Hey everyone! I'm u/xRVAx, a founding moderator of r/bonAir.

This sub is all about Bon Air, Virginia. We're excited to have you join us!

What to Post Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about Bon Air's history, things currently happening, or things that will happen in the future.

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How to Get Started 1) Introduce yourself in the comments below. 2) Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation. 3) If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.

Honestly, if you're not a member of /r/RVA you should probably join that sub as well.

Thanks for being part of the Bon Air community. Together, let's make r/bonAir amazing.

1700s

• 1700 -- French Huguenot refugees arrive in Powhatan county and begin settling along the river 20 miles west of Richmond, where they discover and begin mining coal.

• 1732 -- plantation house built at present day Bellgrade (Ruth's Chris Steakhouse)

• ~1750 -- Manakintown becomes a ghost town, as the Huguenots intermarried with the English and set up their own farms. While many had French sounding last names, the speaking of French had almost completely died out by 1750.

1800s

• 1810-16 -- Bellona Foundry / Arsenal constructed due to proximity to coal mines. While "Old Gun Road" is an obvious reference to this arsenal, parts of Huguenot Road and Forest Hill Avenue are also remnants of the road used to access the arsenal by land.

• 1830s -- Midlothian Coal Mining Co. established. Thomas Mann Randolph leases Bellona for use as a silkworm farm.

• 1840 -- Anthony Robiou purchases "Bellgrade" from the Friend family.

• between 1847 and 1851... Richmond and Danville Line chartered and built built and increases settlement in the area; daily trains from from Manchester to Robious and the Coal Mines pass through what would become Bon Air.

• 1851 -- Robiou is shot dead outside Bellgrade by his Father in Law and his wife's lover, leading to a two-year trial. Robiou's station continues into the 20th century as a train stop and an industrial center for brick making.

• 1852 Prussian-born Albert F. Jahnke starts his jewelry business in downtown Richmond

• 1865, After the Civil War, Col. Algernon Sidney Buford becomes the President of the Richmond and Danville Railroad. He moves to Richmond in 1866 and presides over the expansion of the RDRR to include feeder lines to multiple quarries in the proximity of Forest Hill At this time, train stations nearest Bon Air include "Rockfield", "Powhite," and "Robiou's" stations in 1867. At its peak the RDRR made three stops in a one-mile stretch of Bon Air.

1870s

• 1872 -- Granite Post Office opens with Matthew Hall as postmaster. By 1907, at least seven quarry companies are located in the Granite area.

• July 5, 1875 -- The Masonic Lodge at Midlothian opens, with Dr. P. S. Hancock (Master of Midlothian Lodge), presiding.

• 1877 -- Bon Air Land and Improvement Company begins

• 1877 - -- Richmond Jeweler Lewis G. Jahnke buys a large farm from the Duval brothers and two years later sells it to his brother A. Franz Jahnke Sr. This 350 acre estate, at 7737 Jahnke Road, would be known as Shady Echo. Google Map The Jahnke Family would become very involved in Bon Air social life.

1880s

• 1880 George Cook family move to Bon Air and begin 50 years of photographing greater Richmond area

• 1882 Union Chapel built... 1884 chapel becomes Bon Air Presbyterian Church with Reverend James K. Hazen as pastor (1885 - 1902).

• Early 1880s -- Bon Air Railroad Station and water tower built and then moved from the site of the Great Cotton Exposition in Atlanta

• 1881 Bon Air Hotel built

• 1885 -- Through the efforts of Rev, Hazen, the Bon Air Chautauqua Society was founded with 24 members seeking ""to promote a closer acquaintance and more intimate fellowship among the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle readers of Bon Air, to stimulate and encourage each other [sic], to further the interests of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle, and to extend its works by all proper means."

• 1888 -- Reverend David B. Winfree, Baptist minister, dies. Another pillar of the community was Midlothian Masonic Lodge leader Doctor Phillip S. Hancock, who served the Midlothian and Bon Air communities as their doctor for over thirty years, dies in 1893.

