Name/Title
StereographEntry/Object ID
2023.055.3.0204Description
A black and white stereograph. Image is the Captiol building in Richmond, Va. Above the image "T76 (Star)" is printed, below the image "32578T Capitol of the Old Dominion, Once Captiol of the COnfederate States, Richomond, Va." is printed, to the left of the image "Keystone View Company COPYRIGHTED Manufacturers MADE IN U.S.A. Publishers" is printed, to the right of the image "Meadville, Pa., New York, N. Y., Chicago, Ill., London, England." is printed. On the reverse the following is printed:
32578
A CENTER OF GREAT EVENTS - THE CAPITOL, RICHMOND, VA>
It was Thomas Jefferson who, while minister to France, conceived the idea of modeling the Virginia capitol on the lines of the famous Maison Carree, at Nimes, France. The structure thus designed was finished in 1792; the wings which we see were added in 1906. It was in this building, in chamber of the House of Delegates, at the left of the entrance, that Aaron Burr was tried for high treason in 1807, and in the same room the Virginia secession convention met in 1861. In the rotunda stand Houdon's celebrated statue of Washington and a bust of Lafayetter by the same sculptor. From May, 1861, when the capital of the Confederate states was transferred from Montgomery, Alabama, to Richmond, the Confederate Congress held its sessions in this, the Confederate captiol, and here most ot the laws of the short-lived government were enacted, and many of tis policies formulated.
On the farther side of the building, above the roof of the pediment, we can see from our position the spirited equestian statue of Washington, by Thomas Crawford, which was erected here in 1858. Richmond contains many other fine monuments, including statues of Henry Clay, Stonewall Jackson, J. E. B. Stuart, Jefferson Davis, and Robert E. Lee. The one last mentioned, a work of the French sculptor, Mercie, was unveiled in 1900. The city is dotted with buildings and sites of the greatest historical interest, and surrounded by battlefields of the Civil War which are eloquent with memories. Richmond today, as we may readily judge form the view before us, is a progressive modern city. Its population in 1928 was over 194,000.
Copyright by The Keystone View CompnayCollection
Photograph Collection