1418 Franklin Street Narrative and Bibliography

1418 Franklin Street is located in an area of Fredericksburg that was annexed up to Sunken Road in the mid 1850s1. There was, at the time, little development in the area. Modern day Franklin Street was at the foot of Marye’s Heights (Also referred to as Marie’s Heights) and just below Sunken Road and the stone wall2. There were likely few trees and small, unpaved roads surrounding the area3. While professional maps do not show developing roads, battle plan maps made in the Civil War consistently show small paths, regardless of their use in battle4. The land was not used for agriculture, nor residential development, until the 1920s. Maps that pre-date 1910 do not display building markers in the area5, indicating that it was not desirable to live at the foot of Marye’s Heights. 

    There are two reasons that development did not occur in the area until the early 20th century. It was, firstly, a swamp that needed to be drained and filled6. Houses built there would have a weak foundation and living there would not be sustainable. Secondly, after the civil war, the area surrounding Marye’s Heights would become a popular location for African-Americans to live, particularly the western side of the hills, now recognized as the College Heights neighborhood7. On Marye’s Heights itself would be the alms house, an integrated poor house that would become the reason that Marye’s Heights would then be referred to colloquially as Poor House Hill8. Both of these factors would make the lots cheaper to buy, but would also make the area undesirable for 19th century white residents to develop housing on. Despite the environment, the African American community of Fredericksburg did try to further develop the area by purchasing a lot near Franklin Street to use as a burial ground. The Fredericksburg City Council never took action, and the plan never came to full fruition9.

    It is only after the Normal School, now the University of Mary Washington, bought land on Marye’s Heights that the area became more desirable for investors. Upon doing so, the University would move the alms house further south on Marye’s Heights before moving the structure in 1912 and building what would become the president’s house for a time10. Removing the integrated poor house and removing the significance of what had made Marye’s Heights known as “Poor House Hill” would effectively change the perception of the surrounding area. It was now land surrounding a college that could potentially be held as an investment. J.W. Masters, a local business man, is the last person to buy the lot to use as passive investment income.

Masters is also the most well known person to have owned the lot. He was the owner of Masters Co., a lumber and building materials company. When he visited Fredericksburg in the late 1880s, The Free Lance wrote an article about him and then followed up with another article to inform the public that he had moved into Fredericksburg. Masters moved into Fredericksburg during a time where the city was trying to expand and encourage business to move into town, as is evident by the massive number of lots being sold on Washington Avenue11, which would then become one of the most expensive streets live on12. This implies that Fredericksburg’s expansion would continue to move westward, eventually into the Franklin Street area. 

During his time in Fredericksburg, Masters would buy and sell multiple lots at a rapid pace, but it was only when A.C. Garrison bought the area in 1924 that residential development on the lot began13. It is around this time that the area is referred to as College Terrace in court documents14. The house was built from 1924-1925 and was initially rented out to people such as J.B. Stone Jr., a local electrician. By 1930, Franklin Street was named, though house numbers were not stable until the late 1930s. 1418 Franklin Street is listed by Stone as 1414 Franklin Street on the US census15, Garrison listed it as 1418 on his taxes16, and the 1930 Land Plat map listed it as 1420 before crossing out the house number and Garrison’s name to replace them with 1418 and the next owner’s name, Paul Green17. The area as a whole was not commercially developed, but rather homes are being independently built on individual lots. Development was sporadic and did not follow a pattern, much of the land was still unused (figure 1)18.  

(figure 1.)

Green, a driver for Farmers Creamery Co., buys the house in 193819, after it had decreased in value during the Great Depression20. Green is a part of a large number of people moving to Fredericksburg between 1930-1940, when the city’s population nearly doubled21. Both Green and Stone’s jobs place the western portion of College Terrace as a neighborhood of predominantly working class blue collar people. Stone and Green’s yearly wages were slightly lower than the median in 192922 and 193923 24 respectively, which further supports the hypothesized working class status of the neighborhood. Both censuses from 1930 to 1940 show that many residents on Franklin Street are living with family members25 26, Green and his wife are an unusual exception to this trend. It was in the 1940s that Franklin Street’s numbering system became stable. Alterations were not made to the house by Green until 1952, when Paul Green demolished and then rebuilt an old garage, and again in 1958 when he repaired the porch. The Smith family bought the house in 1969 and continue to reside there.27

