did you know?
excerpts
Did you know the influence of Henry Clay on Ashland? Henry Clay was born on April 12, 1977 in Hanover County, just a little east of Ashland. Mr. Clay moved to Kentucky where he became an important member of the legislature in 1803. His homestead in Kentucky was called Ashland, for the ash trees that grow in that area. Mr. Clay was the American Secretary of State during the John Quincy Adams presidency. After Andrew Jackson took office, Mr. Clay declined an appointment to the Supreme Court and returned to the Kentucky Senate. Although he made several bids for President of the United States, he will be remembered most as the craftsman of the Compromise of 1850. He died in Washington on June 19, 1852. In 1855, the community of Slash Cottage honored their native son by renaming their village Ashland. The town formally incorporated in 1858.
(February 21, 2008) Did you know that the Henry Clay Inn burned to the ground in 1946? On a cold morning in 1946 the Henry Clay Inn caught fire. Several times sparks threatened the adjacent properties of J.G. Hughes and L.F. Blanton, but the fire department kept those properties safe. When it became apparent that the fire was out of control, the Richmond Fire Department was called. They responded with two 500-gallon pumpers brought up on the railway, but local water pressure was not sufficient to accommodate the two pumpers. By noon, the hotel was completely demolished with only two chimneys and one of the front porch pillars standing. --Dale Talley
(Thursday, March 20, 2008) Did you know that Ashland got its first phone service on November 17, 1903? The telephone came to Ashland when 17 subscribers were connected with the lines of what was then the Southern Bell Telephone Company in 1903. The switchboard, which had been salvaged from the 1902 fire of the old Jefferson Hotel in Richmond, was set up in the back of what was then D.B. Cox's store on Center Street, and Miss Julia Weisiger was appointed manager - a position she held for more than 30 years. "Miss Julia" as she was affectionately known, was the day operator and Daniel Ellis, the night operator. She said, "Number please" from 7:00am until 9:00pm, and Mr. Ellis held for the rest of the night. For this service they each received $15 a month. The first call was a fire alarm from one of the cottages at Randolph-Macon College. When the fire department was notified, they didn't believe "the new fangled thing" and Nat Thompson, a clerk at D.B. Cox's store was dispatched on an old white horse to see if the report was true. The first long distance call to Ashland was the announcement of ex-president Grover Cleveland's death in 1908.The town switched to a mechanical system in 1937. Some say it was not an improvement. --Reprint from the Herald Progress, Friday, April 7, 1955. EDITOR'S NOTE: According to Marion Watkins Herget, at one point in time the Ashland Town Office, the Herald-Progress newspaper, Ashland's volunteer fire company , the courtroom and the C&P telephone exchange all occupied the same building. The jail was in a small outbuilding out back. The location in the town hall was "strategic for a newspaper. As new tenants in 1933, we couldn't have asked for better company, " Herget noted in her book, "The Watkins Years."
Did you know the Diane Hale School of Dance was once a funeral parlor? Crew and Clayton Funeral Home closed its doors at 117 England Street in 1977 after 103 years in business. For many years, it was the only funeral home in Hanover County. In those days it was also a coffin making business. Mrs. Hope Ellis recalled, "In that day and time, most bodies were taken care of in the [family's] home. An undertaker would come from Richmond and prepare the body ... Mr. Crew and his daughter, Miss Christy, would make the coffins out of wood. Sometimes they'd put a varnish finish on it and sometimes they would cover it in black cloth. Then he used to take the coffin out to the house of the deceased in a horse-drawn hearse."
Did you know that Randolph-Macon College once had "The Saturday Night Eating Club?" Members drank Paregoric and Jamaica Ginger as their "drinks." Their motto was "One, two, three! Who are we? Red-hot members of the S E C." Their club song was "There Are Moments When We Would Like to Be Alone." Their clubhouse was at 1313 Crocodile Alley. The group had such members as Lord High Chief Epicure (James Vickers in 1900), Lord High Eat What's in Sight, and Lord High Distributor of Big Pieces.