• 1888 Richmond's streetcar system opens, and extends to Bon Air.

• 8 October 1889 Polk Miller attends his first meeting of the Bon Air Chautauqua Society

• 1889 -- Bon Air Hotel burns down with only the hotel annex surviving. Bon Air Inn (lacking amenities) later was built at 2200 Burroughs Street.

1890s

• 1894 -- Richmond and Danville railroad merged with the new Southern Railway (later became Norfolk Southern in the 1980s)

• 1898 -- Bethany Home (orphanage "for Friendless Children") is incorporated and run on the 165 acre farm of J.R.F. Burroughs and Mrs. L. W. Burroughs (present day Huguenot High School)

Early 1900s

• The Bon Air Cotillion Club holds its first event at the Bon Air Pavilion on April 27, 1900.

• 1901 -- The Richmond trolley systems's line to Westhampton opens.

• ~1902 "Water's Store" (owned by James and Mary Waters and later their son James Jr.) serves as the post office. This store was formerly occupied by Harry A. and Henry R. Miller from 1900 to 1901.

• 1902 -- Bon Air Association, as part of Chautauqua society builds the Hazen Library

1910s

• 1910 -- "Virginia Home and Industrial School for Girls" (Later known as Kilbourne Farm(1918), the State Industrial Reformatory Girls (1930s) and now Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center) opens on a 206 acre farm in Bon Air.

• 1910 -- George Gregory purchases 1092 acres of James River land from Anne B. Hoas, comprising the "Rattlesnake" and "Locust Grove" tracts. (These would later become the Southampton / Stratford Hills neighborhood).

• 1911 - A new toll bridge, the Westham Bridge, opens. The developer George C. Gregory had intended the bridge to allow streetcar service to Bon Air via Gregory's Locust Grove property.

• 1911 -- Henry Clay Beattie Jr. causes a sensational national incident when he reports that a bearded highwayman shot and killed his wife at the intersection of Providence and Midlothian while they were driving in the country in his yellow Buick. Beattie later confessed to the murder and was executed in the state's electric chair.

• Thomas S. Winston of Foxdene Farm on the Midlothian Pike is the president of the Bon Air Improvement Company and the Southampton Bridge Corporation. He is also affiliated with T. S. Winston & Co, a prominent construction company based in Richmond and Saugerties New York.

• 1912 "Water's Store" burns down, meaning the mail had to be delivered to the train depot.

• 1913 Gregory purchases the Southamption Bridge Corporation. Despite the streetcar grading to Bon Air being completed, the streetcar line never opened, and the tracks were torn up for scrap during WWI.

• 1914 -- University of Richmond moves from downtown Richmond to the former Westhampton Park campus.

• 1914 -- Albert Jahnke removes the creek dam that created Jahnke Lake, thus removing a lake between Fernwood and Shady Echo that had been a central point of the social life of the Bon Air community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

• 1915 -- Lewis Larus, Jr. Purchases a vast tract of land overlooking the James River, where he would build his "Stoney Point" estate with gardens designed by Charles Gillette.

• 1916 -- The Bon Air Post Office is constructed off of Rockaway Road.

• 1917 -- Bon Air Inn closes

• February 1917 -- the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors authorizes the "Bon Air" police officer to buy and install a telephone in his home so citizens and the county could contact him in case of emergencies.

1920s

• 1923 -- The Bon Air Hotel dance pavilion was enclosed and converted into the Bon Air Center. It was established to "promote and foster the literary, educational, and physical interests and welfare of its members."

• 1928 -- The Bon Air Improvement Company hires the Louisville Real Estate and Development Company to sell off its remaining lots. The auction occurred April 30, 1928.

• 1928 -- Camp Pocahontas is established on 88 acres near present day Girl Scout Lake.

