Fredericksburg, Virginia 1608-1908. Author:Sylvanius Jackson Quinn
Mr. Thomas N. Brent's dry goods store now stands, and, curious enough, just where the great fire of 1807 was checked. It was then known as Wellford's corner, because Mr. C. C. Wellford, for a great many years, kept store there. From that corner the fire made its way down Main street totally destroying every building on that side of the street from there to Hanover street, which square was then known as the "Commercial Block," because of the large trade carried on there.
With the energy and enterprise so characteristic of the citizens of the town at that day, steps were at once taken to rebuild the burnt district. Soon the street was almost blocked up with building material, laborers were busily at work, clearing away the debris and preparing the foundations for the new buildings. Carpenters and brick masons were in great demand and large numbers flocked to the town from neighboring cities and villages. That part of the town was soon a busy scene and the music of the hammer, the saw and the trowel greeted the ear from early morning until late in the afternoon* And there were soon erected, with an occasional exception, the substantial block of brick buildings which now stand as monuments to the good judgment and excellent workmanship of that early day. The work of rebuilding was speedy and complete, and the character of the new buildings was an improvement upon the old ones they replaced. With the rebuilding of that portion of the town, and the resumption of business by the burnt-out merchants, came an unusual degree of prosperity, and for a long period the general peace and happiness of the people were undisturbed.
THE TRADE OF THE TOWN.
At this time the trade of the town was chiefly of a local character, except the products of the country extending even beyond the Blue Ridge mountains, as from the early years of the town, were brought to market in wagons, and it was no uncommon sight to see daily as many as fifty or sixty four and six-horse teams here at one time from that part of the country. The merchants were men of exalted character and fine business capacity, and the amount of business transacted was, considering the times and circumstances, simply enormous.
CONTAGIOUS DISEASES.
To the credit of the authorities of the town it can be truthfully said that, in all the past, they have been very watchful of and solicitous for the health of the people. At all times, upon reports, or even rumors, that contagious or infectious diseases were prevailing in contiguous communities, they were on the alert, taking every precaution to prevent their introduction here, and it may be said to their credit that such strict observance and enforcement of the laws of health, and temporary quarantines at the proper time, have prevented all kinds of epidemics in the past history of the town.
Before the first of the nineteenth century, in 1790, the people of the town were very much excited about the small pox. It was raging in Philadelphia as an epidemic, and the large trade carried on between the two places, altogether by water, made it necessary that numerous vessels should bear the merchandise. In order to prevent the small pox from reaching this place a strict quarantine was established at the mouth of Hazel Run, just below town, and a hospital was located at Sligo. Dr. Brooke and Dr. Ker, two skillful physcians of the town, agreed to attend the sick at the hospital without charge, whether sailors or citizens. The wise precaution taken in establishing the quarantine prevented any case from reaching the town, to the great relief of the citizens generally. In 1792 the same disease broke out in Baltimore and a quarantine was again established at Hazel Run and a hospital at Sligo. The citizens were greatly alarmed, fearing its introduction here either by land or water. The greatest precautions were taken by the health officers, who were nobly assisted by the town authorities, and the disease was kept out as it had been two years before, not a single case having made its appearance in the place.
In 1833, it is said by old citizens, a remarkable case of either fright or disease occurred in Fredericksburg, which proved fatal. In that year several parts of the United States were visited and scourged by the Asiatic cholera. The country generally was in great terror, and Fredericksburg came in for her share of excitement. In fact, she may have been more alarmed than other places which were as far removed from the seat of the scourge, because of a prediction that had previously been made, and which made its impression on many people. Rev. Lorenzo Dow, an able, but eccentric, itinerant Methodist minister, when on a visit to the town the year previous to the scourge, it was reported had predicted the appearance of cholera in Fredericksburg. Some people believed the disease would come because Mr. Dow had predicted it, and the excitement ran high, especially among those who believed the prophecy. A Mr. Shelton became dreadfully alarmed and whether from fright or from actually contracting the disease, died in the month of June and the cause of his death was pronounced sporadic or accidental cholera. His was the only case then, and to this day there has been no other, Fredericksburg having enjoyed singular and perfect immunity from epidemics of all kinds.
THE TOWN IN THE YEAR 1841.
In describing the town in 1841, an intelligent visitor says, "Fredericksburg is regularly laid out and compactly built; many of its buildings are brick. The principal public buildings are a courthouse, clerk's office, a jail, a market-house, an orphan asylum, one Episcopal, one Presbyterian, one Methodist, one Baptist and one Reform Baptist church. The town also contains two banks and one male and one female seminary of the higher class. It is supplied with water from the river* by subterraneous pipes and is governed by a Mayor and Common Council. A canal, extending from the town to Fox's mill, a point on the Rappahannock, thirty five miles above, has been commenced and partly completed. "Fredericksburg enjoys considerable trade, chiefly in grain, flour, tobacco, maize, etc., and considerable quantities of gold are exported. Its exports have been computed at over four millions of dollars annually. The falls of the Rappahannock, in the vicinity, afford good water power. There were in 1840, by the United States statistics, seventy-three stores, with a capital of $376,961; two tanneries, paints, drugs, etc., with a capital of $37,000; one grist mill, two printing offices, four semi-weekly newspapers; capital in manufactures, $141,200; five academies, with 256 students, and seven schools, with 156 scholars. The population in 1830, whites, 1,797; slaves, 1,124; free blacks, 387—total, 3,308. The population in 1840 was 3,974."
But the commercial prosperity of the town even in 1840 was not equal to its advantages, but it steadily grew and prospered during the next decade. The completion of a canal, extending from the town to a point on the Rappahannock river, a distance of forty miles, railroad facilities and river navigation by sail vessels and steamboats, greatly enlarged her commercial advantages and increased her export trade, and the beginning of the year 1850 found her enjoying a degree of material prosperity, presaging a glorious commercial future. Commencing the year 1850 under circumstances so encouraging, the next decade was expected to exceed in all departments of trade the preceding one.
The failure to build a railroad through the section of country from which the bulk of our trade was drawn, and the substitution therefor of a plank road, with the building of the Orange and Alexandria railroad, now the Western, and the advance of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad along the upper line of the Shenandoah Valley, greatly injured the trade of Fredericksburg by diverting from her a large amount of produce, which was formerly brought to town in wagons, and while in 1860 the population had somewhat increased, the general trade of the town was diminished.
THE CORPORATE LIMITS EXTENDED.
In the year 1851 the Legislature passed a bill extending the limits of the town, in accordance with a plan made by Commissioners appointed by the Common Council. That extension embraced the territory we now have within the corporate limits except a portion of the Water Power Company, the survey having been made by Mr. William Slaughter, City Surveyor, in 1850, and reported to the Council by Joseph Sanford, John Minor and John Pritchard, who were appointed a committee by the Council to "enquire into the expediency of extending the limits of the said town." After making a thorough examination, this committee reported back to the body that it was both expedient and desirable that the extension should be made, which report and recommendation were adopted. To carry out this action, the Council appointed Hugh S. Scott, Wm. S. Barton, John James Chew, Joseph Sanford and John Pritchard, and they were instructed and empowered as a Commission, under the provisions of the act of the Legislature, to locate and lay out such streets in the part of the town annexed by the provisions of the bill, as they might think proper, and report back to the Council, with a full plan of their work. But it was provided that none of the new streets reported upon were to be opened unless the Council should decide