders requiring integration as part of the implementation of the Supreme Court of the United States decision Brown v. Board of Education. The closures were required by a new series of state laws collectively known as the Stanley Plan, which prohibited and denied funding to integrated public schools. Segregated schools remained open, however.^{[20][page needed]} The first African-American member of the Charlottesville School Board was Raymond Bell in 1963.^[21]

In 1963, later than many Southern cities, civil rights activists in Charlottesville began protesting segregated restaurants with sit-ins, such as one that occurred at Buddy's Restaurant near the University of Virginia.^[22]

Destruction of Vinegar Hill

In 1965, the city government razed the downtown African American neighborhood Vinegar Hill as an urban renewal project, after the city council passed a law stating that "unsanitary and unsafe" properties could be taken over by a housing authority.^[23] Vinegar Hill had served the needs of the black community while the city remained segregated.^[24] One hundred thirty homes, five Black-owned businesses, and a church were destroyed.^[25] Many displaced community members moved into the Westhaven public housing project. The land was not redeveloped until the late 1970s.

Despite razing this small area comprising about 20 acres abutting West Main Street in the city's commercial downtown area, Charlottesville maintained its vibrant black community spanning the much larger and still extant Ridge Street and Fifeville neighborhoods to the south, and the Tenth & Page and Rose Hill neighborhoods to the north. Neighborhood civic associations, social clubs, and church groups sponsored activities for its residents.^[26] The Blue Mints Social Club met at the home of Mrs. Reva Shelton on December 1, 1974. At this meeting, the group planned their annual "Baskets of Cheer", and hosted a Cabaret Dance on New Year's Eve at Carver Recreation Center, with the Randolph Brothers performing.^[27] In 1974, other social clubs listed are the Bethune Art and Literary Club, The Lucky Twenty Club, and the Les Amies Club.^[28][29][30]

Conflict over Confederate symbols

Starting in the 2010s Charlottesville received national attention because of local conflict between those who did and those who did not want Confederate symbols removed. The Washington Post has reported that "Nowhere has this clash been more fraught than in Charlottesville, where parks have been renamed, then renamed again, streets have been re-christened, and stickers bearing white supremacist slogans go up as quickly as activists can remove them."^[31]

City attempts to remove statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from downtown parks have been the subject of extensive, unresolved litigation. In August 2017, white supremacist groups opposed to their removal organized the "Unite the Right rally" to protest against the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue from then Lee Park, subsequently renamed Emancipation Park.^[32] After the rally, a white nationalist drove a car into protesters, resulting in the death of counter-protester Heather Heyer and causing injuries to 19 other counter-protesters.^[33] The incident became national news and Charlottesville became a symbol of political turbulence nationwide.^[34] The city succeeded in the removal of the Lee and Jackson statues on July 10, 2021,^[35] in addition to a statue of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and Sacagawea of the Lewis and Clark Expedition.^[36]

Religious history

Christ Episcopal Church was Charlottesville's first church. It was begun in 1820 by builders on loan from Thomas Jefferson, and the congregation's current home was completed in the early 1900s.^[37]

The first black church in Charlottesville, the First Baptist Church of Charlottesville, was established in 1864. Previously, it was illegal for African Americans to have their own churches, although they were allowed to worship in designated areas in white churches, if the white church members allowed it. Its first black pastor (previously, it was required by law that all churches have white pastors), was William D. Gibbons. The date he became pastor is not known with certainty, but was about 1868. A current predominantly African-American church can trace its lineage to that first church.^[38]

Congregation Beth Israel's 1882 building is the oldest synagogue building still standing in Virginia.^[39]

In 1974, some of the Baptist churches in Charlottesville included the Union Run Baptist Church, the South Garden Baptist Church, and the Ebenezer Baptist Church.^[40]

The first Catholic church in Charlottesville was the Church of the Paraclete, built in 1880 and erected as a parish in 1896. In 1906 the church building was renovated and the parish was renamed to Holy Comforter. A second parish was erected for the growing Catholic population in 1976 called the Church of the Incarnation.^[41] In 1967 a Dominican-run parish for Catholic students at the University of Virginia was dedicated (replacing a Newman Center begun in 1943), and named St. Thomas Aquinas University Parish.^[42] The first Mass of record in Charlottesville was celebrated in the parlor of F. M. Paoli's residence, presumably on Random Row, now West Main Street. Services were held for about 12 years after that in the Town Hall. The presiders were priests who came from St. Francis Assisi Church in Staunton and then traveled on to other missions in the area.^[43]

