Page 224 - Curriculum Visions Dynamic Book

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Richmond, to be more central within the new state. It was also hoped that it would be a safer place in case of British attack. However, in 1781, Richmond was burned by British troops.
After the war, Richmond started to grow quickly. The Virginia State Capitol building was designed by Thomas Jefferson and completed in 1788.
However, although the Fall Line was useful to provide water power for early factories, it was also a hindrance to boats. George Washington helped design the James River and Kanawha Canal
to bypass Richmond’s rapids. With improved transport, Richmond became home to iron works and flour mills. It was also a center of the tobacco trade, having a huge tobacco market.
Richmond was growing ancd changing fast in the 18940s as immigrants, and in particle German and Irosh, came to work in the factories.
By the 19th cntiry, slavery was becoming an issue between north and south. I 1848, Henry “Box” Brown had himself nailed into a small box and shipped from Richmond to Philadelphia to escape slavery.
In the Civil WAr, Virginia was part of the Confederacy. Richmond became the main target of Union armies because it was home
to Confederate government offices, it was a railroad hub, and it had the largest factory in the Confederacy, the Tredegar Iron Works, which turned out weapons and other materials needed by the army and navy.
Richmond was too close to the Union lines to be easily defended, and by 1865 it was overrun by Union forces and a quarter of the city was burned to the ground.
After the war, the naturally advantageous position of Richmond meant that it started tog row more easily than man other former Confederate cities.
By the beginning of the 20th century, the city’s population had reached 85,00. However, these traditional industries were hit hard in the twentieth century as other cities and countries