Misplaced Pages

#62937

57-475: Church Hill Tunnel is an old Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O) tunnel, built in the early 1870s, which extends approximately 4,000 feet (1,200 meters) under the Church Hill district of Richmond , Virginia , United States. On October 2, 1925, the tunnel collapsed on a work train, killing four men and trapping a steam locomotive and ten flat cars . Rescue efforts only resulted in further collapse, and

114-564: A nickname that had been used colloquially for the railroad for several years, after the mascot kitten used in ads since 1933. Under Watkins' leadership, Chessie System then merged with Seaboard Coast Line Industries , holding company for Seaboard Coast Line Railroad and several other great railroads of the Southeast (including Louisville and Nashville Railroad , Clinchfield Railroad and others) to form CSX Corporation , with Chessie and SCL as its leading subsidiaries. Watkins became CEO of

171-584: A number of well known passenger trains including the George Washington , Fast Flying Virginian , Sportsman , Pere Marquette , and Resort Special . While the George Washington was the railroad's flagship, the Sportsman (which connected Detroit with Washington, D.C., and Newport News) and the Resort Special were also well-traveled trains on the system. Much of the reason for

228-571: A simple granite sarcophagus. It was built in the Presidents Circle section of the cemetery and dedicated by Virginia governor Henry A. Wise on July 5, 1858. The monument was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1971. President John Tyler was buried in the Presidents Circle section of the cemetery in 1862 and a monument was dedicated by Congress in 1915. His death was not recognized in Washington, D.C., due to his allegiance to

285-420: Is believed that most of the western portion of the tunnel which has not caved in is filled with water. The western entrance can still be seen at the southeast end of an alley off of 18th Street, just north of Marshall. A Virginia historical marker was placed at the site in 2012. The eastern end is hidden in a small, dense thicket of brush just north of the intersection of E. Franklin and N. 31st Streets. This end of

342-520: Is believed to be the longest in the United States and is still in use by CSX Transportation , the successor entity to the C&;O, which also owns the abandoned tunnel. The viaduct is also the highest level of Richmond's famed Triple Crossing , with railroads at three levels, believed to be only one of two such places in the world, near where it crosses Richmond's flood wall . After completion of

399-474: Is covered with a concrete plug, but for years, the eastern end was used as part of a turning wye for a connection with the Southern Railway 's line to West Point and could be entered by venturesome trespassers . Based upon a 1998 exploratory expedition by Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Mark Holmberg, who explored portions from the eastern end with professional caving personnel and equipment, it

456-435: The streetcar line to the area for several days. At that time there were no homes in the area, as most buildings were around 25th and Broad near Nolde Brothers Bakery where the tunnel crossed the middle of Church Hill. Approximately 200 workmen crawled under flat cars and then escaped out the eastern end of the tunnel, including the fireman Benjamin F. Mosby (who died hours later at Grace Hospital because of burns caused by

513-581: The 1880s when coal resources began to be developed and shipped eastward. In 1881 the Peninsula Extension was completed from Richmond to the new city of Newport News located on Hampton Roads, the East’s largest ice-free port. Transportation of coal to Newport News where it was loaded on coastwise shipping and transported to the Northeast became a staple of the C&O’s business at this time. In 1888

570-754: The 1890s, the C&O acquired the Richmond and Alleghany Railroad (R&A) which had been built east from the Blue Ridge Mountains along the towpath of the James River and Kanawha Canal , proving an alternate "water level" route to Richmond following the north bank of the James River and avoiding a more circuitous route which crossed the North Mountain and Afton Mountain via the Blue Ridge Tunnel and reached Richmond via

627-454: The C&O absorbed the Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville Railroad, which had been built diagonally across the state of Indiana from Cincinnati to Hammond in the preceding decade. This gave the C&O a direct line from Cincinnati to the great railroad hub of Chicago. The first small terminal and repair shops were located at Richmond beginning in 1860. After expanding to Huntington in 1872,

SECTION 10

#1732771756063

684-614: The C&O built the Cincinnati Division from Huntington down the South bank of the Ohio River and across the river at Cincinnati, connecting with the “Big Four” and other Midwestern Railroads. From 1900 to 1920 most of the C&O’s line tapping the rich bituminous coal fields of West Virginia and Kentucky were completed, and the C&O as it was known throughout the rest of the 20th Century was essentially in place. In 1910,