Climate

Charlottesville has a four-season humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa), with all months being well-watered, though the period from May to September is the wettest. Winters are somewhat cool, with a January average of 36.2 °F (2.3 °C), though lows can fall into the teens (< −7 °C) on some nights and highs frequently (11 days in January) reach 50 °F (10 °C).^[45][46] Spring and autumn provide transitions of reasonable length. Summers are hot and humid, with July averaging 77.6 °F (25.3 °C) and the high exceeding 90 °F (32 °C) on 34.4 or more days per year.^[45][46] Snowfall is highly variable from year to year but is normally moderate, averaging 17.0 inches (43 cm).^[45][46] What does fall does not remain on the ground for long. Extremes have ranged from −10 °F (−23 °C) on January 19, 1994, up to 107 °F (42 °C), most recently on September 7, 1954.^[45]

Notes:

2020 census

2010 Census

As of the census^[58] of 2010, there were 43,475 people, 17,778 households, and 7,518 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,220.8 people per square mile (1,629.7 people/km²). There were 19,189 housing units. The racial makeup of the city was 69.1% White, 19.4% Black American, 0.3% Native American, 6.4% Asian, 1.8% from other races, and 3.0% from two or more races. 5.1% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race.

There were 17,778 households, out of which 17.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 28.1% were married couples living together, 11.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 57.7% were non-families. 34.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 2.91.

The age distribution was 14.9% under the age of 18, 24.3% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 9.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27.8 years. The population was 52.3% female and 47.7% male. The city's low median age and the "bulge" in the 18-to-24 age group are both due to the presence of the University of Virginia.

The median income for a household in the city was $44,535, and the median income for a family was $63,934. The per capita income for the city was $26,049. About 10.5% of families and 27.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.8% of those under age 18 and 7.9% of those age 65 or over.

20% of Charlottesville residents have a graduate or professional degree, compared with 10% in the United States as a whole.^[59]

Federally, Charlottesville is part of Virginia's 5th congressional district, represented by Republican Bob Good, elected in 2020.^[60]

Crime

The city of Charlottesville has an overall crime rate higher than the national average, which tends to be a typical pattern for urban areas of the Southern United States.^[61][62]

The total number of crimes reported in Charlottesville declined from 2009 to 2020, followed by a slight rebound continuing through 2023.^[63]

Largest employers

According to the city's 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report^[64] the largest employers in the city are as follows:

As of 2016, 11,129 people work for the government, with 376 working for the federal government, 7,796 working for the state government, and 2,957 working for the local government.^[59]

Voting

Charlottesville is one of the few Democratic bastions in heavily Republican central Virginia. It has swung particularly hard to the Democrats since the 1990s, in tandem with the growing Democratic trend in areas dominated by college towns.

Print publications

Charlottesville has a main daily newspaper, The Daily Progress. Weekly publications include C-Ville Weekly, which also publishes quarterly, bi-annual, and yearly glossies such as Abode (home, garden, architecture), Knife & Fork (food, drink, restaurants), Unbound, (outdoor sports and recreation, environmental issues), Best of C-VILLE (readers' favorite restaurants, bars, shops, etc.), CBIZ (local business), and Weddings. Other magazines published locally include Blue Ridge Outdoors, Charlottesville Family Living and Albemarle Magazine. A daily newspaper, The Cavalier Daily, is published by an independent student group at UVa. Additionally, the alternative newsmagazine of UVa, The Declaration, is printed every other week with new online content every week. The monthly newspaper Echo covers holistic health and related topics. Charlottesville Tomorrow, an online nonprofit news organization, covers land use, transportation, business and education. Other lifestyle publications includeThe Charlottesville Welcome Book, CharlottesvilleFamily's Bloom! Magazine, Wine & Country Life and Wine & Country Weddings.

