The Next Best Thing that Richmonders
Need is a Lighthouse - Really! At Least in 1802 That Was the Case.
Volume 12, Number 39,
Issue 586
Growing up in the City of Richmond, I’ve always been amazed at the fact that all of us just love our capital projects. Right now, well-intentioned folks are trying to raise millions of dollars—public, private and through taxation--for a new performing arts center. We just spent a few hundred million dollars for a new regional convention center that a lot of people are wondering whether or not was the right “thing” for us. Other people are using (at least for now) private money to promote a new baseball park in the middle of a historically-sensitive area. At the same time that I amuse myself that Richmond is at its best when we have another capital project in progress, I wonder why we continue to want to do this when much of our City is impoverished and illiterate and wants for consistent safety through good law enforcement. While hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent on failed capital projects just in my lifetime, the City, in my opinion, is awash in a never-ending sea of illiteracy, crime and lack of personal responsibility.
I well remember the planning, construction, failure and demolition (three phases) of Valentine Riverside, Sixth Street Marketplace and Main Street Station (the shopping mall version). I also remember the failed promises made about our Canal Walk (the boats you could rent by the hour were great though, at least while they lasted). Public-Private-Tax money went to all of these. In hindsight, I just wish that we had spent all this money on making sure that all parts of our city were safe and that kids got turned onto LEGAL entrepreneurialism with the goal of morally bettering themselves and their families rather than falling into the inevitable vicious cycle of illegal activities combined with no morals. I’ve always believed that capitalism combined with an entrepreneurial spirit brings about the highest-quality of life. It just has to be a legal product that’s sold by someone with high moral and ethical character who combines it with passion and enthusiasm.
To partially-prove my point that throughout Richmond’s history we have just been fascinated (as a City) with planning, constructing and demolishing capital projects, I’ve wondered about exotic failures that happened long before my time. What failures of the past give us clues about how to handle issues about whether or not to have our performing arts center and/or a new ballpark? How did we act then about grandiose ideas that might solve our “problem of the moment?”
Back in 1802 (yep, 202 years ago), English-born, Baltimore resident Benjamin Henfrey came to town and sold us a lighthouse. Though we probably needed a bridge more, he sold us a lighthouse, which we raised the money to build and operate (at least for a while) at Eleventh and Main Streets—right near where the present day James Center is located.
In Early 1802, Henfrey pitched an idea to President Thomas Jefferson and Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin about using coal gas instead of whale oil to illuminate costal lighthouses. They weren’t impressed, but some well-connected Richmonders, among them George Wythe (Chancellor of the College of William and Mary), John Foster (Richmond’s Mayor) and James McClurg (a noted physician) were. They thought that having a lighthouse located in the center of Downtown Richmond would be a great idea and would solve the problems of poor nighttime lighting. They pushed and pushed the idea to other influential citizens over about a year as a worthy capital project, just like their descendants (at least in spirit) are now doing with the performing arts center and baseball park.
Henfrey was brought to town in mid-1802 among much hoop-la to stage an exhibition of his lighting. It was performed at Haymarket Garden—a four or five acre amusement park near Eighth and Byrd Streets—not too far from where Riverfront Towers and the Federal Reserve Bank are located now. Haymarket Gardens had been a previous “sell” to the citizens; its proprietors boasted that it was “surpassed by none, if equaled by any place of its kind on the continent.” Among the gardens of flowers and shrubs were walkways, bowling alleys, shuffleboard courts and areas for equestrian events. There was also a building with a ballroom, a music gallery and an orchestra hall. There was a seedier side to Haymarket Garden, too. Apparently there were pits for staged bear and cock fighting.
The proprietors of Haymarket Garden allowed Henfrey to stage his experiments publicly several times, including it in the price of admission to their facility. Our group of influential citizens (surprise, surprise) thought that Henfrey was just the ticket to solving Richmond’s problem about the lack of nighttime light. It wasn’t until almost fifty years later--1851--that Richmond installed a citywide system of gas lamps, even though some systems gave partial coverage before them. Henfrey’s early attempt to light the City was the first and was many years ahead of its time. [Hint, Hint, Hint to people of 2004—some ideas are well-before their proverbial “time.]
Next week, I’ll finish my story of the construction of Richmond’s lighthouse, but first, I want to ask if anybody wants to buy an old run-down shopping mall? The Chesterfield Board of Supervisors has one for sale right now and I hope that I’ll be one of those influential citizens that can secure a place in history by being on the bandwagon about its “great and unlimited possibilities.”
Richmond’s failed--and more than just a few successful--capital projects are part of our history and I hope that great ones--both successes AND failures--will be part of our future. Mistakes are the by-product of moving forward—they just hurt.
Long-time Richmonders know that the Nickel Bridge (which costs twenty cents now) was a private bridge a long time before the Richmond Metropolitan Authority took it over in the 1980s. This wasn’t even the first time Richmonders sold other Richmonders bridges. The Mayo family had a virtual monopoly on the river crossings for a very long time. Yep, Richmonders have bought themselves a bridge many times and one time, they bought themselves a lighthouse.
David B. Robinson, CPA
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