741-674: The Louisa Railroad of Louisa County, Virginia, begun in 1836. By 1850 the Louisa had been built east to Richmond and west to Charlottesville, and in keeping with its new and larger vision, was renamed the Virginia Central Railroad . The Commonwealth of Virginia owned a portion of Virginia Central stock and financed the Blue Ridge Railroad to accomplish the task of crossing the first mountain barrier to

798-471: The Ohio River. Thus the only connection to the West was by packet boats operating on the river. Because the mineral resources of West Virginia and Kentucky hadn’t been fully realized yet, the C&O suffered through the bad times brought on by the financial panic Depression of 1873, and went into receivership in 1878. When reorganized it was renamed The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Company. Conditions improved in

855-516: The United States, and in 1963, under the guidance of Cyrus S. Eaton , helped start the modern merger era by "affiliating" with the Baltimore & Ohio . The two lines' services, personnel, motive power and rolling stock, and facilities were gradually integrated. Under the leadership of Hays T. Watkins , in 1973 Chessie System was created as a holding company for the C&O, B&O and Western Maryland Railway . In effect, C&O formally adopted

912-526: The Virginians with the money needed to complete the line through what is now West Virginia. The old Covington and Ohio Railroad properties were conveyed to the C&O in keeping with its new mission of linking the Atlantic Ocean with the “Western Waters” of the Ohio River. Huntington intended to connect the C&O with his Western and Midwestern holdings, but ended up stopping construction at

969-557: The body of Mason was recovered, on October 10. At that point, only Lewis and Smith were still unaccounted for. Their bodies were never found. The following spring, the Virginia State Corporation Commission (SCC), which regulated the state's railroads, ordered the western end of the tunnel sealed for safety reasons. Left inside was the work train, complete with a 4-4-0 steam locomotive (C&O switch engine no. 231) and ten flat cars. The western end

1026-527: The burial of two U.S. Presidents, John Adams and John Quincy Adams , in a crypt below the church. President James Monroe was originally interred in Marble Cemetery in New York City when he died in 1831. Virginia petitioned to have his remains reinterred to Hollywood Cemetery. The Gothic Revival James Monroe Tomb monument designed by Albert Lybrock resembles a bird cage surrounding

1083-1070: The burial sites of fallen Confederate soldiers. The pyramid became a symbol of the Hollywood Memorial Association, appearing on its stationery as well as on the front of a pamphlet of buried soldiers, the Register of the Confederate Dead . William Byrd III , a wealthy planter, politician and military officer, was facing financial problems and divided his estate in Richmond known as the Belvidere into several plots 100-acres in size for sale. The Harvie family bought several of these lots which became known as "Harvie's Woods." In 1847, Joshua J. Fry and William H. Haxall, visited Mount Auburn Cemetery in Boston, Massachusetts. They were impressed with Mount Auburn and proposed

1140-650: The burials of 25 Confederate States Army officers including generals J.E.B. Stuart , Fitzhugh Lee and George Pickett . The cemetery contains the remains of over 11,000 confederate soldiers, the largest number buried in one cemetery. They are memorialized by the Monument of the Confederate War Dead, a 90-foot tall granite pyramid built in 1869. The cemetery is considered the unofficial National Confederate Cemetery and has hosted ceremonies commemorating Confederate Memorial Day since 1866. Hollywood Cemetery

1197-539: The burials of two U.S. Presidents, the others being Arlington National Cemetery and United First Parish Church . Due to Richmond's role as capital of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War , the cemetery contains the burials of many government officials of the confederacy including president Jefferson Davis and secretary of war James A. Seddon . Hollywood contains

SECTION 20

#1732771756063

1254-439: The cemetery in the rural garden style. It was originally planned to be named Mount Vernon Cemetery, however Notman proposed the name Hollywood due to the abundance of holly trees on the property. Oliver P. Baldwin delivered the dedication address in 1849. Hollywood Cemetery became so popular, that by the mid-1850s, the city of Richmond implemented an omnibus to transport visitors there every afternoon. A streetcar line

1311-404: The cemetery into the 1900s. The cemetery claims to contain the burial of 18,000 confederate soldiers, however researchers believe the number is actually several thousand lower. It is the largest single burial location of confederate soldiers. It contains the burials of 25 Confederate Army officers including J.E.B. Stuart , Fitzhugh Lee and George Pickett . At George Pickett's request, he

