Community
RVA Legends — Herman Schmidt, European Store
A look into the history of Richmond places that are no longer part of our landscape.
- 500-502 East Broad Street
- 504-508 East Broad Street
- 832 East Main Street
- Established, 1865
- Demolished, 1982?
Just the place when you need specialty farinaceous goods: a store unfazed by the need for advertising.
(Library of Congress) — Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Richmond (1886) — Plate 6 — showing Gro(cery) Stores at the north-east corner of East Broad & Fifth Streets
Hermann Schmidt’s “European store” occupies two places here, one at Fifth and Broad street, Nos. 500 and 502, and the other at 832 East Main street. He makes a speciality of foreign delicacies, wines and liquors, and imported goods of the finest grades. He does business chiefly in the city and State, to the aggregate of perhaps $75,000 a year. He employs 20 persons, and runs seven delivery wagons. He has the largest wine and liquor trade of any retail house here.
(Chronicling America) — advertisement in Presbyterian of the South — June 9, 1909
He has been very successful in the business, and he owns considerable real estate here. He is the proprietor of the Transparent Ice Works on Canal and Adams streets, and is also president of the Virginia Building and Loan Association, and a member of the Chamber of Commerce. [RVCJ93]
Established in 1865 its history has been one of constant development and catering to the wants, necessities, and tastes of the public. One of the results of this was that its trade finally outgrew the accommodation of its quarters and some months ago it had to rebuild on its old site its present splendid and commodious structure.
(Chronicling America) — advertisement, Richmond Times-Dispatch — Tuesday November 10, 1908
Hermann Schmidt explores the markets on both sides of the Atlantic for all that is best in the fancy and staple grocery lines. In the house will be found twenty-two kinds of farinaceous goods, all the brands of macaroni, twenty-eight varieties of nuts and table fruits, such as raisins, figs, citron, currants, twenty-odd selections of dried and evaporated fruits, scores of chocolates and cocoas, ever known wholesome brand of American and foreign biscuits, preserves, jams, and pickles in glass, various Chinese conserves, luncheon delicacies by the hundreds, all description of sauces, and fish in oil, &c.,
(Chronicling America) — advertisement, Richmond Times-Dispatch — Sunday, March 17, 1907
American German, French, Swiss and other cheeses, canned goods of all the celebrated canneries, prepared soups, mincemeats, and plumb-puddings, champagnes, clarets, Rhine and Moselled wines, domestic white wines, Sauternes, Burgundies, and Hungarian wines, ports, sherries, and Madeiras, brandies, rums, whiskeys, gins, malt liquors, cordials, &c. The liquor list in the convenient catalog published by the house and which should be in the hands of every housekeeper, fills pages.
(Chronicling America) — advertisement, Richmond Times-Dispatch — Wednesday, February 20, 1907
The wines and brandies are of all vintages, and the whiskeys are of all ages. To say that the house of Hermann Schmidt has a magnificent Christmas stock would seem a waste of words, yet they have specialties in addition to the articles enumerated above in the way of countless delicacies for the holiday storeroom, many of which the general American public are not familiar with. Excellence of quality and purity are the watchwords of the concern. Mr. Carl Wipperman is the experienced manager and buyer of the house. [RICD]
(Chronicling America) — advertisement, Richmond Times-Dispatch — Sunday, February 10, 1907
Mr. Schmidt is a man of more than ordinary enterprise. He is the proprietor also of two grocery stores here—one on Broad and the other on Main street. He is the president of the Virginia Building and Loan Association, and is largely interested also in other local projects.
He is, in fact, one of the most subtantial men, financially, in the city. He is of German birth, but has been a resident here for twentyseven years, and for five years before that time was an exporter and importer of New York city. [RVCJ93]
March 2020 — looking towards the former 500-508 East Broad Street
The north-east corner of Broad Street underwent massive changes as the result of Project One, and is today the home to one of its survivors, the Broad Street Marriott built 1982-1984.
Project One was Richmond’s kitchen sink attempt at urban renewal in the early 80′s. It had everything: a new convention center, office tower, plus this thing called Sixth Street Marketplace, based on Norfolk’s Waterside concept. And there would be these two long-established Richmond fixtures — Thalhimers and Miller & Rhoads — helping ground the experience.
So not everything turned out well, but the Marriott managed to survive and even play host to a boatload of cyclists during the UCI championship in 2015.
(Hermann Schmidt, European Store is part of the Atlas RVA! Project)
Print Sources
- [RICD] Richmond Dispatch. Wednesday, December 5, 1894.
- [RVCJ93] Richmond, Virginia: The City on the James: The Book of Its Chamber of Commerce and Principal Business Interests. G. W. Engelhardt. 1893.
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Government
City hosting public meeting on replacement of Byrd Park Reservoir roof
The Byrd Park Reservoir was built in 1876 and has been serving the City of Richmond residents and surrounding counties continuously since then. The Reservoir operates as two finished water tanks. Upgrades and maintenance have occurred over the years to ensure peak operating capacity.
The City of Richmond Department of Public Utilities invites residents, commuters, and visitors who utilize areas around Byrd Park to attend a public meeting to learn more about the new phase of the Byrd Park Reservoir Roof Replacement Project. The meeting is from 6 p.m. until 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 23, at the Byrd Park Roundhouse at 621 Westover Road.