(Thursday, April 14, 2008) Did you know that Ashland has a Cold Case File that has never been solved? In 1929, on a bright summer morning, Harry Valentine Smeeman, the town's police chief, was found shot to death in a vacant lot behind the town hall. An investigation was launched and speculation ran wild. The rumor mill produced several theories. One was the notion that Mr. Smeeman had uncovered a "rum-running" gang who couldn't bear to have him as a witness. Another was that he had discovered some unfavorable information about his business partner and was about to blow the whistle. The murder has never been solved despite efforts by historians and Mr. Smeeman's family.
(Thursday, May 1, 2008) Did you know? Ashland once had an electric trolley line from England Street into Richmond? Frank Jay Gould built the Richmond Chesapeake Bay Railway in the early 1900s as a part of a larger project that never realized its full potential. The line stopped in Ashland. By 1907 the electric line took Ashland passengers on a 40-minute trip from the mustard colored station on England Street (where the post office is today) into Richmond to the terminal at Broad and Laurel Streets. For a time, electricity generated by the trolley powered the town of Ashland. By 1917, Gould wanted out of the enterprise and sold the business to local investors. It became the Richmond-Ashland Railway. Ashlanders were passionate about the trolley. Dorothy Jones called it "a famous institution." The car made stops at Francis Street and Ashcake Road, then at Gwathmey and Elmont and Cedar Lane. It stopped at Yellow Tavern and at Lakeside and Bellevue Avenues A schedule for the 1908 trolley reads: "Cool-Clean-Comfortable Electric Trains. No smoke. No cinders. Elegant Cars. Rock Ballasted Track." The trolley had its last run in 1938 and Ashlanders mourned its loss. The trolley is remembered by the Ashland Trolley Park located at the intersection of Gwathmey Church Road and the Ashland-Richmond Trolley Line, in Ashland. An approximate one-mile section of the historic Ashland-Richmond Trolley Line has been dedicated as a greenway. The corridor has been cleared and maintained as a natural surface trail and a greenway to be used by local citizens, school groups and the public at large. For more information read "Rails in Richmond" by Carlton McKenney. See also Rosanne Groat Shalf's "Ashland, Ashland: The Story of a Turn-of-the-Century Railroad Town."
(Thursday, May 15, 2008) Did you Know that the Randolph-Macon College Yellow Jackets team was once rescued by President Taft? In 1910, E. Barrett Prettyman and Marion N. Fisher were upset because the President of the College, Dr. Robert Emory Blackwell, had called for the Yellow Jackets to be disbanded for the season because 11 boys were cited for "insubordination." They decided that President Taft's presence in Richmond at that particular time was a "providential dispensation" that could avert "a most serious tragedy." In those days, access to the President could be had for the asking and that's what they did. Both boys went to Richmond and asked Governor Mann to provide an introduction to the visiting President. He agreed. Taft greeted them heartily and asked how he could help. Gravely the young men told their story and concluded by suggesting that if the President of the United States were to ask the men of the Randolph-Macon faculty to reverse their decision, surely they must comply. Taft exploded with laughter and agreed. The trick was to get Taft's train stopped at Ashland so the First Citizen could discuss the matter with anyone who might listen. The stop was arranged and the President interceded on their behalf to restore their ability to play. Prettyman died in 1971, and not many people remember him. But, just like the building named after him, Prettyman has a place in history. Appointed by President Harry S. Truman, he served on the prestigious U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit for 26 years, including two years as Chief Judge. The U.S. District Court Building at Third Street and Constitution Avenue NW bears his name. --For more information, see Virginia Cavalcade, Autumn, 1956. CLICK HERE for previous Did You Knows
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Ann Martin 752-6477 usmartin@verizon.net ● John Hodges 798-1256 jhodges@co.hanover.va.us