WILLS GROCERY STORE (built 1815)

401 N. 27th Street 2702 E. Marshall Street Richmond, Virginia 23223

Richmond Property Map # E0000482019

Current Owner : Walter S. York, III (September 18, 2008) Recent Previous Owners : Patrick C. Murray (2004-2008) Charlie J. Johnson, Jr. (1968-2004)

September 19, 2008 Research by: Eric S. Huffstutler

Original Property Description

Brick 2-Story Store with Gabled Wooden Shingled Roof built in 1815. Walls in the American Bond pattern made with bricks from the Shed Town area of Richmond. Single Brick Arched six over six Windows on both floors with entrance door facing Marshall Street. Footprint measures 30 x 20 feet in size. Wooden addition built in 1859 Alterations made post 1880: Stepped Parapet Roof Facade, Storefront Windows, Corner Entrance, Stucco, Bricked in Windows and Original Door on the 1st Floor. Wood Shingled Roof replaced with Metal unknown. Has been a Grocery Store of various incarnations between 1815-1946 then a Laundromat between 1947-2004 when it was condemned and sold while remaining gutted and vacant until this day.

WILLS GROCERY STORE (built 1815) 401 N 27th Street

Capt. Charles Wills:

Capt. Charles Wills was from a prominent Isle of Wight and Warwick County, Virginia family. He was born in 1775, and moved to Richmond by 1803, where he leased land near Rocketts from James Rind. He built a house on Main Street in 1805 and expanded his family of 5 children as well as his grocery business with one of his key stores which was also on Main Street between 17th and 18th Streets. He served as private in the 19th (Ambler's) Regiment and the 2nd (Ballowe's) Regiment VA Militia, in the War of 1812. Later became Captain of the local Camp Holly Militia. Capt. Wills died in 1820 and is buried at St. Johns Church. His son Charles Wills, Jr. was the Henrico County Clerk for many years while youngest son Josiah Wills moved to Norfolk and became the president of the Farmers Bank of Virginia and owned a small passenger ship company. His grandson John Frazer Alvey, Jr. was in business with Lewis Ginter prior to the Civil War and granddaughter Sallie Christian Alvey married a well known book publisher George Langhorne Bidgood.

Property:
Capt. Charles Wills owned land, houses, and businesses in several areas of Church Hill obtaining acreage from both Richard and John Adams in 1810 and 1812. The original Mutual Assurance Society fire insurance policy [from here on known as MA] for the Charles Wills mansion and out buildings at 407 N 27th Street did not show the store (MA# 314 dated January 22, 1813) The first policy for the store was issued in 1815 (MA# 510 dated October 31, 1815) and shows the building facing Marshall Street. The description given was a 2-story brick building with a wood shingled roof 30x20 feet in size. From that point onwards for the next 132 years it is listed as a Grocery Store / Dwelling. There was also a reappraisal of the main house and property on the same date (MA #1693) which did not show the store but did give the following description: situated between the lot of Izard B. Whitlock on the South East and Twenty Seventh Street on the NW; and between my new brick store on the SW; and a continuation of K Street on the NE in the city of Richmond and in the county of Henrico. This confirms the 401 N 27th building was built in 1815. [Note: I Street was later named Marshall and K Street named Clay about 1846]

The estate was divided up in 1829 and daughter Elizabeth D. Wills inherited the store. The youngest daughter Sarah Wills eventually became trustee of the estate. She and her husband John Frazer Alvey, Sr. built the brick house at 405 N 27th (aka the Slater House) in 1835 and leased it to William Slater who purchased it in 1836 and the store in 1837. Originally the store building had a brick exterior in the American Bond pattern and single brick arched windows which can still be partly seen on the second floor facing 27th Street. Matching arched windows on both first and second floors facing the Marshall Street side as well as in the wall that now runs between 401 and 403. One complete bricked in first floor window can still be plainly seen from the gutted interior wall. The roofline would have overlapped the walls rather than the end walls running above the gable and the entrance door would be in the middle of the Marshall Street side. There was never a mention of stucco which was a later change done to cover the patchwork of brick from alterations. This was most likely added at the same time as the new entrance door on the corner of the building as well as the large plate glass windows and the stepped parapet roof on the 27th Street side. All of these changes fit post 1880. George A. Payne purchased the store and property on February 25, 1878 from William A. Boswell. Payne also built the house at 403 N 27th (next door to the store) in 1880 which wasnt divided off as two lots until 1898. The house and store are very close together which necessitated any sheds and storage in the rear to be moved to the east side of the building beyond the wooden section and continued as a lumber storage yard until after 1905 when the small brick business buildings were built that now stand between the wooden section and Pritchard Brothers. This also changed the aesthetics. Other commercial buildings were built about 1897 across the street on the 300 block corner of Marshall and North 27th. The store was purchased by real estate broker James Beverly Elam on February 11, 1895 who most likely made the physical and cosmetic changes between 1898 and 1902 to it when the other commercial buildings were constructed to fit in and be updated. City directories show this building vacant during those years. Also keep in mind that large size plate glass wasnt available in the United States until the late 19th century fitting the time frame.