1368-471: The cemetery purchased additional land funded by the confederate government. By April 1865, the cemetery contained more than 11,000 confederate soldiers, which accounted for more than half of the total burials in the cemetery. After the war, the Ladies' Memorial Association worked to reinter 2,935 confederate soldiers from Gettysburg to Hollywood Cemetery. Confederate Civil War veterans continued to be buried in

1425-481: The cemetery. One interesting grave of Florence Rees, a girl that died at 3 years old in 1862 of scarlet fever. The grave includes a cast-iron statue of a dog that stands watch over her. A local legend claims the statue was moved to the cemetery to prevent it from being melted down and used for bullets in the Civil War. There is also the legend of Richmond Vampire which purports that William Wortham Pool , buried in

1482-471: The coal flowed eastward for export in massive quantities. The construction of the tunnel was problematic. Unlike the bedrock through which the C&O carved its western tunnels, Richmond's blue marl clay shrink-swell soil tended to change with rainfall and groundwater, causing deadly cave-ins during the construction. The tunnel has remained troublesome throughout its life due to groundwater seepage and safety concerns, even after abandonment in 1925. In

1539-592: The confederacy. His burial ceremony was escorted by Jefferson Davis and address given by Armistead C. Gordon . Confederate president Jefferson Davis died in 1889. He was initially interred in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans, and reinterred to Hollywood Cemetery in 1893. A life-size statue made of bronze sculpted by George Julian Zolnay was added near his grave. In 1869, a 90-foot (27 m) high granite pyramid designed by Charles H. Dimmock

1596-471: The country. Hollywood Cemetery (Richmond, Virginia) Hollywood Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located at 412 South Cherry Street in the Oregon Hill neighborhood of Richmond, Virginia . It was established in 1847 and designed by the landscape architect John Notman . It is 135-acres in size and overlooks the James River . It is one of three places in the United States that contains

1653-506: The creation of a similar rural cemetery in Richmond. It was through their efforts and the subsequent cooperation of local citizens that Hollywood Cemetery was created. Fry, Haxall, and 40 other prominent Richmond citizens purchased 42 acres from Lewis E. Harvie on June 3, 1847, for $ 4,075 to establish the cemetery. The founders hired John Notman , who was the landscape architect for Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia, to design

1710-785: The early 1930s, and had wanted to be buried with her husband in the Hollywood Cemetery.  But the Hollywood Ladies Memorial Society, which then controlled the Gettysburg Hill portion of the cemetery, would not allow it.” Richmond Discovery tour guide Jim DuPriest said.” So, Mrs. Pickett was buried in Abbey Mausoleum [which was] nearby, besides, and adjacent to Arlington National Cemetery in Northern Virginia.” … “Near

1767-565: The end of the ceremony, the families sprinkled soil from Mrs. Pickett’s home in Chuckatuck, Nansemond County, Virginia.” The cemetery is unofficially considered the Confederate National Cemetery. On May 31, 1866, Hollywood Cemetery held its first Confederate Memorial Day celebration, and over 20,000 people were in attendance. The celebrations "became imbued with cultural and religious symbolism that underscored

Church Hill Tunnel - Misplaced Pages Continue

1824-821: The former C&O also continue to transport intermodal and freight traffic, as well as West Virginia bituminous coal east to Hampton Roads and west to the Great Lakes as part of CSXT, a Fortune 500 company which was one of seven Class I railroads operating in North America at the beginning of the 21st century. At the end of 1970 C&O operated 5,067 mi (8,155 km) of road on 10,219 mi (16,446 km) of track, not including WM or B&O and its subsidiaries. The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway never spent lavishly on streamlined passenger trains, or passenger service in general, opting to put most of its resources into moving coal and freight. However, it did have

1881-452: The former Virginia Central Railroad. However, the R&;A terminated at Richmond's Byrd Street Station in the downtown area (7th and Canal Streets), and did not have a track connection to the C&O which ended at Shockoe Bottom at Broad Street, some distance away. The Virginia State Capitol and its grounds were directly between the two terminals, so creativity for a less direct connection

1938-509: The gravity of what it meant to be a southerner." The second Confederate Memorial Day celebration in 1867 at Hollywood Cemetery differed greatly from the one the year before. There were fewer marches and military bands and more women and children in attendance. In 1876, the Gothic Revival stone structure designed to look like a ruined medieval tower was built at the entrance to house the chapel, office and receiving vault. In 1915,

