Granite was an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Chesterfield County, Virginia Chesterfield County is located just south of Richmond in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county's borders are primarily defined by the James River to the north and the Appomattox River to the south. Its county seat is Chesterfield Court H ...

. It was originally located along the

Richmond and Danville Railroad The Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D) Company was a railroad that operated independently from 1847 until 1894, first in the U.S. state of Virginia, and later on of track in nine states. Chartered on March 9, 1847, the railroad completed its ...

five miles west of

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

and about a mile south of the rapids of the James River along

Powhite Creek Powhite Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed April 1, 2011 stream rising near the unincorporated community of Bon Air in Chesterfield County and flowing into th ...

. Most of the Granite area of Chesterfield County was annexed by the

independent city An independent city or independent town is a city or town that does not form part of another general-purpose local government entity (such as a province). Historical precursors In the Holy Roman Empire, and to a degree in its successor states ...

of Richmond on January 1, 1970.

A community in the stone industry

According to documents on file at the

Library of Virginia The Library of Virginia in Richmond, Virginia, is the library agency of the Commonwealth of Virginia. It serves as the archival agency and the reference library for Virginia's seat of government. The Library moved into a new building in 1997 and ...

, in April 1872, notice was published in Petersburg that Mathew Hall had been appointed postmaster of a new U.S. Post Office at Granite. Granite was named for the

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...

rock formations which underlie the rapids of the river at the geological

fall line A fall line (or fall zone) is the area where an upland region and a coastal plain meet and is typically prominent where rivers cross it, with resulting rapids or waterfalls. The uplands are relatively hard crystalline basement rock, and the coa ...

which begin downstream from the current Williams Island Dam. Mining this granite was the basis for quarries which were located on both sides of the river in the vicinity. Granite stone quarried nearby was used to construct the

State, War and Navy building The Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB)—formerly known as the Old Executive Office Building (OEOB), and originally as the State, War, and Navy Building—is a U.S. government building situated just west of the White House in the U.S. ca ...

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, and to build the 3-foot granite walls of Richmond's Gothic City Hall at 10th and Capitol Streets which was completed in 1894. (It became known as "Old City Hall" when replaced in 1972 with a new structure). However, some quarrying operations had already been active in the area since the early 18th century. Descendants of slaves lived in Granite where they were a substantial labor source for the nearby quarries. Black churches were established, but only a few remnants are indications of the existence of the town and former residents. In the 20th century, they had mostly been displaced by gentrification from the expanding

City of Richmond The City of Richmond was a local government area about east of Melbourne, the state capital of Victoria, Australia. The city covered an area of , and existed from 1855 until 1994. History Richmond was incorporated as a municipality on 24 A ...

with new roads and residential suburbs such as Stratford Hills and Southampton. Quarries and companies which operated near Granite were listed in ''Mineral Resources of Virginia'' by Thomas Leonard Watson, Ray Smith Bassler,

Heinrich Ries Heinrich Ries (April 30, 1871 – April 11, 1951) was an American economic geologist, born in Brooklyn, New York, and educated at Columbia University and at the University of Berlin. He was employed principally at Cornell University, initially as ...

, and Roy Jay, published in 1907 as: *Granite Development Company Quarry *Hawkins Quarry *Krim Quarries *McIntosh Quarries *Middendorf Quarries *Netherwood Quarries *Old Dominion Granite Company's quarries At that time (1907), Granite Station was located on the Southern Railway (successor to the Richmond and Danville Railroad) and the McIntosh Quarry had a spur track. The McIntosh Quarry furnished the stone used in the approaches and steps in the renovation and expansion of the

Virginia State Capitol The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government of the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the third capital city of the U.S. state of Virginia. (The first two were Jamestown and Williamsburg.) It houses the oldest elected ...

which had recently been completed (1904–06).

Suburban growth reaches Granite

Manchester merged with Richmond in 1910 and the combined city grew rapidly. Soon Granite was not a remote place. As the land around the Granite area was developed with new streets and housing after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Granite lost its separate identity as suburban growth overtook it. A portion of modern-day Forest Hill Avenue was earlier named Granite Road, and extended from Westover Hills into Chesterfield County, ending at Bon Air. Most of the Granite area of Chesterfield County was annexed by the

of Richmond on January 1, 1970. The neighborhoods in the city in the area of Granite include Granite Acres and Willow Oaks. Nearby, Netherwood Drive was named for the former quarry at its western end. Since 1959, Granite Recreation Corporation has occupied the former site of the Granite Development Company Quarry. The entrance driveway off Glyndon Lane has a private grade crossing of the railroad.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Granite Geography of Chesterfield County, Virginia Geography of Richmond, Virginia

A community in the stone industry

Suburban growth reaches Granite

See also

References