Monroe Park
Richmond, Richmond, Virginia
Marker Inscription
SA 67 Monroe Park. In 1851 the City of Richmond planned a series of parks including Western Square now known as Monroe Park. In the 1850s it served as grounds for what became the state fair organized by the Virginia State Agricultural Society. During the Civil War it was the site of a Confederate instructional camp, and in 1864, a military hospital. In 1866, some of the city's earliest baseball games were played here. Its development as a park began in 1869 in one of Richmond's emerging fashionable neighborhoods. The park contains a pattern of walks radiating from an elaborate four-tiered, cast-iron fountain. A portion of it once was a playground and it has been the scene of political rallies, demonstrations, and concerts. Department of Historical Resources, 2004
Erected by Virginia Department of Historical Resources
The Story
Laid out in 1851 as one of Richmond's first public squares, Monroe Park has served the city in nearly every capacity. It hosted early state fairs, became a Confederate instructional camp and then a military hospital during the Civil War, saw some of Richmond's first baseball games in 1866, and matured into a fashionable park graced by a four-tiered cast-iron fountain.
Why it matters
Few American parks so completely mirror a city's history, from antebellum leisure to civil war to modern civic life.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Uptown Gallerynearby
- The Anderson0.2 mi away · 1 -1/2 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA
- Reynolds Gallery0.2 mi away · 1514 West Main Street, Richmond, VA
- Try-Me Gallery0.3 mi away
- Page Bond Gallery0.3 mi away
- ArtCraft Designs0.5 mi away
Attractions
- George Edward Pickett's Grave0.4 mi away
- Raleigh E. Colston's Grave0.4 mi away
- Monument of Confederate War Dead0.4 mi away
- The Iron Dog0.5 mi away
- James Branch Cabell's Grave0.6 mi away
- James Ewell Brown Stuart's Grave0.7 mi away
Food & drink
- Starbucks0.2 mi away · 901 Park Avenue, Richmond, VA
- Freshii0.2 mi away
- Subway0.2 mi away · 907 Floyd Avenue, Richmond, VA
- Chick-fil-A0.2 mi away · 900 Park Avenue, VCU Dining Services, VA
- Pizza Hut Express0.2 mi away · 810 Cathedral Place, Richmond, VA
- Einstein Bros. Bagels0.2 mi away · 810 Cathedral Place, Richmond, VA
Places to stay
- Graduate by Hilton Richmond0.5 mi away · 301 West Franklin Street, Richmond, VA
- Quirk Hotel Richmond0.7 mi away · 201 West Broad Street, Richmond, VA
- Linden Row Inn0.8 mi away · 100 East Franklin Street, Richmond, VA
- Holiday Inn Express Richmond - Downtown0.8 mi away · 201 East Cary Street, Richmond, VA
- HI Richmond Hostel0.8 mi away · 7 North 2nd Street, Richmond, VA
- The Massad House Hotel1.0 mi away
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Monroe Park
Richmond, VA
In 1851, as Richmond expanded westward, the city laid out a network of public squares to bring greenery and breathing room to its growing neighborhoods. One of these, originally called Western Square, was renamed Monroe Park in honor of President James Monroe. Over the following decades the grounds served varied purposes—from a Civil War-era encampment and hospital site to a Confederate fairground—before settling into its long life as one of the city's oldest public parks.
Wilfred Emory Cutshaw (1838-1907)
Richmond, VA
Wilfred Emory Cutshaw rose from a Virginia Military Institute graduate (1858) to a Confederate artillery officer during the Civil War, then turned his energies to rebuilding and modernizing the defeated capital of the Confederacy. As Richmond's long-serving city engineer from 1873 until his death in 1907, he shaped the postwar city through an ambitious program of civic planning—paving streets, laying out parks, and improving public infrastructure during the Reconstruction and Gilded Age decades.
South Carolina Soldiers Memorial
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Across the James River from Richmond, the independent city of Manchester served the Confederate war effort as one of the region's many hospital sites, where sick and wounded men were carried far from the battle lines. Among those treated were soldiers from South Carolina, more than a hundred of whom died of their wounds or of disease between 1861 and 1865 and were laid to rest here, hundreds of miles from home. In 1939, the Elliott Grays Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy set this stone to mark the common resting place of those men. It stands as one of countless local efforts, decades after the war, to name and remember the ordinary dead of a conflict that touched every Southern community.
Hanover Confederate Soldiers Monument
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Standing near the Hanover County courthouse in Virginia, this monument honors the county's men who fought for the Confederacy and the women who supported the war effort on the home front between 1861 and 1865. Like hundreds of similar monuments erected across the South in the decades after the Civil War, it reflects the "Lost Cause" memorial movement that sought to commemorate Confederate service. Hanover County itself saw significant fighting, including the Battles of Hanover Court House and Cold Harbor nearby.