1995-439: The largest rail hub and third largest city in the country, passenger service to it was discontinued in 1933. Trains continued to run as west as Hammond, Indiana , a Chicago suburb, until 1949. It had accessed the city’s Central Station (and previously, Dearborn Station ) via the former Chicago, Cincinnati and Louisville Line. Chessie sported two kittens, Nip and Tuck. During World War II, Chessie's "husband" — Peake — (creating

2052-666: The merged company. Over the next five years, the CSX railroads began consolidating into one mega-railroad. The process began when SCL merged its railroads into the Seaboard System Railroad in 1982. Western Maryland was merged into B&O on May 1, 1983. B&O was merged into C&O on April 30, 1987. Seaboard changed its name to CSX Transportation on July 1, 1986. Finally, C&O merged into CSX Transportation on Aug. 31, 1987. After acquiring 42% of Conrail in 1999, CSX became one of four major railroad systems left in

2109-533: The name "Chessie Peak", as in Chesapeake) was shown with a bandage on his paw as a war veteran returning from military service. While the kitten was created by the Austrian artist Guido Grünewald, the success of Chessie as a marketing tool is often credited to Lionel Probert, at the time an assistant to the C&O president. C&O continued to be one of the more profitable and financially sound railways in

2166-426: The new tunnel left the old Virginia Central line west of 17th Street and curved southeasterly to enter the tunnel east of N. 18th Street and north of E. Marshall Street under Cedar Street, on the western slope of what is technically Union Hill. The east end of the tunnel appeared just north of Williamsburg Road near 31st Street, below Libby Terrace Park. The Peninsula Subdivision was completed and opened in late 1881, and

2223-545: The original entrance was closed and the present one was opened to better facilitate cars. The cemetery expanded in 1877 with the purchase of an additional thirty-three acres along the river. On November 12, 1969, Hollywood Cemetery was added to the National Register of Historic Places. The Palmer Chapel Mausoleum was built 1992, adding 730 crypts for caskets and 160 cremation niches. There are many local legends surrounding certain tombs and grave sites in

2280-402: The popularity of C&O's passenger trains was because of Chessie, the sleeping kitten , one of the most successful and fondly remembered marketing campaigns ever developed. Chessie was so popular when she debuted in 1933 that the C&O could not keep enough merchandise in stock. The C&O mostly focused on passenger trains in the eastern half of its system. Despite connecting to Chicago,

2337-404: The primary back shops were established on 100 acres of land along Fifth Avenue. These facilities were expanded and modernized over a five year period in three phases beginning in 1916. Another large shop site was established at Clifton Forge, Virginia in 1890 on 1,200 acres of land, including the classification yard. In 1929 the system's primary freight car repair and erecting facility was built at

Church Hill Tunnel - Misplaced Pages Continue

2394-537: The primary components of the Family Lines System , to become a key portion of CSX Transportation (CSXT) in the 1980s. C&O's passenger services ended in 1971 with the formation of Amtrak . Today Amtrak's tri-weekly Cardinal passenger train follows the historic and scenic route of the C&O through the New River Gorge in one of the more rugged sections of West Virginia. The rails of

2451-415: The ruptured boiler), but the engineer Thomas Joseph Mason was killed; initial reports claimed that, besides Mason, six black laborers were unaccounted for, although the missing number of men was later scaled down to two, identified as day laborers Richard Lewis and “H. Smith”. During the next week, the community anxiously watched rescue efforts, but each time progress was made, further cave-ins occurred; only

2508-515: The tunnel is owned by the C&O's successor entity, CSX Transportation . The tunnel, which is still considered dangerous, was featured in a 1998 newspaper article by Richmond Times-Dispatch reporter Mark Holmberg and photographer P. Kevin Morley, who explored portions from the eastern portal with professional caving personnel and equipment. Efforts to unseal the tunnel and extract the buried work train have been unsuccessful. Church Hill Tunnel

2565-535: The tunnel is still open for some distance, but its floor and the area outside are swampy. In June 2006, the Virginia Historical Society and other parties announced that they were investigating the possibility of recovering the train and bodies; the Society planned to keep the train for preservation. The History Channel expressed interest in participating in the project. However, when a hole

2622-425: The tunnel was eventually sealed for safety reasons. Portions of the tunnel have continued to wreak havoc above in the years since, and several houses and a wall of a church have been destroyed by sinkholes near 25th and Broad Streets . More recently, tennis courts and the wall of a house seem to have been victims farther east. Long the subject of community speculation and trespassing incidents at its eastern portal,

