Broad Street (Richmond, Virginia)

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Postcard View of Broad Street, looking South, at 7th and Broad Streets. Note the Streetcars. The Meyer Greentree store was the ante-bellum Richmond Theater, demolished in July 2004 for a new Federal Courthouse. Miller & Rhoads is the red brick building at 6th and Broad.

Broad Street (also known as Broad Street Road) is a 15-mile long road located in the independent city of Richmond, Virginia and adjacent Henrico County. Broad Street is significant to Richmond due to the many commercial establishments that have been built along it throughout Richmond's history. Until the late 19th century, the trains of the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad ran down the center of the street from the present Harrison Street east to Eighth Street.

From downtown through miles into the suburbs, the street is dedicated to retailing, including regional and neighborhood shopping centers and malls. The area around Sixth and Broad Streets was the center of retailing in the Southeast, with department stores such as Miller & Rhoads, Thalhimer's, G.C. Murphy, Woolworth, Raylass, Sears Roebuck, Cohen's and W.T. Grant and niche retailers like Hofheimer's. As Richmond moved west, so did the retail district. Miles away, Short Pump Town Center in western Henrico County on Broad Street has leading retailers including Macy's, Dillard's and Nordstrom.

The east end of Broad Street is located at the northeastern edge of Chimborazo Park. It extends through Church Hill to Downtown Richmond. Also known as U.S. Highway 250 west of Downtown Richmond, it extends west through Richmond's West End all the way to the outermost suburbs of Richmond just beyond Short Pump near the intersection of I-295 and I-64.

Continuing west into Goochland County as U.S. Route 250, the road extends all the way to Sandusky, OH.

Link at mapquest