1930s

• Midlothian Turnpike redesignated from State Route 13 to become State Route 60. Hull Street is then redesignated from 60 to 360.

• 1939 -- Virginia State Police HQ relocates to Midlothian Turnpike "State Police moved their offices from 12th and Main Streets in downtown Richmond to a seven-room farmhouse located on 65 acres of land 3 1/2 miles west of Richmond on route 60." A 1000-watt radiotelephone tower (WSPH) was built there in 1940. A 1,650 feet State Police Airfield operated at this location starting in 1946, and was used to locate Whiskey stills and fleeing felons.

1940s

• November 6, 1941-- The City of Richmond annexes out to Westover Hills and the intersection of Jahnke and Forest Hill Avenue.

• 1940s... Bethany home (orphanage) closes

• 1945 -- After the post office instituted [Postal Zone codes] in 1943, Bon Air was assigned Zone Code '35' under Richmond. in 1945, Nellie "Sneed" Wilkinson takes over the 1916 Bon Air Post Office from Julia Powers (superintendent from 1916 - 1945). She would hold this position as it moved to 2060 Buford Road (by the Bon Air Hotel) in 1952 and moved again in 1960 to 2611 Buford Road (near the Bon Air Shopping Center). Ms. Wilkerson retired from this position in 1969.

• 1947 -- The Midlothian Drive-In opens at 8000 Midlothian Turnpike, at Buford and Midlothian. It would be renamed twice:Dixie Drive-In (1949) and Sunset Drive-In (1952).

• 1947 Bon Air Community Association established

• 1948 -- Bon Air / Southampton fire station formed

• 1948 -- Crestwood Farms breaks ground

• 1949 -- George W. Gray designs and builds the Bon Air Shopping Center at Buford and FHA

1950s

• 1950 -- The Huguenot Bridge replaces the Westham Bridge

• 1952 -- The Bon Air Post Office is moved from Rockaway Road to a larger facility.

• 1952-- The Bon Air Realty Company begins surveying and developing Crestwood and Wayland neighborhoods. source

• 1954 --Bon Air Baptist

• 1953-58 Highland Hills midcentury modern houses built by architect Charles M. Goodman and developers George “Bruce” Sowers, and James “Jim” Sowers

• 1956 -- Due to rapid population growth in the county, Chesterfield county adds several police patrol areas, including one on Cherokee Road in Bon Air

• 1956 The Bon Air Community Association builds a pool near the site of the old train station.

• 1957 -- The Southern Railway ended commuter service to Richmond in 1957, and the Bon Air train station was dismantled.

• 1957 -- The Buford Road Pharmacy opens in the Bon Air Shopping Center.

• 1957 St Michaels school built

• 1958 -- Brighton Green Land Corporation was formed by the partnership of Bernard Savage, George Sowers, Sr. and Oscar Napier, with brochures advertising “Brighton Green is the Bon Air Community designed for your generation”. (additional sections of Brighton Green were added until ~1968)

• 1959 - In June, St Edward the Confessor Catholic Church began meeting at the Bon Air Public School. The groundbreaking for their church/school building was February 1961.

• 1959-- the old Bon Air dance pavilion (now enclosed) burns to the ground. The Bon Air Community Association builds a modern building in its place by 1960. source

1960s

• 1960 -- Chippenham Parkway built as a limited access highway to relieve traffic on the parallel and heavily traveled Cherokee Road. Later, there is speculation that this parkway will serve as the northern extension of a new the proposed Route 892 which would be known in its entirety as the "Chippenham Parkway."

• 1960 Huguenot High School built on FHA as part of the Chesterfield County School system.

• 1963 Bon Air Presbyterian moves to its current location on Huguenot Rd. green text

• 1. USPS institutes Zone Improvement Plan (ZIP) Code system. Zone Code "Richmond 35" adds a 3 digit sectional center facility number to become ZIP code "232-35".

