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Richmond, Virginia

Richmond is the capital city of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. Incorporated in 1742, Richmond has been an independent city since 1871. The city's population in the 2020 census was 226,610, up from 204,214 in 2010, making it Virginia's fourth-most populous city. The Richmond metropolitan area, with over 1.3 million residents, is the Commonwealth's third-most populous.

Richmond is located at the James River's fall line, 44 mi west of Williamsburg, 66 mi east of Charlottesville, 91 mi east of Lynchburg and 92 mi south of Washington, D.C. Surrounded by Henrico and Chesterfield counties, Richmond is at the intersection of Interstate 95 and Interstate 64 and encircled by Interstate 295, Virginia State Route 150 and Virginia State Route 288. Major suburbs include Midlothian to the southwest, Chesterfield to the south, Varina to the southeast, Sandston to the east, Glen Allen to the north and west, Short Pump to the west, and Mechanicsville to the northeast.

Richmond was an important village in the Powhatan Confederacy and was briefly settled by English colonists from Jamestown from 1609 to 1611. Founded in 1737, it replaced Williamsburg as the capital of the Colony and Dominion of Virginia in 1780. During the Revolutionary War period, several notable events occurred in the city, including Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech in 1775 at St. John's Church and the passage of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom written by Thomas Jefferson. During the American Civil War, Richmond was the capital of the Confederate States of America.

The Jackson Ward neighborhood is the city's traditional hub of African American commerce and culture, once known as the "Black Wall Street of America" and the "Harlem of the South." At the beginning of the 20th century, Richmond had one of the world's first successful electric streetcar systems.

Law, finance, and government primarily drive Richmond's economy. The downtown area is home to federal, state, and local governmental agencies as well as notable legal and banking firms. The greater metropolitan area includes several Fortune 500 companies: Performance Food Group, Altria, CarMax, Dominion Energy, Markel, Owens and Minor, Genworth Financial, and ARKO Corp. The city is home to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit and a Federal Reserve Bank (one of 13 such courts and one of 12 such banks). It is the home of the influential Music/Art group GWAR.

Colonial era
After the first permanent English-speaking settlement was established at Jamestown, Virginia, in April 1607, Captain Christopher Newport led explorers northwest up the James River to an inhabited area in the Powhatan Nation. Richmond was Arrohattoc territory where Arrohateck village was located. However, as time progressed relations between the Arrohattocs and English colonists declined, and by 1609 the tribe was unwilling to trade with the settlers. As the population began to dwindle, the tribe declined and was last mentioned in a 1610 report by the visiting William Strachey. By 1611 the tribe's Henrico town was found to be deserted when Sir Thomas Dale went to use the land to found Henricus

In 1611, the first European settlement in Central Virginia was established at Henricus, where the Falling Creek empties into the James River. In 1619, early Virginia Company settlers established the Falling Creek Ironworks there. Decades of conflicts between the Powhatan and the settlers followed, including the Battle of Bloody Run, fought near Richmond in 1656, after tensions arose from an influx of Manahoacs and Nahyssans from the North. Nonetheless, the James Falls area saw more White settlement in the late 1600s and early 1700s.

In early 1737, planter William Byrd II commissioned Major William Mayo to lay out the original town grid, completed in April. Byrd named the city after the English town of Richmond near (and now part of) London, because the view of the James River's bend at the fall line was similar to that of the River Thames from Richmond Hill, named after Henry VII's ancestral home in Richmond, North Yorkshire. In 1742, the settlement was incorporated as a town.

American Revolution
In 1775, Patrick Henry delivered his famous "Give me liberty, or give me death" speech in Richmond's St. John's Church, greatly influencing Virginia's participation in the First Continental Congress and the course of the American Revolution. On April 18, 1780, the state capital was moved from Williamsburg to Richmond, providing a more centralized location for Virginia's increasing western population and theoretically isolating the capital from a British attack from the coast. In 1781, Loyalist troops led by Benedict Arnold led a raid on Richmond and burnt it, leading Governor Thomas Jefferson to flee while the Virginia militia, led by Sampson Mathews, unsuccessfully defended the city.

Early United States
Richmond recovered quickly from the war, thriving within a year of its burning. In 1786, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, drafted by Thomas Jefferson, was enacted, separating church and state and advancing the legal principle for freedom of religion in the United States. In 1788, the Virginia State Capitol, designed by Jefferson and Charles-Louis Clérisseau in the Greek Revival style, was completed.

To bypass Richmond's rapids on the upper James River and provide a water route across the Appalachian Mountains to the Kanawha River, which flows westward into the Ohio River and converges with the Mississippi River, George Washington helped design the James River and Kanawha Canal. The canal started in Westham and cut east to Richmond, facilitating the transfer of cargo from flat-bottomed James River bateaux above the fall line to the ocean-faring ships below. The canal boatmen legacy is represented by the figure in the center of the city flag.

Because of the canal and the hydropower the falls generated, Richmond emerged as an important industrial center after the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783). It became home to some of the largest manufacturing facilities, including iron works and flour mills, in the South and the country.

By 1850, Richmond was connected by the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad to Port Walthall, where ships carrying over 200 tons of cargo could connect to Baltimore or Philadelphia. Passenger liners could reach Norfolk, Virginia, through the Hampton Roads harbor. In the 19th century, Richmond was connected to the North by the Richmond, Fredericksburg, and Potomac Railroad, later replaced by CSXT.

The railroad also was used by some to escape slavery in the mid-19th century. In 1849, Henry "Box" Brown famously had himself nailed into a small box and shipped from Richmond to abolitionists in Philadelphia through Baltimore's President Street Station on the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railroad, often used by the Underground Railroad to assist escaping disguised slaves reach the free state of Pennsylvania.

American Civil War
Five days after the Confederate attack on Fort Sumter, the Virginia legislature voted to secede from the United States and join the newly created Confederate States of America on April 17, 1861. The action became official in May, after the Confederacy promised to move its national capital to Richmond from Montgomery, Alabama.

Richmond held local, state and national Confederate government offices, hospitals, a railroad hub, and one of the largest slave markets. It also had the largest Confederate arms factory, the Tredegar Iron Works. The factory produced artillery and other munitions, including heavy ordnance machinery and the 723 tons of armor plating that covered the CSS Virginia, the world's first ironclad ship used in war. The Confederate States Congress shared quarters in the Jefferson-designed Virginia State Capitol with the Virginia General Assembly. The Confederacy's executive mansion, known as the "White House of the Confederacy," was two blocks away on Clay Street.

Located about 100 mi from the national capital in Washington, D.C., Richmond was at the end of a long supply line and difficult to defend. For four years, its defense required the bulk of the Army of Northern Virginia and the Confederacy's best troops and commanders. The Union army made Richmond a main target in the campaigns of 1862 and 1864–65. In late June and early July 1862, Union General-in-Chief George B. McClellan threatened but failed to take Richmond in the Seven Days Battles of the Peninsula campaign. Three years later, Richmond became indefensible in March 1865 after nearby Petersburg fell and several remaining rail supply lines to the south and southwest were broken.

