A Brief History of Public Housing in the City of Richmond

The destruction of Jackson Ward or Black spaces in Richmond did not begin with the construction of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike in the 1950s. The Black areas of Richmond have always been selected as the location for public improvement projects, including an incinerator built in Jackson Ward in 1909. This incinerator was located at 15th and Marshall Streets for the purpose that “all garbage, trash and dead animals will be reduced to ashes….”² The destruction of Black spaces to improve the lives of a select few continued in the era of urban renewal. It is important to keep in mind that urban renewal was not just a Richmond story but a Virginia and United States story. Wherever they took place, urban renewal projects displaced the poor and those who were seen as disposable. One of the first projects that sought to change the landscape of Jackson Ward was the building of Gilpin Court.

The discussion of urban renewal began at the federal level during the Great Depression. Due to many Americans losing their homes and livelihoods after the Stock Market Crash of 1929, President Franklin D. Roosevelt believed the federal government had a duty to step in. With the full support of President Roosevelt, Congress passed the Housing Law of 1937, also known as the Wagner-Steagall Act. This law provided “substantial federal funding to local authorities for the construction of public housing for lower-income families and individuals.”³ The Wagner-Steagall Act decreed that “the local subdivisions would have to initiate the projects, assemble the sites and construct the buildings. In case a community where the need for the housing was urgent, but the authorities delayed action, the government would intervene and develop a low-cost housing ‘demonstration’ project.”⁴

While providing housing to those in desperate need, the Housing Act of 1937 also detailed that for every “blighted” housing unit removed from the landscape, a new public housing unit had to be built. The idea of removing “blighted” housing from the landscape would later be known as slum clearance. According to Senator Wagner, “the plan includes government aid for low-cost housing for the low-income group extending over a long period, ten-year slum clearance program, and continuation of the insurance of loans for modernization by the Federal Housing Commission.”⁵ The passage of the Housing Act of 1937 demonstrated that the United States government knew that citizens were in need and this legislation was intended to provide necessary assistance.

When the discussion of “blighted” areas shifted to local communities, a small minority of local politicians and citizens in Richmond had an immediate negative response. As soon as the topic came before the City Council, one organization spoke out against it. On May 17, 1939, the Richmond Real Estate Exchange “called upon all of its members to appear before the City Council’s ordinance committee tomorrow night and oppose plans to set up a Housing Authority for Richmond as the first step in establishing a Federal housing project here.”⁶ Alfred L. Blake, president of the Real Estate Exchange, opposed the new housing authority, saying “I am absolutely opposed to any plan that calls for the replacement of taxable property with non-taxable property and sets a privileged class. Much of the so-called slum evil and the conditions that it breeds can be eliminated by proper city health and sanitary regulations and by co-operation between the city Health Bureau and the city Building Inspector.”⁷ While some in the community opposed the establishment and the idea of the housing authority, the City Council established the Housing Authority of Richmond on October 3, 1940.⁸ On the following day, Mayor Gordon B. Ambler appointed five commissioners: Arthur P. Reynolds, W. Harry Schwarzschild Jr., and Henry J. McGuinn, with William Shands Meacham as chairman and Evelyn Byrd Purcell as vice-chairman.⁹ Once the housing authority had its commissioners, it did not hesitate to bring public housing to Richmond.

As early as November 1940, the Richmond Housing Authority (RHA) announced that the firm of Carneal, Johnston, and Wright Architects had been selected “to design and supervise the construction of one of the two slum clearance projects” and that it had tentatively selected the site for the first project.¹⁰ In the same month, RHA hired Thomas L. Cockrell as its first executive director.¹¹ With the housing authority established with an active executive director, the city of Richmond was poised to obtain financial assistance from the U.S. Housing Authority. On January 16, 1941, the Richmond City Council passed an ordinance that would begin the process of destroying Jackson Ward.¹²

In the summer of 1941, RHA announced that the new public housing development would be named after Charles Sidney Gilpin.¹³ Gilpin, an awarded-winning actor best known for his role in Euguene O’Neil’s Emperor Jones, was a pillar in Richmond’s Black society.¹⁴ Ironically, the construction of the public housing development demolished Gilpin’s home, located at 200 Charity Street.¹⁵ Richmond City council members might have thought that naming a new housing project for a local entertainer would honor his accomplishments and memory, but it could be argued that it did the opposite.

Once the federal funds were in hand, an additional ordinance dated August 19, 1941, “authorized the closing of certain streets and alleys in Gilpin Court…and also authorized the acceptance of the dedication proposed to be made by the Housing Authority of certain land for widening of certain streets, opening and extending Hickory Street in the project and to provide funds for making improvements therein, estimated to cost $57,000.”¹⁶ Then the City Council passed an additional ordinance that stated that the boundaries of the new housing projects would include, “on the east by the west of St. Paul’s Street. On the north line by the south lines of Coutts and Calhoun Streets. On the west by the east side of Chamberlayne Parkway. On the south by the north lines of Charity Street and a line connecting same between Hickory and St. Peter’s Streets.”¹⁷ With the location and the architectural firm selected and the boundaries in place, the RHA began the process of condemning homes in a section of Jackson Ward known as Apostle Town.¹⁸

As construction of Gilpin Court was underway, the United States joined World War II. To continue constructing Gilpin Court, RHA pivoted on who could occupy the public housing first. The Richmond News Leader reported on April 24, 1942 that, “this temporary change in policy of the city’s slum clearance program has been approved by the Richmond Housing Authority following notification by Hebert Emmerich, Federal Housing Commissioner, that priorities on building materials necessary to complete Gilpin Court cannot be obtained unless workers on defense projects are given preference in the occupancy of the building.”¹⁹ The article also stipulated that on the conclusion of the war, Gilpin Court “will revert to its original purpose which was to house low-income Negro families with preference given the families who were moved out of their homes to make way for the 301 dwelling units now 50 per cent complete.”²⁰ Even though a world war engulfed Europe and parts of Asia, Black Richmonders who might have had family members serving in the armed forces were still forced to leave their homes in uncertain times.

On April 15, 1943, the Richmond News Leader announced that the formal dedication of Gilpin Court would take place on April 28. The article noted that “although Gilpin Court has 301 modern housing units, only 85 units are now occupied by Negro families.”²¹ In the same article, the reporter indicates that, “… the Housing Authority began taking applications from non-war workers and in a few days received over 900 inquiries from Negro families wanting apartments at Gilpin Court.”²² On dedication day activities included:

…public inspection of the buildings, all of which are completed. The invocation will be delivered by Rev. C.C. Scott, pastor of Fifth Baptist Church. Chairman Schwarzschild will then outline the history of the Housing Authority and of Gilpin Court. Mayor Gordon B. Ambler will deliver the dedication address and will be followed by Oliver C. Winston, director of the Region 3 of FPHA who will explain the Federal government’s part in the slum clearance program.²³

It is unclear if some of the inquiries were made by the Black families forced out of their homes to build Gilpin Court. In subsequent years, RHA built six additional public housing communities to accommodate those in need: Creighton, Mosby, Whitcomb, Fairfield, and Hillside Courts. In similar fashion to Gilpin Court providing housing only to low-income Black individuals, Hillside Court served Richmond’s low-income white individuals.²⁴

Although the promise of urban renewal and the development of public housing was intended to help the less fortunate in Richmond and throughout the United States, it stripped many families the opportunity for property ownership and the opportunity to pass down generational wealth. While these public housing communities were supposed to help, one might wonder if it has served its purpose.