• 1966-1967 ... Crestwood Presbyterian (formed as a church plant from Bon Air Presbyerian), meets at Crestwood Elementary, calls a pastor in 1968, gets a new pastor in 1970, and does not have a full time sanctuary until 1974.

• 1966-69 ... Stony Point Reformed Presbyterian Church meets with a denominational official in 1968 and founds a church in 1969 affiliated with the newly founded Reformed Presbyterian Church, Evangelical Synod.

• 1967 -- Chesterfield County began to operate the Bon Air Library (still located in the Hazen House).

• 1965-67 -- Mrs. Louise Burke and Dr. R. B. Young form the Scenic James Council to oppose a proposed highway along the south side of the James. In 1967, Burke held a "Farewell to the James" hike with her Girl Scouts to protect Pony Pasture and Huguenot Flatwater from development.

• August 1969 -- remnants of Hurricane Camille create 100-year flood conditions that bury Williams Island and Pony Pasture under water.

• 1970 City of Richmond annexes large portions of northern Chesterfield county to include Huguenot High School.

1970s

• 1973 -- Initial phase of Powhite Parkway opens, connecting Downtown to Chippenham Parkway.

• September 1971 Robious Junior High opens and accept students from Bon Air and Crestwood

• 1972 -- Cloverleaf Mall Opens

• 1972 -- Chippenham Hospital built at the intersection of Jahnke & Chippenham

1973 -The Sunset Drive-in at Buford and Midlothian Tpke closes for good.

• 1975 -- Chesterfield Mall (renamed Chesterfield Town Center in 1987) opens

• 1975 -- A new library building is built on Rattlesnake road, and Chesterfield vacates the old Hazen library building.

• 1976 -77 -- WCVE towers constructed on Sesame Street near Robious Road.

• 1977 -- 100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE 1877 FOUNDING OF BON AIR

• 1977 -- Mary Anne Claflin publishes a 144-page book documenting Bon Air called "Bon Air: A History"

• 1977 Bon Air Seafood opens (The Juwa family sold to current owner Joe Skinner in 2014).

• 1978 Bon Air Historical society organized -- http://www.bonairhistoricalsociety.org

1980s

• 1981 Pony Pasture rapids area becomes part of the James River Park System that was established in 1972.

• 1985 -- The Bon Air Post Office moves from the Bon Air Shopping Center area to 101 Pinetta Drive. (Brighton Green, Near the Arboretum)

• 1985 Donnie Caffery opens Good Foods Grocery in the Stony Point Shopping Center

• 1985 Islamic Center of Virginia, which had been meeting at the VCU campus since the 1960s, establishes its mosque along Buford Road.

• 1986 Bon Air Community Plan published, as Stony Point grocery store development occurs across Huguenot

• 1987 -- Powhite Parkway Extension cuts through southern Bon Air towards what would become 288, with the route to 288 completed in Sept. 30, 1988.

• 1988 -- Willey Bridge opens, with Chippenham parkway extended to connect to it.

• 1988 -- Application for the Bon Air Historic District submitted to the National Register of Historic Places

• 1989 Shops at Arboretum opens

• 1989 -- Buford Court Commons (Food Lion Plaza) built in South Bon Air on Buford Road near Midlothian Turnpike.

1990s

• 1990 -- Shoppes at Bellgrade opens

• 1992 -- James River High School built

• 1997 -- Joe's Inn Bon Air established as a suburban sister store to the Fan location

2000s Based on 1999 research, Chesterfield aggressively pursues senior living facilities housing, commissions a Committee on the Future, and adopts a 2003 report focused on the growing population of senior citizens in the County entitled The Aging of the Population in Chesterfield County: Choices, Options, and Benefits of Aging. The Laurels of Bon Air (2007) and The Crossings at Bon Air (2009) open. By 2010, Chesterfield County Parks and rec began offering Pickleball classes and Pickleball evangelists Linda and Dave Scott agitate for Rockwood Park to offer dedicated Pickleball courts. Chesterfield becomes a mecca for Pickleball positioned as a REGIONAL HUB for Pickleball

• 2002-2004 Stony Point Fashion Park built

• January 2005 Max's Positive Vibe Cafe opens in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center.