On March 25, Confederate General John B. Gordon's desperate attack on Fort Stedman, east of Petersburg, failed. On April 1, Union Cavalry General Philip Sheridan, assigned to interdict the Southside Railroad, met brigades commanded by Southern General George Pickett at the Five Forks Junction, defeated them, took thousands of prisoners, and advised Union General-in-Chief Ulysses S. Grant to order a general advance. When the Union Sixth Corps broke through Confederate lines on the Boydton Plank Road south of Petersburg, Confederate casualties exceeded 5,000, about a tenth of Lee's defending army. Lee then informed President Jefferson Davis that he intended to evacuate Richmond.

On April 2, 1865, the Confederate Army began Richmond's evacuation. Confederate President Davis and his cabinet, Confederate government archives, and its treasury's gold, left the city that night by train. Confederate officials burned documents and troops burned tobacco and other warehouses to deny the Union any spoils. In the early morning of April 3, Confederate troops exploded the city's gunpowder magazine, killing several paupers in a temporary Almshouse and igniting raging fires. Later that day, General Godfrey Weitzel, commander of the 25th Corps of the United States Colored Troops, accepted Richmond's surrender from the mayor and a group of leading citizens who did not evacuate. Union troops eventually contained the fires, but about 25% of the city's buildings were destroyed.

On April 3, President Abraham Lincoln visited Grant at Petersburg and took a launch up the James River to Richmond on April 4. While Davis attempted to organize the Confederate government in Danville, Lincoln met Confederate Assistant Secretary of War John A. Campbell, handing him a note inviting Virginia's state legislature to end their rebellion. After Campbell spun the note to Confederate legislators as a possible end to the Emancipation Proclamation, Lincoln rescinded his offer and ordered General Weitzel to prevent the state legislature from meeting.

On April 6, Union forces killed, wounded, or captured 8,000 Confederate troops at Sayler's Creek, southwest of Petersburg. The Confederate Army continued a general retreat southwestward, and General Lee continued to reject General Grant's surrender entreaties until Sheridan's infantry and cavalry encircled the shrinking Army of Northern Virginia and cut off its ability to retreat further on April 8. Lee surrendered his remaining approximately 10,000 troops the following morning at Appomattox Court House, meeting Grant at the McLean Home.

Davis was captured on May 10 near Irwinville, Georgia and taken back to Virginia, where he was imprisoned two years at Fort Monroe until freed on bail.

Postbellum
A decade after the Civil War, Richmond resumed its position as a major urban center of economic productivity with iron front buildings and massive brick factories. Canal traffic peaked in the 1860s, with railroads becoming the dominant shipping method. Richmond became a major railroad crossroads, showcasing the world's first triple railroad crossing. Tobacco warehousing and processing continued to play a central economic role, advanced by the world's first cigarette-rolling machine that James Albert Bonsack of Roanoke invented between 1880 and 1881.

Another important contributor to Richmond's resurgence was the Richmond Union Passenger Railway, a trolley system developed by electric power pioneer Frank J. Sprague. The system opened its first Richmond line in 1888, using an overhead wire and a trolley pole to connect to the current and electric motors on the car's trucks. The success led to electric streetcar lines rapidly spreading to other cities. A post-World War II transition to buses from streetcars began in May 1947 and was completed on November 25, 1949.

20th century
By the beginning of the 20th century, the city's population had reached 85,050 in 5 sqmi, making it the most densely populated city in the Southern United States. In the 1900 Census, Richmond's population was 62.1% white and 37.9% black. Freed slaves and their descendants created a thriving African-American business community, and the city's historic Jackson Ward became known as the "Wall Street of Black America." In 1903, African-American businesswoman and financier Maggie L. Walker chartered St. Luke Penny Savings Bank, served as its president, and was the first black female bank president in the United States. Charles Thaddeus Russell was Richmond's first black architect, and he designed the bank's office. Today, the bank is called the Consolidated Bank and Trust Company and is the country's oldest surviving African-American bank. Another prominent African-American from this time was John Mitchell Jr., a newspaper editor, civil rights activist, and politician.

In 1910, the former city of Manchester consolidated with Richmond, and in 1914 the city annexed Barton Heights, Ginter Park, and Highland Park in Henrico County. In May 1914, Richmond became the headquarters of the Fifth District of the Federal Reserve Bank.

Several major performing arts venues were constructed during the 1920s, including what are now the Landmark Theatre, Byrd Theatre, and Carpenter Theatre. The city's first radio station, WRVA, began broadcasting in 1925. WTVR-TV (CBS 6), Richmond's first television station, was also the first TV station south of Washington, D.C.

Between 1963 and 1965, there was a "downtown boom" that led to the construction of more than 700 buildings. In 1968, Virginia Commonwealth University was created by the merger of the Medical College of Virginia and the Richmond Professional Institute.

On January 1, 1970, Richmond's borders expanded south by 27 sqmi and its population increased by 47,000 after several years of court cases in which Chesterfield County unsuccessfully fought annexation.

In 1995, a multimillion-dollar flood wall was completed, protecting the city's low-lying areas from the oft-rising James River. Consequently, the River District businesses grew rapidly, bolstered by the creation of a Canal Walk along the city's former industrial canals. Today the area is home to much of Richmond's entertainment, dining, and nightlife activity.

In 1996, racial tensions grew amid controversy about adding the statue of African American Richmond native and tennis star Arthur Ashe to the series of statues of Confederate generals on Monument Avenue. After several months of controversy, Ashe's bronze statue was finally completed on July 10, 1996.

Geography

Richmond is located at 37.53333°N, -77.46667°W (37.538, −77.462). According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 62 sqmi, of which 60 sqmi is land and 2.7 sqmi (4.3%) is water. The city is in the Piedmont region of Virginia, at the James River's highest navigable point. The Piedmont region is characterized by relatively low, rolling hills, and lies between the low, flat Tidewater region and the Blue Ridge Mountains. Significant bodies of water in the region include the James River, the Appomattox River, and the Chickahominy River.

The Richmond-Petersburg Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the 44th largest in the United States, includes the independent cities of Richmond, Colonial Heights, Hopewell, and Petersburg, and the counties of Charles City, Chesterfield, Dinwiddie, Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, New Kent, Powhatan, and Prince George. On July 1, 2009, the Richmond—Petersburg MSA's population was 1,258,251.

Richmond is located 21.69 mi north of Petersburg, Virginia, 66.1 mi southeast of Charlottesville, Virginia, 79.24 mi northwest of Norfolk, Virginia, 96.87 mi south of Washington, D.C., and 138.72 mi northeast of Raleigh, North Carolina.

Cityscape

Richmond's original street grid, laid out in 1737, included the area between what are now Broad, 17th, and 25th Streets and the James River. Modern Downtown Richmond is slightly farther west, on the slopes of Shockoe Hill. Nearby neighborhoods include Shockoe Bottom, the historically significant and low-lying area between Shockoe Hill and Church Hill, and Monroe Ward, which contains the Jefferson Hotel. Richmond's East End includes neighborhoods like the rapidly gentrifying Church Hill, home to St. John's Church, poorer areas like Fulton, Union Hill, and Fairmont, and public housing projects like Mosby Court, Whitcomb Court, Fairfield Court, and Creighton Court closer to Interstate 64.