Broadcast media

Charlottesville is served by major television networks through stations WVIR/WVIR-CD 29 (NBC/CW on DT2), WHTJ 41 (PBS), WCAV 19 (CBS/FOX), and WVAW-LD 16 (ABC). News-talk radio in Charlottesville can be heard on WINA 1070 and WCHV 1260. Sports radio can be heard on WVAX 1450. Country can be heard on WKAV 1400. National Public Radio stations include WMRA 103.5 FM and WVTF 89.7 FM. Commercial FM stations include WQMZ Lite Rock Z95.1 (AC), WWWV (3WV) (classic rock) 97.5, WCYK (country) 99.7, WHTE (CHR) 101.9, WZGN (Generations) 102.3, WCNR (The Corner) 106.1 and WCHV-FM 107.5. Charlottesville community broadcasters include WNRN-FM 91.9 and WTJU 91.1 (owned by the University of Virginia) radio and CPA-TV and Charlottesville's Own TV10 television stations.

Municipal Open Data

The city hosts the Charlottesville Open Data Portal for sharing municipal data as well as community information which local businesses and nonprofit organizations provide.

Transportation

Roads and highways

The most significant highways passing through Charlottesville are Interstate 64 and U.S. Route 29. I-64 heads east to Interstate 95 in Richmond and west to Interstate 81 in Staunton. US 29 heads southwest towards Lynchburg and northeast to Washington, D.C. Other highways serving Charlottesville include U.S. Route 250 and Virginia State Route 20. US 29 and US 250 are served locally by bypasses around downtown, with business routes passing directly through downtown.

Public transportation

Charlottesville is served by Charlottesville-Albemarle Airport, the Charlottesville Amtrak Station, and a Greyhound Lines intercity bus terminal. Direct bus service to New York City is also provided by the Starlight Express. Charlottesville Area Transit provides area bus service, augmented by JAUNT, a regional paratransit van service. University Transit Service provides mass transit for students and residents in the vicinity of the University of Virginia and Charlottesville area.

Rail

Amtrak, the national passenger rail service, provides service to Charlottesville with three routes: The Cardinal (service between Chicago and New York City via central Virginia and Washington, D.C.), select Northeast Regional trains (service between Boston and Roanoke) and the Crescent (service between New York City and New Orleans). The Cardinal operates three times a week, while the Crescent and Northeast Regional both run daily in both directions, but have different operating schedules on the weekdays and weekends.

Charlottesville was once a major rail hub, served by both the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) and the Southern Railway. The first train service to Charlottesville began in the early 1850s by the Louisa Railroad Company, which became the Virginia Central Railroad before becoming the C&O. The Southern Railway started service to Charlottesville around the mid-1860s with a north–south route crossing the C&O east-west tracks. The new depot that sprang up at the crossing of the two tracks was called Union Station. In addition to the new rail line, Southern located a major repair shop that produced competition between the two rail companies and bolstered the local economy. The Queen Charlotte Hotel went up on West Main street along with restaurants for the many new railroad workers.

The former C&O station on East Water Street was turned into offices in the mid-1990s. Charlottesville Union Station, still a functional depot for Amtrak, is located on West Main street between 7th and 9th streets where the tracks of the former C&O Railway (leased by C&O successor CSX to Buckingham Branch Railroad) and Southern (now Norfolk Southern Railway) lines cross. Amtrak and the city of Charlottesville finished refurbishing the station just after 2000, upgrading the depot and adding a full-service restaurant. The Amtrak Crescent and northeast regional travels on Norfolk Southern's dual north–south tracks. The Amtrak Cardinal runs on the Buckingham Branch east-west single track, which follows U.S. Route 250 from Staunton to a point east of Charlottesville near Cismont. The eastbound Cardinal joins the northbound Norfolk Southern line at Orange, on its way to Washington, D.C.

Charlottesville also had an electric streetcar line, the Charlottesville and Albemarle Railway (C&A), that operated during the early twentieth century. Streetcar lines existed in Charlottesville since the late 1880s under various names until organized as the C&A in 1903. The C&A operated streetcars until 1935, when the line shut down due to rising costs and decreased ridership.

There are proposals to extend Virginia Railway Express, the commuter rail line connecting Northern Virginia to Washington, D.C., to Charlottesville.^[80] Also, the Transdominion Express steering committee has suggested making Charlottesville a stop on the proposed statewide passenger rail line.^[81]