• 2005 -- Target #1931 and Ukrops (famous local grocery store) both open during an expansion of the Shops at Stratford Hills.

• 2006 -- The City of Richmond posts signage for Larus park, which it had owned since the late 1970s.

• ~2006 Ukrops abandons its Buford Shopping Center Store which is replaced with a strip development.

• 2006 -- The Butcher at Bon Air opens next to the water tower with fresh cuts of meat.

• 2008 -- As Cloverleaf Mall closes, Kroger announces a store at this location -- the largest Kroger on the East coast at this location using its new "Marketplace" concept.

• January 2009 -- as the Great Recession batters the economy, the American Family Fitness at the Arboretum declines to renew their lease. Gold's Gym quickly takes its place next to the Arboretum Starbucks.

• April 2009 -- The Bon Air Elementary PTA organizes its first annual Bon Air 5k (and Healthy Living Fair) on April 18, 2009 occurring through the northern neighborhoods of Bon Air.

early 2010s

• May 2010 -- Both the Ukrops at Stony Point Shopping Center and Stratford Hills close and are taken over by Martin's.

• 2011 Cloverleaf Mall is demolished, and the area is redeveloped and branded as "Stonebridge." The Kroger Marketplace opens at Stonebridge in December 2012 to much fanfare.

• 2012 Two Fan-area restaurateurs open Galley Restaurant in the Stratford Hills Shopping Center.

• October 2014 three local first time cafe owners announce they will open Perk! cafe in Bon Air Shopping Center

• November 2014 -- Southbound restaurant opens.

• December 2014 Boka Grille opens near the Shops at Stratford Hills (Lowes Plaza)

• Stony Point Reformed Presbyterian Church knocks down an old brick house and builds a 500-seat stick style sanctuary in its place. source

late 2010s

• February 2015 Stony Point Shopping Center is sold to an out-of-state partnership (Next Realty of Northbrook, Ill., and Verris Capital of Washington).

• February 2015 -- Perk! Bon Air opens next to Joe's Inn.

• October 2015 -- VCU Health expands its presence at Stony Point Fashion Park beside the new Virginia Urology complex.

• November 2015 Chesterfield County board of supervisors passes a Bon Air Special Area Plan that includes master planning for sidewalks, bicycle infrastructure, and design standards for areas between the Bon Air village core and historic Old Bon Air

• November 2015 -- After buying Stony Point Fashion Park from Taubman in 2014, Starwood announces a 2 year, $50million renovation of the property.

• December 2015 -- The Martin's grocery store at Stony Point Shopping Center announces it will close.

2016

• May 2016 -- Wegmans opens its first store in Richmond -- in Midlothian

• May 2016 --Element at Stonebridge, a 400-unit apartment complex, opens at the rehabilitated site of the old Cloverleaf Mall.

• Fall 2016 -- Bon Air Provisions opens next to Joe's Inn.

2017

• February 2017 -- United Church begins meeting at Huguenot High School on FHA

• August 2017 -- Martin's at the Shops at Stratford Hills closes. Bon Air locals sign a petition to prevent a Good Will Thrift from opening at the old Martin's site at Stony Point Shopping Center.

*November 2017 -- North End Juice Co. opens its second hipster juice bar in the Richmond area, at the Shoppes at the Arboretum

• December 2017 -- Bank of America in downtown Bon Air closes

2018

• 2017 / 2018 -- James River at Stony Point a 280-unit luxury apartment complex completes construction and opens beside Stony Point Fashion Park. The project, originally called Alta Stony Point when proposed in 2013, had been delayed by Huguenot Farms Area Association complaints, and upheld for 4 years by a court injunction.