The area between Belvidere Street, Interstate 195, Interstate 95, and the river, which includes Virginia Commonwealth University, is socioeconomically and architecturally diverse. North of Broad Street, the Carver and Newtowne West neighborhoods are demographically similar to neighboring Jackson Ward.Carver has seen some gentrification due to its proximity to VCU. The affluent area between the Boulevard, Main Street, Broad Street, and VCU, known as the Fan, is home to Monument Avenue, an outstanding collection of Victorian architecture, and many students. West of the Boulevard is the Museum District, which contains the Virginia Historical Society and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. South of the Downtown Expressway are Byrd Park, Maymont, Hollywood Cemetery, the predominantly black working-class Randolph neighborhood, and white working-class Oregon Hill. Cary Street between Interstate 195 and the Boulevard is a popular commercial area called Carytown.

Richmond's Northside is home to numerous listed historic districts. Neighborhoods such as Chestnut Hill-Plateau and Barton Heights began to be developed at the end of the 19th century when the new streetcar system made it possible for people to live on the city's outskirts and commute downtown. Other prominent Northside neighborhoods include Azalea, Barton Heights, Bellevue, Chamberlayne, Ginter Park, Highland Park, and Rosedale.

Farther west is the affluent, suburban West End. Windsor Farms is among its best-known sections. The West End also includes middle- to low-income neighborhoods, such as Laurel, Farmington, and the areas around the Regency Mall. More affluent areas include Glen Allen, Short Pump, and the areas of Tuckahoe away from Regency Mall, all north and northwest of the city. The University of Richmond and the Country Club of Virginia are located on this side of town near the Richmond-Henrico border.

The portion of the city south of the James River is known as the Southside. Southside neighborhoods range from the affluent and middle-class suburban Westover Hills, Forest Hill, Southampton, Stratford Hills, Oxford, Huguenot Hills, Hobby Hill, and Woodland Heights to the impoverished Manchester and Blackwell areas, the Hillside Court housing projects, and the ailing Jefferson Davis Highway commercial corridor. Other Southside neighborhoods include Fawnbrook, Broad Rock, Cherry Gardens, Cullenwood, and Beaufont Hills. Much of Southside developed a suburban character as part of Chesterfield County before being annexed by Richmond, most notably in 1970.

Climate
Richmond has a humid subtropical (Köppen: Cfa) or oceanic (Trewartha: Do) climate, with hot, humid summers and moderately cold winters. The mountains to the west act as a partial barrier to outbreaks of cold, continental air in winter. Arctic air is delayed long enough to be modified and further warmed as it subsides in its approach to Richmond. The open waters of the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean contribute to the humid summers and cool winters. The coldest weather normally occurs from late December to early February, and the January daily mean temperature is 37.9 °F, with an average of 6.0 days with highs at or below the freezing mark. Richmond's Downtown and areas south and east of downtown are in USDA Hardiness zones 7b. Surrounding suburbs and areas to the north and west of Downtown are in Hardiness Zone 7a. Temperatures seldom fall below 0 °F, with the most recent subzero reading on January 7, 2018, when the temperature reached −3 °F. The July daily mean temperature is 79.3 °F, and high temperatures reach or exceed 90 °F approximately 43 days a year; 100 °F temperatures are not uncommon but do not occur every year. Extremes in temperature have ranged from −12 °F on January 19, 1940, to 107 °F on August 6, 1918. The record cold maximum is 11 °F, set on February 11 and 12, 1899. The record warm minimum is 81 °F, set on July 12, 2011. The warmest months recorded were July 2020 and August 1900, both averaging 82.9°F (28.3 °C). The coldest, January 1940, averaged 24.2 °F (-4.3 °C).

Precipitation is rather uniformly distributed throughout the year. Dry periods lasting several weeks sometimes occur, especially in autumn, when long periods of pleasant, mild weather are most common. There is considerable variability in total monthly precipitation amounts from year to year, so no one month can be depended to be normal. Snow has been recorded during seven of the 12 months. Falls of 4 in or more within 24 hours occur once a year on average. Annual snowfall is usually moderate, averaging 10.5 in per season. Snow typically remains on the ground for only one or two days, but it remained for 16 days in 2010 (January 30 to February 14). Ice storms (freezing rain or glaze) are not uncommon, but they are seldom severe enough to cause considerable damage.

The James River reaches tidewater at Richmond, where flooding may occur in any month of the year, most frequently in March and least in July. Hurricanes and tropical storms have been responsible for most flooding during the summer and early fall months. Hurricanes passing near Richmond have produced record rainfalls. In 1955, three hurricanes, including Hurricane Connie and Hurricane Diane, which brought heavy rains five days apart, produced record rainfall in a six-week period. In 2004, the downtown area suffered extensive flood damage after the remnants of Hurricane Gaston dumped up to 12 in of rain.

Damaging storms occur mainly from snow and freezing rain in winter, and from hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe thunderstorms in other seasons. Damage can come from wind, flooding, rain, or a combination of the three. Tornadoes are infrequent, but some notable ones have been observed in the Richmond area.

Downtown Richmond averages 84 days of nighttime frost annually. Nighttime frost is more common in areas north and west of Downtown and less common south and east of downtown. From 1981 to 2010, the average first temperature at or below freezing was on October 30 and the average last one on April 10.

Demographics
Richmond's population is approximately 226,000. As an independent city, Richmond is surrounded by Henrico County, which has a population of about 334,000. The Greater Richmond region has an estimated population of about 1.3 million.

As of the 2010 United States census, there were 204,214 people living in the city. 50.6% were Black or African American, 40.8% White, 2.3% Asian, 0.3% Native American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 3.6% of some other race and 2.3% of two or more races. 6.3% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).

As of the census of 2000, there were 197,790 people, 84,549 households, and 43,627 families living in the city. The population density was 3,292.6 PD/sqmi. There were 92,282 housing units at an average density of 1,536.2 /sqmi. The racial makeup of the city was 57.2% African American, 38.3% White, 0.2% Native American, 1.3% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.5% from other races, and 1.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.6% of the population.

There were 84,549 households, out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 27.1% were married couples living together, 20.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.4% were non-families. 37.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the city, the age distribution of the population shows 21.8% under the age of 18, 13.1% from 18 to 24, 31.7% from 25 to 44, 20.1% from 45 to 64, and 13.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.5 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,121, and the median income for a family was $38,348. Males had a median income of $30,874 versus $25,880 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,337. About 17.1% of families and 21.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 32.9% of those under age 18 and 15.8% of those age 65 or over.

Crime
Richmond experienced a spike in overall crime, particularly in the murder rate, during the 1980s, 1990s, and the early 2000s, when it was consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous cities in the United States.

Since the late 2000s, various forms of crime have significantly decreased in the city. Its major crime rate, including violent and property crimes, decreased 47 percent between 2004 and 2009 to its lowest level in more than a quarter of a century. In 2008, Richmond had fallen to 49th on a Morgan Quitno Press ranking of the most dangerous cities in the United States, and the city recorded its lowest homicide rate since 1971. By 2012, Richmond was no longer in the top 200.

In recent years, Richmond, like other cities, has had a slight increase in homicides, although violent and other forms of crime remain below the national average.