NOTES

  1. Ronald E. Shibley, In Fredericksburg: The Past & Presence of an Old Virginia Town. Fredericksburg, VA (Virginia: Parson Weems Press, 1984), 2.
  2. Robert Knox Sneden, Plan of attack on Marie’s Heights, Fredericksburg Va. By Maj. Genl. John Sedgwick, USA, with the 6th Army Corps. Sunday May 3rd. (to 1865, 1863) Map.
  3. Map of Fredericksburg, Va., and vicinity. (1862) Map.
  4. Robert Knox Sneden, Plan of the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., Decr. 13.([to 1865, 1862) Map.
  5. Jacob Chace. Gray’s New Map of Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania Co Va.. (Fredericksburg, Virginia: O. W. Gray & Son, 1878), Map.
  6. Shibley, In Fredericksburg: The Past & Presence of an Old Virginia Town. Fredericksburg, VA, 47.
  7. Ruth Coder Fitzgerald, A Different Story : a Black History of Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania, Virginia (Fredericksburg, Va: Unicorn, 1979), 181. 
  8.  Fitzgerald, A Different Story : a Black History of Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania, Virginia, 181.
  9. FItzgerald, A Different Story : a Black History of Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania, Virginia 223.
  10.  Fitzgerald, A Different Story : a Black History of Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania, Virginia 181.
  11. “Lot Sales.” The Free Lance Newspaper. January 15, 1892.
  12. Shibley, In Fredericksburg: The Past & Presence of an Old Virginia Town. Fredericksburg, VA, 47.
  13. Deed of Sale from J.W. Masters and Ada B. Masters to A.C. Garrison, 1 July 1924 (filed 2 July 1924), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Deed Book 57, page 58. County Recorder’s Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
  14. Deed of Sale from J.W. Masters and Ada B. Masters to A.C. Garrison, 1 July 1924 (filed 2 July 1924), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Deed Book 57, page 58. County Recorder’s Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
  15. 1930 United State Census, Fredericksburg City Enumeration District 107-1, Virginia; family 199, dwelling 202, lines 89-91; April, 1930; http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/census/fbg1930ED107-1.htm. 
  16. Scott, S Taylor. “Local Levies Assessed on City Lots, Buildings, Improvements, Machinery and Fixtures for the Tax Year 1930 In Fredericksburg City.” Fredericksburg, 1930. http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/landtax/fburg1930lt.htm 
  17. Land Book of Fredericksburg, 1930. Map. Fredericksburg, Virginia: City of Fredericksburg, 1930. 
  18. Photograph. 1927. Aerial of Fredericksburg showing the College Terrace neighborhood.
  19. Deed of Sale from A.C. Garrison and Carrie E. Garrison to Paul Green, 27 January 1938 (filed 29 January 1938), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Deed Book 72, page 215. County Recorder’s Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
  20. Taylor S. Scott “Local Levies Assessed on City Lots, Buildings, Improvements, Machinery and Fixtures for the Tax Year 1935 In Fredericksburg City.” Fredericksburg, 1935. http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/landtax/fburg1935lt.htm 
  21. “Fredericksburg, Virginia Population 2021.”. https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/fredericksburg-va-population.
  22. 1930 United State Census, Fredericksburg City Enumeration District 107-1, Virginia; family 199, dwelling 202, lines 89-91; April, 1930; http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/census/fbg1930ED107-1.htm. 
  23. U. S. Census, Virginia, Fredericksburg (Upper Ward), S.D. 1, ED No. 107-3. Enumerated; family 518, lines 13-24; 2 April, 1940; http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/census/fbg1940ED107-3.htm 
  24. Wage or salary income and receipt of other income for the United States–1939 § (1942).
  25. 1930 United State Census, Fredericksburg City Enumeration District 107-1, Virginia; April, 1930; http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/census/fbg1930ED107-1.htm.
  26. U. S. Census, Virginia, Fredericksburg (Upper Ward), S.D. 1, ED No. 107-3. Enumerated; 2 April, 1940; http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/census/fbg1940ED107-3.htm

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1930 United State Census, Fredericksburg City Enumeration District 107-1, Virginia; family 199, dwelling 202, lines 89-91; April, 1930; http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/census/fbg1930ED107-1.htm. 