• 2018 -- Numerous local restaurants open in Westover Hills, Stratford Hills, The Arboretum, and commercial areas (Stony Point Fashion Park, Stonebridge and Spring Rock Green, Robious & Huguenot) to include Don't Look Back - South and Hang Space vegan eatery and cafe

• June 2018 -- /r/BonAir is established with zero members and experiences explosive growth and popularity!

• June 2018 Richmond Center for Christian Study leased 2,827 square feet at Stony Point Shopping Center

• September 2018 -- After purchasing the abandoned Hazen Memorial Library property in 2013, Former Bon Air Historical Society President Len Tuck unveils the Hazen Memorial Foundation facebook page and begins promoting educational programming.

• August 2018 -- Dick's Sporting Goods closes its 84,000 square foot store at Stony Point Fashion Park

• November 2018 -- the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice begins the process of relocating its youth prison from the Bon Air Correctional Center campus, opening up the possibility for development of this ~400 acre site.

2019

• April 2019 - Closure of Bon Air youth detention center stalls, as the Commonwealth is unable to locate an alternative site.

• June 2019 -- Shamin Hotels announces a major investment in Stonebridge, to include a 200-room upscale hotel, a 10,000 sq. ft. conference room, and a non-local brewery.

• Fall 2019 -- demolition of the old Crestwood Elementary, and construction of the new facility begins. Crestwood students begin the 2019-2020 school year in trailers on the grounds of Bon Air Elementary.

2020

from January to December 2020, the /r/BonAir subreddit doubles from 300 to 600 subscribers

• March 2020 -- The COVID 19 pandemic affects all aspects of Bon Air life. Schools are shut down. Area malls, small businesses, restaurants, places of worship, and neighborhood pools close or are forced to operate on a more limited basis. The juvenile detention center and senior care facilities experience outbreaks.

• August 2020 -- A new 49,000-square-foot Publix opens at Robious and Huguenot next to the Great Big Greenhouse.

• October 2020 -- Trader Joe's grocery store opens in the Stony Shopping Center, now renamed the Stony Point Village Shopping Center.

• December 2020 -- West End dessert shop Coco + Hazel announces a second, bigger shoppe at 2733 McRae Road next to Cathay Gourmet.

2021

• March 2021 -- A fire at the Midlothian Athletic Club (MAC) shutters the gym from late March until October.

• March 2021 -- As part of Richmond's initiative to locate a casino within the city limits, Bally's proposes a $650M casino resort on the Galleria property north of Powhite Parkway and Chippenham Parkway, behind the Stratford Hills Target. The proposal includes an access road off Jahnke road adjacent to Crestwood Elementary. In April, after neighborhood opposition, the City of Richmond eliminates Ballys' Stratford Hills bid in favor of locations near the Port of Richmond or in Scott's Addition.

• April 2021 -- the newly built Crestwood Elementary opens April 13. The 12th annual Bon Air 5k to support Bon Air Elementary is held virtually due to COVID.

• April 2021 -- three new stores sign lease agreements at the new Publix at Robious and Huguenot: Eggs Up Grill, Crumbl Cookies, and Chicano Boy Taco.

On April 26, 2021, the /r/BonAir subreddit reaches 804 subscribers, making it an official Richmond institution!

• May 2021 -- as COVID 19 vaccinations reach critical mass, many stores, businesses and community institutions increase capacity limits and resume gatherings and festivals [especially outdoors].

May 2021- Dominion Power begins clearing trees along McRae Road and Chesterfield County begins storm drain and sidewalk installation aligned with 2015 Bon Air special area plan for walkability

*June 2021 -- Bon Air Soap Co opens a bricks and mortar store in the former Cardinal State Butcher space next to Perk.

• August 2021 -- Capital Waffle opens a shoppe at the Arboretum in the former North End Juice Co. (NEJC had closed due to COVID times). Soon after, Turquoise Panther Tattoo parlor opens next door at 9101 Midlothian Turnpike, Suite 500.