Religion
In 1786, the Virginia General Assembly adopted the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, which Thomas Jefferson, wrote in 1779. The First Freedom Center now commemorates the site.

Richmond has several historic churches, including several prominent Anglican/Episcopal ones from before the Revolutionary War, Monumental Church, St. Paul's Episcopal Church, and St. John's Episcopal Church. Methodists and Baptists built subsequent early Richmond churches. The first, First Baptist Church of Richmond, was established in 1780. The First Presbyterian Church, organized on June 18, 1812, was the city's first Reformed church. The Second Presbyterian Church of Richmond, founded February 5, 1845, where Stonewall Jackson worshiped, was Richmond's first Gothic building and gas-lit church. St. Peter's Church, dedicated May 25, 1834, was the first Catholic church. The Cathedral of the Sacred Heart, dedicated 72 years later, is the Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond's mother church.

The first Jewish congregation in Richmond, and the sixth in the United States, was Kahal Kadosh Beth Shalom. By 1822, Beth Shalom members worshipped in Virginia's first synagogue. Eventually, the congregation merged with its offshoot, Congregation Beth Ahabah. Richmond has two Orthodox Synagogues, Keneseth Beth Israel and Chabad of Virginia. An Orthodox Yeshivah K–12 school system, Rudlin Torah Academy, includes a post high-school program. The city also is home to two Conservative synagogues, Beth El and Or Atid; and two Reform synagogues, Beth Ahabah and Or Ami. Other Jewish charitable, educational, and social service institutions serving Richmond include the Weinstein Jewish Community Center, Jewish Family Services, Jewish Community Federation of Richmond, and the Richmond Jewish Foundation.

Immigrants brought their religions to Richmond and built churches. Germans formed St. John's German Evangelical church in 1843. Greeks held Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral's first worship service in 1917 in a rented room at 309 North 7th Street. The cathedral relocated to 30 Malvern Avenue in 1960. It is one of two Eastern Orthodox churches in Richmond and home to the annual Richmond Greek Festival.

There are seven masjids in the Greater Richmond area, with three more in construction  to accommodate the growing Muslim population. The first was Masjid Bilal. In the 1950s, Muslims from the East End organized under Nation of Islam (NOI), meeting in Temple No. 24 on North Avenue. After the 1975 NOI split, Muslims who joined mainstream Islam started meeting at Shabaaz Restaurant on Nine Mile Road. By 1976, the Muslims met in a rented church they unsuccessfully tried to buy. Ultimately, the congregation bought an old grocery store on Chimbarazoo Boulevard, where Masjid Bilal is now located. Initially called "Masjid Muhammad No. 24," it was given its current name in 1990. The next masjid was the Islamic Center of Virginia, ICVA, established in 1973 as a non-profit, tax-exempt organization. After successful fundraising, ICVA bought land on Buford Road and began constructing the new masjid in the early 1980s. The other five masjids in the Richmond area are Islamic Center of Richmond (ICR) in the West End; Masjid Umm Barakah on 2nd Street, Downtown; Islamic Society of Greater Richmond (ISGR) in the West End end; Masjidullah in the north side; and Masjid Ar-Rahman in the East End.

Some 6,000 Indian families resided in the Richmond region as of 2011. Hinduism is actively practiced at several temples and cultural centers. The two best known are the Cultural Center of India (CCI), off Iron Bridge Road in Chesterfield County, and the Hindu Center of Virginia, in Henrico County, which won national acclaim as Virginia's first LEED certified religious facility.

Seminaries in Richmond include Virginia Union University's school of theology, Union Presbyterian Seminary, and the Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond. The McCollough Theological Seminary of the United House of Prayer For All People is in the Church Hill neighborhood.

Bishops sitting in Richmond include those of the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia, the denomination's largest; the Richmond Area of the United Methodist Church (Virginia Annual Conference), the second largest and one of the oldest in the nation. The Presbytery of the James—Presbyterian Church (USA) – also is in the Richmond area.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Richmond was canonically erected by Pope Pius VII on July 11, 1820, and today has 235,816 members in 146 parishes. The city of Richmond is Cathedral of the Sacred Heart is home to the current bishop, Most Reverend Barry C. Knestout, appointed by Pope Francis on December 15, 2017.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has three stakes, or organizational units of multiple congregations, in the greater Richmond area. At year-end 2017, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported 95,379 members in 200 congregations in 22 stakes across Virginia). In April 2018, church president Russell M. Nelson announced a new temple to be built in Virginia. The church's first temple in the state is in Glen Allen, northwest of Richmond.

Economy

Richmond's strategic location on the James River at the rocky fall line separating Virginia's Piedmont and Tidewater regions made it a natural development point for commerce. For centuries and three modes of transportation — boats, with the Great Turning Basin; railroad, with the world's only triple crossing of rail lines; and cars, with two intersecting major interstates— the downtown has always been a natural hub.

Law and finance have long been driving forces in the economy. Richmond is home to the Virginia Supreme Court; one of the four courts in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia; one of the four divisions of the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia; and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, one of thirteen such appeals courts. Richmond is headquarters to some large law firms: Hunton Andrews Kurth, McGuireWoods, and Williams Mullen. Troutman Sanders, which merged with Richmond-based Mays & Valentine LLP in 2001, also has a significant presence.

The city also is home to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, one of twelve such banks, with many large financial and other companies having significant offices, like Genworth Financial, Capital One, Philip Morris USA, and several banks and brokerages.

Since the 1960s, Richmond has been a prominent hub for advertising agencies and related businesses. One of the most notable Richmond-based agencies, The Martin Agency, was founded in 1965 and employs 500. With local advertising agency support, VCU's graduate advertising school (VCU Brandcenter) has consistently ranked as the best graduate advertising program in the country.

Richmond is home to the rapidly developing Virginia BioTechnology Research Park, which opened in 1995 as a biotechnology and pharmaceutical incubator. Located adjacent to the Medical College of Virginia (MCV) Campus of Virginia Commonwealth University, the park has over 575000 ft2 of research, laboratory, and office space for a diverse tenant mix of companies, research institutes, government laboratories, and non-profit organizations. The United Network for Organ Sharing, which maintains the nation's organ transplant waiting list, occupies one building in the park. Philip Morris USA opened a $350 million research and development facility in the park in 2007. Once fully developed, park officials expect the site to employ roughly 3,000 scientists, technicians and engineers. Richmond's revitalized downtown includes the Canal Walk, a new Greater Richmond Convention Center, and expansion on both VCU campuses. A new performing arts center, Richmond CenterStage, opened on September 12, 2009. The complex included a renovation of the Carpenter Center and construction of a new multipurpose hall, community playhouse, and arts education center in parts of the old Thalhimers department store.

Craft beer, cider, and liquor production is also growing in the River City, with twelve micro-breweries in the city. The oldest is Legend Brewery, founded in 1994. Two cideries, Buskey Cider and Blue Bee Cider, are located in the popular beverage neighborhood of Scott's Addition, which has nine breweries, one meadery, and one distillery. Richmond's three distilleries are Reservoir Distillery, founded in 2010; Belle Isle Craft Spirits, started in 2013; and James River Distillery, established in 2014.