2679-760: The tunnel. With a connection just south of the new Main Street Station , it was now possible for traffic to come off the old Virginia Central and enter the Peninsula Subdivision without using the Church Hill Tunnel. Portions of the viaduct became known as the Rivanna Subdivision Trestle (west of Rivanna Junction) and Peninsula Subdivision Trestle (from the former Brown Street Yard through Main Street Station and Rivanna Junction east to Fulton Yard). The viaduct

2736-427: The viaduct in 1901, the Church Hill Tunnel fell into disuse for over twenty years. In 1925, to add capacity, the railroad began efforts to restore it to usable condition. On October 2, while repairs were under way, a work train was trapped by a collapse of 150 feet (45.72 m) of the tunnel near the western end, below Jefferson Park (close to the intersection of N. 18th Street and E. Marshall). The authorities shut down

2793-679: The west end of the mammoth yard at Russell, Kentucky , called the Raceland Car Shops. By the early 1960s the C&O was headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio . In 1972, under the leadership of Cyrus Eaton , it became part of the Chessie System , along with the Baltimore and Ohio and Western Maryland Railway . The Chessie System was later combined with the Seaboard Coast Line and Louisville and Nashville, both

2850-466: The west. During the Civil War the Virginia Central played a key role in several battles but was a target for Federal armies. By 1865 it only had five miles of track still in operation and almost no cash to rebuild. Officials realized that they would have to get capital to rebuild from outside the economically devastated South and succeeded in getting Collis Huntington interested. He supplied

2907-697: Was added in the 1860s. At the outbreak of the American Civil War, the cemetery directors set aside two acres for confederate soldier burials which became known as the Soldiers' Section. Richmond citizens became outraged when they learned that soldiers that died in local hospitals were buried in potter's fields . In response to the outrage, the city increased the number of burials of dead soldiers at Hollywood and established Oakwood Cemetery across town for additional burials. The initial two acres assigned for soldier burials became full by July 1862 and

SECTION 50

#1732771756063

2964-821: Was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. The cemetery is in the Oregon Hill neighborhood of Richmond. It is 135 acres in size and overlooks the James River. It is one of the most visited cemeteries in Virginia. Hollywood Cemetery is the only cemetery besides Arlington National Cemetery that contains the burials of two U.S. Presidents. Although the United First Parish Church in Quincy, Massachusetts , contains

3021-626: Was built as a memorial to the more than 11,000 enlisted men of the Confederate Army buried in the cemetery. The monument is made of roughly cut James River granite blocks. The monument is inscribed with text in Latin that translates to, "In eternal memory of those who stood for God and Country." It was a project supported by the Hollywood Ladies' Memorial Association , a group of Southern women dedicated to honoring and caring for

3078-543: Was buried among his men in his native Richmond when he died in 1875. LaSalle “Sallie” Corbell Pickett hoped she could be buried there too. Women were not allowed to be buried in the soldiers’ section of Richmond's Hollywood Cemetery at the time of Mrs. Pickett’s death in 1931. In 1998, for the first time a woman's remains have ever been allowed in this area, Mrs. Pickett was reburied in the Gettysburg soldiers’ section of Hollywood Cemetery by her husband. “Mrs. Pickettt died in

3135-707: Was completed in 1873 for the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway (C&O), which was seeking to extend its trackage (of the former Virginia Central Railroad ) from a terminus in the Shockoe Valley section of downtown Richmond to connect with their new Peninsula Subdivision extending approximately 75 miles (120 km) southeast down the Virginia Peninsula to reach Collis Potter Huntington 's new coal pier in Newport News, Virginia . The tracks to

3192-552: Was drilled through the tunnel's seal and a camera was placed inside, the tunnel was discovered to be filled with silt and water, meaning that an excavation of the tunnel would likely cause it to further collapse and cause several homes on Church Hill to be engulfed by massive sinkholes. The project was put on hold. The Church Hill Tunnel also has been attached to the urban legend of the Richmond Vampire . Chesapeake and Ohio Railway The C&O traces its origins to

3249-492: Was needed. To utilize the new "water level" line to ship coal to Newport News, and to avoid the troublesome tunnel as an added benefit, the C&O constructed a 3-mile-long (4.8 km) double-track elevated viaduct along the riverfront extending between the area of Hollywood Cemetery east past downtown Richmond, the Shockoe Valley, and Church Hill to join the Peninsula Subdivision at what became Fulton Yard east of

#62937