Wooden Structure:
In 1858, the wooden 2-story section did not exist but is part of a wood rear addition recorded on MA reassessment policy #21180 of August 7, 1860 and can also be seen on the 1867 US Army Corp of Engineers Map of Richmond (National Archives Record Group 77, Map G 204 #55&57). This means we can safely say the wooden portion slated for demolition was built between 1858-1860 and any new structures should follow such designs of that era.

20th Century:
There was grocery competition with Morris Grocery at 324 N 27th which was also built as a grocery store and continued as such until the 1960s. It was the better of the two stores causing Harry Hudson to diversify and then close shop in 1946. After the war the men were home and families grew so there was a need for Laundromats rather than businesses of the same kind on opposite corners. The 4-corners were occupied as such: 400 was a Drug Store, 324 a Grocery Store, 325 a Restaurant and 401 a Laundry. J.L. Blankenship & Bro. (1902-1911) James Leonard Blankenship (1880-1967) and brother Luther Clyde Blankenship (1884-1962) both from Tennessee, opened a Fish and Game market. By 1910 they had opened the wooden section up as a separate business building with address of 2702 E. Marshall Street and sold the fish from that section while having Confectionaries and Fruit in the 401 building. Luther went on as an insurance salesman for Met Life and James became a policeman before moving to Tuckahoe by 1920 and farmed land off Three Chopt. Hudsons Market (1912-1946) Harry Hinton Hudson (1879-1940) was in the grocery business with Simon Damiani with their store Hudson & Damiani located at 300 W Clay St. The partnership split in 1911 and Hudson opened Hudson Market at the 401 building in 1912. After Harrys death, his widow Willie Kate Hudson expanded by WWII selling radios and electronic parts in the front calling it Hudson Supply Co. and still sold groceries as Hudsons Market in the back section until after the war and closed shop giving way to Morris Grocery (Annie S. Morris) across the street. Hudson rented a house at 3308 E. Broad St. where he died Serve Your Self Laundry (1947-1964) From 1947 onwards the 401 building would be a Laundromat. Father and son Wiley Ernest Overcast (1879-1966) from Shelbyville, TN and Earl Ivy Overcast (1906-1973) opened the first. Ernest was working for Strickland Foundry & Machine Co prior to operating the laundry. A sign of changing times, it had hours on Saturday until midnight! In 1968 the building was sold again to Charlie James Johnson, Jr. (1936- ). He and his wife Emma Mae had been operating the 27th Street Inn restaurant at 325 N 27th (he bought that building in 1969) and changed the name to the 27th Street Laundro Mat (his spelling) until 2004. Charlie had been a driver for the Times Dispatch and lived on M Street prior to being a shop owner. By 1979 he had also converted the restaurant into another big load Laundromat. There had also been a 27th Street Laundromat located at 727 N 27th (corner of N 27th and Cedar Streets) which was torn down several years ago and replaced in 2008 with a duplex.

Some known names the store went by: Francisco Cassala Grocer 1852 Bourn & Elam 1883-1890 (Parley / Parsley??? 1891) J.L. Blankenship & Bro. 1902-1911 Hudsons Market 1912-1946 Serve Your Self Laundry 1947-1964 27th Street Laundro Mat 1968-2004

Prepared: September 19, 2008 By: Eric S. Huffstutler 407 N 27th Street Richmond, Virginia 23223-7323

2004

1964

Stepped Parapet Roof Not Original to 1815 design

Original Single Brick Arch Window Bricked Up Marshall Street side

Section of 1867 Army Corps of Engineers map showing Marshall and 27th and current building configuration