Richmond is attracting film and television industry attention. Several high-profile films have been shot in the metro region, including the major motion picture Lincoln, for which Daniel Day-Lewis won his third Oscar; Killing Kennedy with Rob Lowe, airing on the National Geographic Channel; and Turn, starring Jamie Bell and airing on AMC. Richmond was the main filming location for the PBS drama series Mercy Street, which premiered in Winter 2016. Several organizations, including the Virginia Film Office and the Virginia Production Alliance, and events, like the Richmond International Film Festival and French Film Festival, continue to draw film and media professionals to the region.

Corporations

Greater Richmond was named the third-best city for business by MarketWatch in September 2007, ranking behind Minneapolis and Denver and above Boston. The area is home to six Fortune 500 companies: electric utility Dominion Energy; CarMax; Owens & Minor; Genworth Financial; MeadWestvaco/ WestRock; and Altria Group. Dominion Energy is the only headquartered in the city of Richmond. The others are located in neighboring Henrico and Hanover counties. In February 2006, MeadWestvaco announced a 2008 move from Stamford, Connecticut, to Richmond with assistance from the Greater Richmond Partnership, a regional economic development organization that also helped locate Aditya Birla Minacs, Amazon.com, and Honeywell International to the region. In 2008, Altria moved its corporate HQ from New York City to Henrico County. In July 2015, MeadWestvaco merged with Georgia-based Rock-Tenn Company creating WestRock Company.

Other Fortune 500 companies without headquarters but with a significant presence in the Richmond area include SunTrust Banks (based in Atlanta), Capital One (officially based in McLean, Virginia, but founded in and with its operations center and most employees in the Richmond area), and medical and pharmaceutical giant McKesson Corporation (based in Las Colinas, Texas). Thermo Fisher Scientific came to the Richmond area in December 2021 when it acquired the contract research organization PPD. Capital One and Philip Morris USA are two of the largest private Richmond-area employers. DuPont maintains a production facility in South Richmond known as the Spruance Plant. UPS Freight, the less-than-truckload division of United Parcel Service has its corporate headquarters in Richmond.

Other companies based in Richmond include engineering specialists CTI Consultants; chemical company NewMarket; Brink's, the security and armored car company; Estes Express Lines, a freight carrier; Universal Corporation, a tobacco merchant; Cavalier Telephone, now Windstream, a telephone, internet, and digital television provider formed in Richmond in 1998; Cherry Bekaert & Holland, a top 30 accounting firm serving the Southeast; the law firm of McGuireWoods; Elephant Insurance, an insurance company subsidiary of Admiral Group; and Media General, a company specializing in broadcast media.

Poverty
As of 2016, 24.8% of Richmond residents live below the federal poverty line, the second-highest among the 30 largest cities and counties in Virginia. An Annie E. Casey Foundation report issued in 2016 also determined that Richmond had a child poverty rate of 39%, more than double Virginia's overall rate. As of 2016, Richmond had the second-highest rate of eviction filings and judgments of any American city with a population of 100,000 or more (in states where complete data was available). Some Richmond neighborhoods, such as the Creighton Court public-housing complex, have high concentrations of poverty.

Museums and monuments
Several of the city's large general museums are located on or near Arthur Ashe Boulevard, in what is referred to as the Museum District. The Virginia Historical Society and the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts are on the Boulevard. Nearby is the Science Museum of Virginia, housed on Broad Street in the neoclassical former 1919 Broad Street Union Station. Immediately adjacent is the Children's Museum of Richmond, and two blocks away is the Virginia Center for Architecture. Downtown has the Library of Virginia and the Valentine Richmond History Center. The city also has the Virginia Holocaust Museum and the Old Dominion Railway Museum.

Richmond is home to several American Civil War museums and battlefields. The Richmond National Battlefield Park Visitors Center and the American Civil War Center at Historic Tredegar are near the riverfront, both housed in the former buildings of the Tredegar Iron Works, where much of the South's war ordnance was produced. In Court End, near the Virginia State Capitol, is the Museum of the Confederacy and the Davis Mansion, also known as the Confederacy's White House. Both feature a wide variety of objects and material from the era. The temporary home of General Robert E. Lee still stands Downtown on Franklin Street.

The history of slavery and emancipation are increasingly being represented in the city. There is a former slave trail along the river that leads to Ancarrow's Boat Ramp and Historic Site, which has been developed with interpretive signage. In 2007, the Reconciliation Statue was placed in Shockoe Bottom, with corresponding statues installed in Liverpool and Benin representing points in the Triangle Trade. Most of the statues honoring Confederate leaders on Monument Avenue were removed during or after the racial justice protests of June 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Contemporaneously, protestors also toppled the monument to Christopher Columbus, whose reputation has suffered for his treatment of indigenous people, throwing it in Fountain Lake on June 9, 2020. The city removed the last Confederate statue, honoring General A. P. Hill, on December 12, 2022. The only statue remaining on Memorial Avenue is of Arthur Ashe, the pioneering Black tennis player. The Bill "Bojangles" Robinson monument in Jackson Ward was untouched during the protests and remains in place.

Other historical points of interest include St. John's Church, the site of Patrick Henry's famous "Give me liberty or give me death" speech, and the Edgar Allan Poe Museum features many of his writings and other artifacts of his life, particularly when he lived in the city as a child, student, and successful writer. The John Marshall House, home of the former Chief Justice of the United States, is also Downtown and features many of his writings and objects from his life. Hollywood Cemetery is where two U.S. Presidents and many Civil War officers and soldiers are buried. Beth Ahabah Museum and Archives collects, preserves, and exhibits materials that focus on Jewish history and culture specifically connected to Richmond.

Located near Byrd Park is the famous World War I Memorial Carillon, a 56-bell carillon tower. Dedicated in 1956, the Virginia War Memorial is located on Belvedere overlooking the river and is a monument to Virginians who died in battle in World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Gulf War, the War in Afghanistan, and the Iraq War.

Agecroft Hall is a Tudor manor house and estate located on the James River in the Windsor Farms neighborhood of Richmond. The manor house was built in the late 15th century and was originally located in the Agecroft area of Pendlebury, in the historic county of Lancashire in England.

Visual and performing arts
Musicians of note associated with Richmond include Jason Mraz, Jimmy Dean, Agents of Good Roots, Aimee Mann, Alabama Thunderpussy, Avail, Broadside, Carbon Leaf, Cannabis Corpse, Cracker, D'Angelo, Denali, Down to Nothing, Engine Down, Four Walls Falling, Iron Reagan, Lamb of God,Municipal Waste, Nettspend, Nickelus F, River City High, Sparklehorse, Strike Anywhere, Chris Brown, Eric Stanley, Bad Omens, and Fighting Gravity.

Murals
With the Richmond Mural Project (RMP), sponsored by RVA Mag and Art Whino, and 2013's RVA Street Art Festival, the city quickly gained more than 100 murals created by international mural artists, such as Aryz, Roa, Ron English, and Natalia Rak. While the RMP focused on international talent, the RVA Street Art Festival, led by long-time local mural artist Ed Trask, focused mainly on regional artists, although it was responsible for PoseMSK, Jeff Soto, and Mark Jenkins. After some criticism, the RMP included its first local artist, Nils Westergard, who already was on the international circuit, and then another, Jacob Eveland. The two festivals were unrelated, and the RMP is now defunct. The RVA Street Art Festival occurs as funding permits. In response to the George Floyd protests of the summer of 2020, local artist Hamilton Glass spearheaded the Mending Walls Project, featuring walls by pairs of local artists.