Michael, Spencer. “Alms House History.” Accessed October 5, 2021. https://www.fredericksburgva.gov/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Item/7151?fileID=4489. 

Chace, Jacob. Map. Gray’s New Map of Fredericksburg and Spottsylvania Co Va.. Fredericksburg, Virginia: O. W. Gray & Son, 1878.

City of Fredericksburg Annexations. Fredericksburgva.gov. City of Fredericksburg. Accessed October 5, 2021. https://www.fredericksburgva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/3215/Fredericksburg-Annexations-Map?bidId=. 

Commissioner of the Revenue. “Commonwealth of Virginia City Land Book 1925 Fredericksburg.” Fredericksburg, n.d. http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/landtax/fburg1925lt.htm. 

Commissioners of the Revenue. “Table of Town Lots for the Year 1920 in Fredericksburg City, A. B. Bowering, Commissioner of Revenue, Assessed with Taxes Thereon at 25 Cents on Every $100 Value Thereof for Support of Government, and 10 Cents on Every $100 Value Thereof.” Fredericksburg, 1920. http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/landtax/fburg1920lt.htm

Deed of Sale from A.C. Garrison and Carrie E. Garrison to Paul Green, 27 January 1938 (filed 29 January 1938), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Deed Book 72, page 215. County Recorder’s Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Deed of Sale from Frank L. Day and Florence J. Day to J.W. Masters, 4 August 1919 (filed 15 August 1919), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Deed Book 52, page 220. County Recorder’s Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Deed of Sale from J.W. Masters and Ada B. Masters to A.C. Garrison, 1 July 1924 (filed 2 July 1924), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Deed Book 57, page 58. County Recorder’s Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Deed of Sale from Paul Green and Delia M. Green to William P. Smith and Pauline D. Smith, 8 July 1969 (filed 9 July 1969), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Deed Book 138, page 187. County Recorder’s Office, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

Fitzgerald, Ruth Coder. A Different Story : a Black History of Fredericksburg, Stafford and Spotsylvania, Virginia. Fredericksburg, Va: Unicorn, 1979.

“Fredericksburg City Directory 1938.” Fredericksburg, 1938. http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/1938directory.htm 

“Fredericksburg, Virginia Permits to Alter or Repair 1938 to 1946 Sorted by Street.” Fredericksburg, 1938. http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/building_permits/permits%20to%20alter_1938-1946.htm 

“Fredericksburg, Virginia Population 2021.” Fredericksburg, Virginia Population 2021 (Demographics, Maps, Graphs), 2021. https://worldpopulationreview.com/us-cities/fredericksburg-va-population. 

“Lot Sales.” The Free Lance. January 15, 1892.

Land Book of Fredericksburg, 1930. Map. Fredericksburg, Virginia: City of Fredericksburg, 1930.

Map of Fredericksburg, Va., and vicinity. [1862] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/2005625032/. 

Randall, Edgar H. “Alms House Survey.” Fredericksburg: Public Property Committee, September 10, 1910.

Scott, S Taylor. “Local Levies Assessed on City Lots, Buildings, Improvements, Machinery and Fixtures for the Tax Year 1930 In Fredericksburg City.” Fredericksburg, 1930. http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/landtax/fburg1930lt.htm 

Scott, S Taylor. “Local Levies Assessed on City Lots, Buildings, Improvements, Machinery and Fixtures for the Tax Year 1935 In Fredericksburg City.” Fredericksburg, 1935. http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/landtax/fburg1935lt.htm 

Shibley, Ronald E. In Fredericksburg: The Past & Presence of an Old Virginia Town. Fredericksburg, VA, Virginia: Parson Weems Press, 1984.

Sneden, Robert Knox. Plan of attack on Marie’s Heights, Fredericksburg Va. By Maj. Genl. John Sedgwick, USA, with the 6th Army Corps. Sunday May 3rd. [to 1865, 1863] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00222/.

Sneden, Robert Knox. Plan of the Battle of Fredericksburg, Va., Decr. 13. [to 1865, 1862] Map. https://www.loc.gov/item/gvhs01.vhs00123/.

U. S. Census, Virginia, Fredericksburg (Upper Ward), S.D. 1, ED No. 107-3. Enumerated; family 518, lines 13-24; 2 April, 1940; http://resources.umwhisp.org/Fredericksburg/census/fbg1940ED107-3.htm

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