Monument Avenue Walking Tour - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. J.E.B. Stuart Monument

On May 14, 1864, two days after Major General James Ewell Brown “J.E.B.” Stuart died from a wound received at the Battle of Yellow Tavern, the Richmond City Council created the Stuart Monumental Association with the task of erecting a monument to the Confederate Army’s most famous cavalry leader. The Stuart Monumental Association failed to produce a sizeable monument and dismantled by 1866. Another 25 years passed before another effort manifested to memorialize Stuart. In 1892, the Veteran Cavalry Association of the Army of Northern Virginia incorporated and began the process to erect a monument to the Confederate leader. In 1903, the Association selected a design by sculptor Frederick Moynihan, and a year later a site was chosen along Monument Avenue at the intersection of Lombardy and Franklin Streets. On May 31, 1907, the J.E.B. Stuart Monument was unveiled to a crowd of thousands during the United Confederate Veterans Reunion, just eight days prior to the unveiling of the Jefferson Davis Monument. After his death, the legacy of Jeb Stuart played a pivotal role in the creation and proliferation of the Lost Cause ideology and the personification of the Virginia Cavalier, serving as the South’s chivalrous knight-errant. Confederate monuments such as the one to Jeb Stuart have been scrutinized in recent years for their promotion of racism and the Lost Cause ideology. In June 2020, the City of Richmond removed the Stuart Monument and other Confederate statues from Monument Avenue and placed them in storage.

2. General Robert E. Lee Monument (1890-2021)

Dedicated in 1890, the former monument to Robert E. Lee that stood here was the first and largest of the monuments along Richmond’s Monument Avenue Historic District. This monument was first proposed shortly after Lee’s death in 1870. Richmond’s African American community strongly opposed erecting any monument supporting the Confederacy or its leaders, a sentiment that became more widely accepted among white residents over a century later which led to its removal in 2021. Despite voices of opposition among people who had lived through the Civil War, the project was completed in 1890. The bronze equestrian statue of Lee astride his famous horse Traveller was designed by French sculptor Jean Antoine Mercie and cast in four sections. Constructed by African American laborers, ironically enough, the General Robert E. Lee Monument was officially unveiled on May 29, 1890, to a crowd estimated to be between 100,000 and 150,000. Col Archer Anderson, a former Confederate military officer, delivered the keynote speech for this 61-foot-tall monument. Anderson contributed to the growing trend of idolizing the Confederacy and the Lost Cause ideology by praising Lee as a man of action and a hero of his home state of Virginia. During the next 30 years, five more Confederate monuments were erected along Monument Avenue, a grand, residential boulevard. Since the erection of the Robert E. Lee Monument, controversy has continued to surround the existence of Monument Avenue regarding its promotion and proliferation of racism and the Lost Cause ideology. In 2020, following nationwide protests over racism and Confederate monuments, Virginia Governor Ralph Northam ordered the monument removed. District courts upheld the governor's decision, but the decision was appealed; the Virginia Supreme Court dismissed the appeal, and the bronze statue was removed in September 2021. The graffiti-covered pedestal base also was removed later.

3. Jefferson Davis Monument

Unveiled on June 3, 1907 to a crowd estimated between 80,000 and 200,000, the Jefferson Davis Monument in Richmond spent eighteen years in the making. Richmond city officials and the United Confederate Veterans sought to erect a monument to the Confederate President in the former capital city of the Confederacy almost immediately after Davis’ death in 1889. The Jefferson Davis Monument Association formed and began soliciting funds for a sizeable monument to be erected. However, the Association failed to gain the necessary funds by 1896 and passed the task onto the United Daughters of the Confederacy. Under the Daughters’ direction, the current monument was created by architect William C. Noland and sculptor Edward V. Valentine. Since its erection, the Jefferson Davis monument, in particular, has generated much controversy. As the only non-Virginian represented in the entirety of Monument Avenue, the intention of including Davis in the avenue is blatant promotion of the Confederate ideology of white supremacy and the Lost Cause movement. In recent years, national debates over systemic racism have led to protests over Confederate monuments. On June 11, 2020, a crowd of protestors toppled the bronze statue of Jefferson Davis. The City of Richmond removed other Confederate statues from Monument Avenue in the ensuing months. The colonnade remains.

4. Stonewall Jackson Monument

On October 11, 1919, the Stonewall Jackson Monument was unveiled to a crowd of thousands addressed by Robert E. Lee, III. This was not Richmond’s first memorial to the late Confederate leader, however. In June 1863, one month after Jackson’s passing, the South’s British allies created the Jackson Monumental Fund for the purpose of raising funds to erect a Jackson memorial in Richmond. In 1875, the British Fund presented Virginia with a bronze statue of Jackson, which was placed in Richmond’s Capitol Square. Virginia still remained politically divided in the decade following the war, so Governor James L. Kemper used the statue as an attempt to unify the state, promoting the Lost Cause ideology that Jackson’s honorable virtues should be admired by all for the sake of the Commonwealth. Thirty-six years later, the United Daughters of the Confederacy and a group of remaining Confederate veterans formed the Jackson Monumental Corporation in 1911 with the intent on creating a grand equestrian monument of Jackson for Monument Avenue. Designed by local sculptor Frederick William Sievers, the Stonewall Jackson Monument was unveiled on October 11, 1919 to a large crowd addressed once again by Robert E. Lee, III. Along with the other Confederate statues on Monument Avenue, the Jackson Monument has been scrutinized in recent years for its promotion of racism and the Lost Cause ideology. In July 2020, Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney ordered the removal of the Confederate statues along Monument Avenue, including the Stonewall Jackson Monument. Only the pedestal remains.

5. Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument

Unlike many Confederate monuments, the proposal for the Matthew Fontaine Maury's statue was inspired not by his military career, but by his scientific contributions. Maury is considered by many as the father of modern oceanography and his scientific contributions revolutionized ocean travel. Designed by Frederick William Sievers, who previously designed the Stonewall Jackson Monument, the Matthew Fontaine Maury Monument was unveiled to a crowd on November 11, 1929. The design of the Maury monument stands in stark contrast to the four other classical-themed Confederate monuments along Monument Avenue. Sievers stepped away from the Lost Cause iconography of the previous four decades and took advantage of Maury’s unique accomplishments to create a monument that focused on the commander’s successes rather than his political allegiance. Along with the other Confederate statues on Monument Avenue, the Maury Monument has been scrutinized in recent years for its connection to racism and the Lost Cause ideology. On July 2, 2020, by the order of Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, the Maury Monument was removed to storage.

6. Arthur Ashe Monument

After his AIDS-related death in 1993, Richmond sought to memorialize Arthur Ashe, its hometown sports hero and humanitarian. Ashe spent the majority of his youth in the highly segregated Richmond while developing his tennis skills under the tutelage of Ronald Charity, Dr. Walter Johnson. During his professional career, Ashe became the first Black man to play in the Davis Cup, the first and only Black man to win the U.S. Open and Wimbledon, and he won three Grand Slam titles. In 1980, complications from a heart attack forced Ashe to retire from professional tennis, with an overall record of 818 wins, 260 losses, and 51 titles. Before his death, Ashe worked with sculptor Paul DiPasquale to create a statue of himself that was intended to be placed onsite of the tennis player’s proposed African American Sports Hall of Fame in Richmond. In 1994, the nonprofit youth mentoring organization called Virginia Heroes decided to move forward with commissioning DiPasquale’s statue of Arthur Ashe. Former Virginia Governor L. Douglas Wilder made the controversial suggestion that the statue be placed on Monument Avenue. During the next 18 months, public debate and various opinions swirled around Richmond regarding the placement of the Ashe statue: many white Richmonders opposed the inclusion of an African American sports icon with Confederate military leaders, while many African Americans argued that Ashe’s legacy deserved more than placement alongside Southern white supremacists. In the end, the city boldly upheld the decision to place the Arthur Ashe memorial on Monument Avenue, forever changing the appearance and history of Monument Avenue. On July 10, 1996, the late tennis star’s 53rd birthday, Richmond unveiled the 28-foot-tall Arthur Ashe Monument at the intersection of Monument Avenue and Roseneath Road to a crowd of 2,000 people. Proudly symbolizing a new future for the former capitol of the Confederacy, former Virginia Governor Wilder declared during the unveiling ceremony, “Monument Avenue is now an avenue for all people.” Being a member of the Monument Avenue Historic District, the Arthur Ashe Monument was designated a National Historic Landmark on December 3, 1997.

This Tour is a Walking Tour.

Monument Avenue Walking Tour

Created by Kalen Martin-Gross on April 26th 2019, 6:34:43 pm.

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Description

Following the end of the Civil War, Southerners struggled to come to terms with the reality of defeat and personal loss and created an ideology that came to be known as the Lost Cause of the Confederacy. The Lost Cause is a sociocultural movement that reinterprets the Civil War as a romanticized effort by Southerners to protect and preserve their culture, specifically through minimizing the horrors of slavery. This ideology influenced the landscape of Southern cities through the erection of grand public monuments meant to honor Confederate leaders; being the former capital of the Confederacy, Richmond, Virginia became home to some of the South’s most elaborate Confederate monuments. Developed between 1890-1929, Monument Avenue is a fourteen-block-long, tree-lined residential boulevard between Lombardy Street and Roseneath Road. Six monuments are located along major intersections of the avenue, five honoring Confederate military leaders and one honoring the Richmond-born tennis star Arthur Ashe. Monument Avenue is now a National Historic Landmark Historic District and the nation’s only grand residential boulevard with monuments of its scale surviving mostly unaltered into the present. At the time of this tour's creation, the Confederate monuments along the avenue were a highly disputed feature of the city with many residents calling for their removal. The City of Richmond spent years with community engagement efforts to evaluate the impact of its Confederate monuments and decided for removal. This tour follows the former Monument Avenue to explore the reasons why the monuments were erected and why they were removed. The tour includes the sites that were home to Confederate leaders J.E.B. Stuart, General Robert E. Lee, Jefferson Davis, Stonewall Jackson, and Matthew Fontaine Maury. The tour ends with the Arthur Ashe Monument, the sixth and most recent monument added to the avenue, and the one that remains in place.

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