Professional performing companies
From their earliest days, Virginia and Richmond welcomed live theatrical performances. Lewis Hallam staged early Shakespeare productions in Williamsburg, and Richmond became a prominent colonial and early 19th century performance place for celebrated American and English actors, like William Macready, Edwin Forrest, and the Booth family. In the 20th century, Richmond had many amateur troupes and regular touring professional productions. The city's principal performing arts groups include the Virginia Repertory Theatre, Richmond Ballet, Richmond Triangle Players, Richmond Symphony, and Virginia Opera.

Other venues and companies include:
 * Altria Theater, the city-owned opera house
 * The Byrd Theatre in Carytown, a 1920s movie palace that features second-run movies and hosts the French Film Festival
 * Leslie Cheek Theater at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
 * Dogwood Dell, an amphitheater in Byrd Park
 * National Theater
 * Dominion Energy Center, which includes the Carpenter Theater
 * School of the Performing Arts in the Richmond Community
 * Virginia Credit Union Live!

Commercial art galleries include Metro Space Gallery and Gallery 5 in a newly designated arts district. Not-for-profit galleries include Visual Arts Center of Richmond, 1708 Gallery, and Artspace.

In 2008, a new 47000 sqft Gay Community Center opened on the city's north side. It hosts meetings of many kinds and includes a large art gallery space.

Literary arts
Richmond has long been a hub for literature and writers. Edgar Allan Poe grew up in the city, and the city's oldest stone house is a museum to his life and works. The Southern Literary Messenger, which included his writing, is one of many notable publications started in Richmond. Other noteworthy authors who have called Richmond home include Pulitzer-winning Ellen Glasgow, controversial figure James Branch Cabell, Meg Medina, Dean King, David L. Robbins, and MacArthur Fellow Paule Marshall. Tom Wolfe was born in Richmond, as was Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan. David Baldacci graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University, where the creative writing faculty has included Marshall, Claudia Emerson, Kathleen Graber, T. R. Hummer, Dave Smith, David Wojahn, and Susann Cokal. Notable graduates include Sheri Reynolds, Jon Pineda, Anna Journey and Joshua Poteat. A community-based organization, James River Writers, serves the Greater Richmond Region. It sponsors many writer programs for all career stages, and an annual writers' conference that draws attendees from near and far.

Architecture

Richmond is home to many significant structures, including some designed by notable architects. The city contains diverse styles and has excellent examples of Georgian, Federal, Greek Revival, Neoclassical, Egyptian Revival, Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Tudor Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Art Deco, Modernist, International, and Postmodern architecture.

Many of Richmond's historic properties are documented in books and 1970s-era black and white photographs by John G. Zehmer, an architectural historian and preservationist.

The 1865 Evacuation Fire destroyed about 25% of Richmond's early buildings. Fewer remain due to redevelopment and construction occurring since Reconstruction. Nonetheless, Richmond has many historically significant buildings and districts. From the colonial period, there are the Patteson-Schutte House and the Edgar Allan Poe Museum (Richmond, Virginia), both built before 1750.

Architectural classicism is represented in all city districts, particularly Downtown and in the Fan and the Museum District. Several notable classical architects have designed buildings in Richmond. Thomas Jefferson and Charles-Louis Clérisseau designed the Virginia State Capitol in 1785. It is the second-oldest U.S. statehouse in continuous use (Maryland's is the oldest), and the first U.S. government building built in the neo-classical style, setting the trend for other state houses and federal buildings, including the White House and The Capitol in Washington, D.C. Robert Mills designed Monumental Church on Broad Street, abutted by the 1845 Egyptian Building, one of the few Egyptian Revival buildings in the U.S.

The firm of John Russell Pope designed Broad Street Station, or Union Station, in the Beaux-Arts style, and it now is home to the Science Museum of Virginia. The firm also designed Branch House on Monument Avenue as a Tudor private residence, which now is the Branch Museum of Architecture and Design. Wilson, Harris, and Richards designed Main Street Station, now used for its intended purpose. The classically trained Beaux-Arts architects, Carrère and Hastings, designed both the Jefferson Hotel and the Commonwealth Club. Ralph Adams Cram, renowned for the Princeton University Chapel and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine, designed many buildings at the University of Richmond, including Jeter and Ryland Halls.

Richmond's position as a center of iron production helped to fuel the popularity of its cast-iron architecture. The city is home to a unique collection of cast iron porches, balconies, fences, and finials, second only to New Orleans in cast-iron concentration. At the height of production in the 1890s, 25 foundries operated in Richmond, employing nearly 3,500 metal workers. This number is seven times the number of general construction workers employed at the time, illustrating the importance of iron exports to the city. Porches and fences in urban neighborhoods, such as Jackson Ward, Church Hill, and Monroe Ward, are particularly elaborate, often featuring ornate iron casts never replicated outside of Richmond. In some cases, casts were made for a single residential or commercial application.

Another unique architectural feature to Richmond is outdoor lighting. Former mayor Dwight C. Jones called the city the tacky light capital of the world.

Richmond is home to several notable buildings designed by modernist masters. Minoru Yamasaki designed the Federal Reserve Building, which dominates the downtown skyline. The architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, home to Gordon Bunshaft, designed the Library of Virginia and the General Assembly Offices at the Eighth and Main Building. Philip Johnson designed the WRVA Building. Richard Neutra designed Rice House, a residence on a private James River Island, is Richmond's only true International Style home. Famed early modern architect and member of the Harvard Five, Landis Gores, designed the W.G. Harris residence in Richmond. Steven Holl designed the VCU Institute for Contemporary Art, opened in 2018. Other notable architects to have worked in the Richmond area include Rick Mather and I.M. Pei.

Richmond's urban residential neighborhoods, largely single use town homes with mixed full retail/dining establishments, are keys the city's character. The Fan, the Museum District, Jackson Ward, Carver, Carytown, Oregon Hill, and Church Hill are districts anchored by large streets, such as Franklin Street, Cary Street, the Boulevard, and Monument Avenue. The city's recent population growth mainly has been concentrated in these areas.

Historic districts
Richmond's City Code provides for the creation of old and historic districts to "recognize and protect the historic, architectural, cultural, and artistic heritage of the City". Pursuant to that authority, the city has designated 45 districts. Most districts also are listed in the Virginia Landmarks Register ("VLR") and the National Register of Historic Places ("NRHP").

Fifteen districts represent broad sections of the city:

The remaining thirty districts are limited to an individual building or group of buildings throughout the city:

Food
Richmond has been recognized in recent years as a "foodie city", particularly for its modern renditions of traditional Southern cuisine. The city also claims the invention of the sailor sandwich, which includes pastrami, knockwurst, Swiss cheese and mustard on rye bread. Richmond is where canned beer was first made commercially available in 1935.

