Highland Park (Richmond)
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Highland Park is a neighborhood located on the north side of the Shockoe Valley from downtown Richmond. The area boundaries are roughly First Avenue to the west, Fifth Avenue to the east, the Shockoe Valley to the south, and Pulaski Street to the north. The zip code is 23222.
Largely residential in character, the area is notable for having Richmond's largest remaining stock of Queen Anne style homes. Originally developed as a streetcar suburb starting in 1891, the community quickly became a magnet for the city's burgeoning southern & eastern European immigrant population, particularly Italians, Germans, and Poles.[1]
The area declined after World War II, when white flight and other economic factors encouraged wealthy and middle-class residents to depart for newer neighborhoods in the city's West End. However, Highland Park is today seeing a resurgence of activity, thanks to its location convenient to downtown and the Virginia Biotechnology Research Park, and also to the city's "Neighborhoods in Bloom" program, a public-private partnership focused on encouraging investment activity in targeted areas.
[edit] References
- ^ Dabney, Virginius. "Richmond: The Story of a City" (New York: Doubleday, 1976), pp.223-225
