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Fulton Gas Works (undated)
08/29/2013 8:00 AM by John M
An undated photo of the Fulton Gas Works and Chimborazo from the special collections at the Library of Virginia.
That is really cool, John. That’s a great angle of Chimborazo Park. Must have been taken from a plane. I’d love to know the date of this photo.
What I find fascinating is the lack of trees in any of these areas, expecially in the bottom area and the steep slopes.
Looks like they did a better job of mowing the park back then.
The view from the park looks hideous.
The weather station appears to already be in place, so this has to be after 1910. I was thinking circa 1920?
From google maps it looks like the shoreline was a bit closer to the Gas Works back in those days. I wonder if they filled in the areas where the cement silos are now on Wharf St. Maybe it’s just the angle of the shot…
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&ll=37.5227,-77.416744&spn=0.002551,0.003819&t=h&z=18
@5 i bet this photograph was made in winter. photogs often shoot architectural/municipal jobs after leaves have dropped b/c you can see the buildings better.
If you look very carefully at the hillside slightly to the left of center, about 3/4 of the way toward the top you can make out the entrance to the infamous Church Hill train tunnel.
Is the tunnel at the lower left of the picture the one that partially collapsed with the train inside of it?
@#9. The tunnel at the lower left, I believe, is the outlet to Gillies Creek. If you look at the google maps (linked above), there is a similar outlet in the same location…
Interesting how Libby Hill seems isolated. Did they fill in that gully towards Broad Street? Or is it just the perspective?
@#11. I agree that it looks drastically different today. That lower area below Libby Hill is what they call Sugar Bottom. The road curving up and to the left on the left side of the image is the road that is gated off nowadays that curves up around and into the park above Williamsburg Rd. But the sides of the hills on the right (N 31st into E. Franklin) don’t seem as high today as they do in that image. That would be a lot of fill…