Sports
Richmond does not have a major league professional sports team. Since 2013, however, the Washington Commanders of the National Football League have held their summer training camp in the city. The city has several minor league sports franchises, including the Richmond Kickers of USL League One and the Richmond Flying Squirrels of the Class AA Double-A Northeast of Minor League Baseball, a San Francisco Giants affiliate. The Kickers began playing in Richmond in 1993, making them the oldest continually operated professional club in the United States. The club now plays home matches at City Stadium. In 2018, the Richmond Kickers left the USL to be founders in Division 3 Soccer. The Squirrels opened their first season at The Diamond on April 15, 2010. From 1966 through 2008, the city was home to the Richmond Braves, a AAA affiliate of the Atlanta Braves of Major League Baseball, until the franchise relocated to Georgia.

Richmond is home to the Richmond Black Widows, the city's first women's football team, founded in 2015 by Sarah Schkeeper. The team is in the Women's Football Alliance, which preseason begins in January and regular season in April.

A significant city sports venue is the 6,000-seat Arthur Ashe Athletic Center, a multi-purpose arena named for tennis great and Richmond resident Arthur Ashe. This facility hosts local sporting events, concerts, and other activities. Tennis is popular in Richmond. In 2010, the United States Tennis Association named Richmond the third "Best Tennis Town", after Charleston, South Carolina, and Atlanta, Georgia.

Auto racing is also popular in the area. The Richmond Raceway (RR) has hosted NASCAR Cup Series races since 1953, and the Capital City 400 from 1962 to 1980. RR also hosted IndyCar's SunTrust Indy Challenge from 2001 to 2009. Another track, Southside Speedway, has operated since 1959 and sits just southwest of Richmond in Chesterfield County. This .333 mi oval short-track is known as the "Toughest Track in the South" and "The Action Track", featuring weekly stock car racing Friday nights. Southside Speedway has seen many NASCAR champions, including Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, and Darrell Waltrip. It is the home track of NASCAR superstar Denny Hamlin.

Richmond hosted the 2015 UCI Road World Championships, which had cyclists from 76 countries and an estimated beneficial $158.1 million economic impact on the Greater Richmond Region from event staging and visitor spending. The championship course was the first real-world location to be recreated within the indoor cycle training application, Zwift. The application has subsequently added two other UCI world championships courses, Innsbruck from 2018 and Harrogate from 2019

The city is home to the University of Richmond football team, who most notably won the 2008 NCAA Division I FCS National Championship. The team plays its home games at Robins Stadium.

Richmond also has seen recent men's and women's college basketball success in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The Richmond Spiders play at the Robins Center and the VCU Rams play at the Stuart C. Siegel Center.

Parks and recreation

The city operates one of the country's oldest municipal park systems. In 1851, the City Council voted to acquire 7.5 acre, now known as Monroe Park. Monroe Park is adjacent to the Virginia Commonwealth University campus, and is one of over 40 parks totaling more than 1500 acre.

Several parks are along the James River, and the James River Parks System offers bike trails, hiking and nature trails, and many scenic overlooks. The trails are used for the Xterra East Championship running and mountain biking courses of the off-road triathlon.

Parks exist on two major islands in the James River, Belle Isle and Brown's Island. Belle Isle, a former Powhatan fishing village, colonial-era horse race track, and Civil War prison camp, is the larger of the two. It contains many bike trails and a small cliff used for rock climbing instruction. The island still has many remnants of the Civil War prison camp, including an arms storage room and a gun emplacement used to quell prisoner riots. Brown's Island is smaller and a popular venue for many spring and summer free outdoor concerts and festivals, such as the weekly Friday Cheers concert series and the James River Beer and Seafood Festival.

Two other major city parks along the river are Byrd Park and Maymont, located near the Fan District. Byrd Park features a 1 mi running track, with exercise stops, a public dog park, and a number of small lakes for small boats, as well as two monuments, Buddha house and an amphitheater. The World War I Memorial Carillon, built in 1926, features prominently in the park. Maymont, adjacent to Byrd Park, is a 100 acre Victorian estate with a museum, formal gardens, native wildlife exhibits, nature center, carriage collection, and children's farm. Other city parks include Joseph Bryan Park Azalea Garden, Forest Hill Park (former site of the Forest Hill Amusement Park), and Chimborazo Park (site of the National Battlefield Headquarters).

The James River through Richmond is one of the best urban white-water rafting/canoeing/kayaking sites in the country, and several rafting companies provide related services. The city also has several easily accessed riverside areas for rock-hopping, swimming, and picnicking.

Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is in adjacent Henrico County. Founded in 1984, Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden is 80 acre, one of only two independent public botanical gardens in Virginia, and designated a state botanical garden. A public place for the display and scientific study of plants, it features a glass conservatory, rose garden, healing garden, and accessible-to-all children's garden.

Several theme parks are located near the city, including Kings Dominion to the north, and Busch Gardens to the east, near Williamsburg.

Government

Richmond city government consists of a city council with representatives from nine districts serving in a legislative and oversight capacity, as well as a popularly elected, at-large mayor serving as head of the executive branch. Citizens in each of the nine districts elect one council representative each to serve a four-year term. Beginning with the November 2008 election Council terms was lengthened to four years. The city council elects from among its members one member to serve as Council President and one to serve as Council Vice President. The city council meets at City Hall, located at 900 E. Broad St., 2nd Floor, on the second and fourth Mondays of every month, except August.

In 1977, a federal district court ruled in favor of Curtis Holt Jr. who had claimed the council's existing election process — an at large voting system — was racially biased. The verdict required the city to rebuild its council into nine distinct wards. Within the year the city council switched from majority white to majority black, reflecting the city's populace. This new city council elected Richmond's first black mayor, Henry L. Marsh.

Richmond's government changed in 2004 from a council-manager form of government with a mayor elected by and from the council to an at-large, popularly elected mayor. Unlike most major cities, in order to be elected, a mayoral candidate must win a plurality of the vote in five of the city's nine council districts. If no one crosses that threshold, a runoff is held between the two top finishers in the first round. This was implemented as a compromise in order to address concerns that better-organized and wealthier white voters could have undue influence. In a landslide election, incumbent mayor Rudy McCollum was defeated by L. Douglas Wilder, who previously served Virginia as the first elected African American governor in the United States since Reconstruction. The current mayor of Richmond is Levar Stoney who was elected in 2016. The mayor is not a part of the Richmond City Council.

, the Richmond City Council consisted of:
 * Andreas D. Addison, 1st District (West End)
 * Katherine Jordan, 2nd District (North Central)
 * Ann-Frances Lambert, 3rd District (Northside)
 * Kristen Nye, 4th District (Southwest)
 * Stephanie A. Lynch, 5th District (Central)
 * Ellen F. Robertson, 6th District (Gateway), Council Vice President
 * Cynthia I. Newbille, 7th District (East End), Council President
 * Reva M. Trammell, 8th District (Southside)
 * Michael J. Jones, 9th District (South Central)

Public schools
The City of Richmond operates 28 elementary schools, nine middle schools, and eight high schools, serving a total student population of 24,000. The city has one Governor's School, the Maggie L. Walker Governor's School for Government and International Studies. In 2008, it was named one of Newsweek magazine's 18 "public elite" high schools, and rated 16 of America's best high schools in 2012. Richmond's public school district also runs one of Virginia's four public charter schools, the Patrick Henry School of Science and Arts, founded in 2010. The 2020 class had an on-time graduation rate of 71.6%, at least 20 percentage points behind most other school divisions, making it the worst in the state.

