- Tobacco Row
Tobacco Row is a collection of tobacco warehouses and cigarette factories in
Richmond, Virginia adjacent to theJames River and Kanawha Canal near its eastern terminus at thehead of navigation of the James River.Beginning in the 18th century, many growers and shippers of Virginia's major cash-crop of
tobacco maintained facilities there, as well as directly across the river at Manchester. Substantial multi-story brick buildings were constructed to protect the contents from loss due to fire.During the
American Civil War (1861–1865), Tobacco Row was the site of infamousLibby Prison and nearby Castle Thunder, detention facilities of the Confederate government.In 1925, WRVA radio, owned by
Larus and Brother tobacco company, went on the air, broadcasting from a studio located in a corner of their House of Edgeworth warehouse, with a tower mounted on the roof of the building.The area was vacated by the tobacco companies by the late 1980s. Following completion of Richmond's James River Flood Wall in 1995, led by Richmond developer
William H. Abeloff , many of the old warehouses of Tobacco Row were modernized and converted into developments ofloft apartment s, condominiums, offices, and retail space along part of the restored canal system.ee also
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Neighborhoods of Richmond, Virginia External links
* [http://www.historicrichmond.com/tobaccorow.html Historic Richmond Foundation - Historic Areas: Tobacco Row]
* [http://riverdistrictnews.com River District News]
* [http://www.theriverlofts.com/templates/template_fcra/default2.asp?w=riverloftsattobaccorow River Lofts at Tobacco Row]
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