The Byrd Park Reservoir was built in 1876 and has been serving the City of Richmond residents and surrounding counties continuously since then. The Reservoir operates as two finished water tanks. Upgrades and maintenance have occurred over the years to ensure peak operating capacity. DPU is in the process of additional upgrades to improve the distribution system reliability and increase the operational flexibility of facilities associated with the reservoir. The concrete roofs are reaching the end of their useful life and will be replaced by two new aluminum roofs.
Construction will be sequenced to maintain the use of the park and will take place within a fenced area, with boundaries shifting as the work progresses. Access to the rest of the park and its trails will be open to the public.
Attendees of the public meeting can expect to learn more about the scope and review project plans.
For more details about this project, visit the project page here.
Community
Tacos, Tattoos, and Beer
I doubt any spots are left but you can still swing by and get some killer tacos on Tuesday.
Love tattoos? Love free tacos?
We’re celebrating our 2 year anniversary with a block party @true_tattoo_rva where if you get a TBT or Taco related flash piece you’ll get free tacos from us for life
We’ll drop the flash sheet on Tuesday (3/14)
Just show us your dope ink when you purchase two tacos, and we’ll give you the third one for free
On Tuesday, March 14th, we’ll start booking slots, and we’ll have walk-ins the day of the event. Call @true_tattoo_rva to book appointments
We’ll be on-site slinging tacos and vibes with our amigos @capsoulbrewing pouring up suds.
We’ll have raffles and prizes available from our amigos as well!
Downtown
Feds identify ‘significant’ ongoing concerns with Virginia special education
After failing to meet federal requirements to support students with disabilities in 2020, the Virginia Department of Education will remain under further review by the federal government after continuing to fall short in monitoring and responding to complaints against school districts, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Education.
By Nathaniel Cline
After failing to meet federal requirements to support students with disabilities in 2020, the Virginia Department of Education will remain under further review by the federal government after continuing to fall short in monitoring and responding to complaints against school districts, according to a letter from the U.S. Department of Education.
“We have significant new or continued areas of concerns with the State’s implementation of general supervision, dispute resolution, and confidentiality requirements” of IDEA, stated the Feb. 17 letter from the Office of Special Education Programs.
The U.S. Department of Education first flagged its concerns in a June 2020 “Differentiated Monitoring and Support Report” on how Virginia was complying with the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, following a 2019 visit by the Office of Special Education Programs.
IDEA, passed in 1975, requires all students with disabilities to receive a “free appropriate public education.”
The Virginia Department of Education disputed some of the federal government’s findings in a June 19, 2020 letter.
Samantha Hollins, assistant superintendent of special education and student services, wrote that verbal complaints “are addressed via technical assistance phone calls to school divisions” and staff members “regularly work to resolve parent concerns” by providing “guidance documentation” and acting as intermediaries between school employees and parents.
However, some parents and advocates say systemic problems in how the state supports families of children with disabilities persist. At the same time, a June 15, 2022 state report found one of Virginia’s most critical teacher shortage areas is in special education.
“Appropriate policies and procedures for both oversight and compliance, and their implementation, are crucial to ensuring that children with disabilities and their families are afforded their rights under IDEA and that a free appropriate public education (FAPE) is provided,” said the Feb. 17 letter from the Office of Special Education Programs.
While the U.S. Department of Education wrote that it believes the Virginia Department of Education has resolved some of the problems identified in 2020, including resolving complaints filed by parents and creating a mediation plan, it said it has identified “new and continued areas of concern” and intends to continue monitoring Virginia’s provision of services for students with disabilities.
Among those are ongoing concerns over the state’s complaint and due process systems that “go beyond the originally identified concerns” originally found. The Office of Special Education Programs writes it has concluded Virginia “does not have procedures and practices that are reasonably designed to ensure a timely resolution process” for due process complaints.
The department also said it has concerns over the practices of at least five school districts that are inconsistent with IDEA’s regulations.
The decision comes after the U.S. Department of Education announced in November that Fairfax County Public Schools, Virginia’s largest school district, failed to provide thousands of students with disabilities with the educational services they were entitled to during remote learning at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Virginia is also facing a federal class-action lawsuit over claims that its Department of Education and Fairfax County Public Schools violated the rights of disabled students under IDEA.
Parents involved in the case said the Virginia Department of Education and Fairfax school board “have actively cultivated an unfair and biased” hearing system to oversee challenges to local decisions about disabled students, according to the suit.
Charles Pyle, a spokesman for the Virginia Department of Education, said in an email that “VDOE continues to work with our federal partners to ensure Virginia’s compliance with all federal requirements, as we have since the ‘Differentiated Monitoring and Support Report’ was issued in June 2020.”
The federal government said if Virginia could not demonstrate full compliance with IDEA requirements, it could impose conditions on grant funds the state receives to support early intervention and special education services for children with disabilities and their families.
Last year, Virginia received almost $13.5 billion in various grants linked to IDEA, according to a July 1, 2022 letter to former Superintendent of Public Instruction Jillian Balow, who resigned on March 9.
James Fedderman, president of the Virginia Education Association, blasted Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration after the findings were released.
“While the Youngkin administration has been busy waging culture wars in schools, his administration has failed to meet basic compliance requirements with the U.S. Department of Education for students with disabilities,” Fedderman said. “This failure threatens our federal funding for students with disabilities and is a disservice to Virginia families who need critical special needs support.”
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