Private schools
As of 2008, there were 36 private schools serving grades one or higher in the City of Richmond. Some of these schools include: Banner Christian School; St. Bridget School; Brook Road Academy; Collegiate School; Grace Christian School; Grove Christian School; Guardian Christian Academy; St. Christopher's School; St. Catherine's School; Southside Baptist Christian School; Northstar Academy; The Steward School; Trinity Episcopal School; The New Community School; and Veritas School.

The city's only Catholic high school is Cristo Rey Richmond High School, after Benedictine College Preparatory and St. Gertrude High School relocated to a combined campus in Goochland.

Colleges and universities
The Richmond area has many major institutions of higher education, including Virginia Commonwealth University (public), University of Richmond (private), Virginia Union University (private), South University–Richmond (private, for-profit), Union Theological Seminary & Presbyterian School of Christian Education (private), and the Baptist Theological Seminary in Richmond (BTSR—private). Several community colleges are in the metro area, including J. Sargeant Reynolds Community College and Brightpoint Community College (Chesterfield County). Several technical colleges are in Richmond, including ITT Technical Institute, ECPI College of Technology, and Centura College. The same is true of vocational colleges, including Fortis College and Bryant Stratton College.

Virginia State University is located about 20 mi south of Richmond, in Ettrick, just outside Petersburg. Randolph-Macon College is located about 15 mi north of Richmond, in Ashland.

Media
The Richmond Times-Dispatch, owned by Lee Enterprises, Inc., is the local daily newspaper, with a Sunday circulation of 120,000. Style Weekly, an online alternative local publication owned by VPM Media Corporation, covers popular culture, arts, and entertainment. RVA Magazine is the city's only independent art music and culture publication. Originally a quarterly, it now is a monthly. The Richmond Free Press and the Voice cover the news from an African-American perspective.

The Richmond metro area is served by many local television and radio stations. , the Richmond-Petersburg designated market area (DMA) is the 58th largest in the U.S. with 553,950 homes according to Nielsen Market Research. The major network television affiliates are WTVR-TV 6 (CBS), WRIC-TV 8 (ABC), WWBT 12 (NBC), WRLH-TV 35 (Fox), and WUPV 65 (CW). PBS stations include WCVE-TV 23 and WCVW 57. There also are a wide variety of radio stations in the Richmond area, catering to many different interests, including news, talk radio, and sports, as well as an eclectic mix of musical interests. Richmond enjoys a low power FM Station, WRIR, which features all-volunteer community supported radio at all hours.

Transportation
The Greater Richmond area is served by the Richmond International Airport, located in Sandston, 7 mi southeast of Richmond and within an hour drive of historic Williamsburg, Virginia. Richmond International is served by ten passenger and four cargo airlines, with over 200 daily flights providing non-stop service to major domestic destinations and connecting flights to worldwide destinations. A record 4.8 million passengers used Richmond International Airport in 2023, breaking the previous record of 4.4 million in 2019.

Richmond is a major hub for intercity bus company Greyhound Lines, which has its terminal at 2910 N Boulevard. Multiple daily runs connect directly with Washington, D.C., New York, Raleigh, and elsewhere. Direct trips to New York take approximately 7.5 hours. Discount carrier Megabus provides curbside service from Main Street Station. Direct service is available to Washington, D.C., Hampton Roads, Charlotte, Raleigh, Baltimore, and Philadelphia. Connections to Megabus-served cities, such as New York, are made from Washington, D.C.

The Greater Richmond Transit Company (GRTC) provides transit and paratransit bus service in Richmond and Henrico and Chesterfield counties. The GRTC, however, serves only small parts of the suburban counties. The far West End, Innsbrook and Short Pump, and almost all of Chesterfield County have no public transportation, despite dense housing, retail, and office development. According to a 2008 GRTC operations analysis report, a majority of GRTC riders use their services because they do not have available alternatives, such as a private vehicle. In 2014, U.S. Department of Transportation granted Richmond and the surrounding metropolitan area a roughly $25 million grant for the GRTC Pulse bus rapid transit system, which opened in June 2018, running along Broad Street from Willow Lawn to Rocketts Landing.

The Richmond area has two railroad stations served by Amtrak. Each station receives regular service from north of Richmond, including Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York. The region's main station, Staples Mill Road Station, is located just outside the city on a major north–south freight line that receives service to and from all points south, including Raleigh, Durham, Charlotte, Savannah, Newport News, Norfolk and Florida. The historic Main Street Station, renovated in 2004, is the only railway station in the City of Richmond. As of 2010, it only receives trains headed to and from Newport News due to track layout.

Richmond also benefits from an excellent interstate highway position, lying at the junction of east–west Interstate 64 and north–south Interstate 95, two of the most heavily traveled highways in the state. As the state capital, Richmond has great state highway access.

Major highways

 * (Beltline Expy)
 * (Brook Rd, Azelea Ave, Chamberlayne Ave, Belvedere St, Cowardin Ave, Jefferson Davis Hwy)
 * (Staples Mill Rd, Broad St)
 * (Broad Street)
 * (Chamberlayne Ave, Belvedere St, Cowardin Ave, Jefferson Davis Hwy)
 * (Hull St Rd; Hull St; N 14th St; joins US 60 Main St; WB 17th St [Oliver Hill Way], EB W 18th St; Mechanicsville Tnpk)
 * (E Main St; N 25th St)
 * (Kensington Ave, Patterson Ave)
 * (Broad Rock Blvd)
 * (Connector to VA-195)
 * (Cary St [EB after I-195], W Main St [WB after I-195], Cary St Rd, River Rd, Huguenot Rd [S of the James River])
 * (Hermitage Rd, The Boulevard, Park Dr, Blanton Ave, Westover Hills Blvd, Belt Blvd, Bells Rd)
 * (toll route) (Downtown Expy)
 * (Malvern Ave, Westwood Ave, Saunders Ave, W Laburnum Ave)
 * (Entrance to the Grounds of the Virginia Commonwealth University)
 * (Connector to VA-195)
 * (Cary St [EB after I-195], W Main St [WB after I-195], Cary St Rd, River Rd, Huguenot Rd [S of the James River])
 * (Hermitage Rd, The Boulevard, Park Dr, Blanton Ave, Westover Hills Blvd, Belt Blvd, Bells Rd)
 * (toll route) (Downtown Expy)
 * (Malvern Ave, Westwood Ave, Saunders Ave, W Laburnum Ave)
 * (Entrance to the Grounds of the Virginia Commonwealth University)
 * (Entrance to the Grounds of the Virginia Commonwealth University)

Utilities
Dominion Energy supplies the Richmond Metro area's electricity. Headquartered in Richmond, it is one of the nation's largest producers of energy, serving retail energy customers in nine states. Electricity for the Richmond area is primarily produced at the North Anna Nuclear Generating Station, Surry Nuclear Generating Station, and a coal-fired station in Chester, Virginia. These three plants provide a total of 4,453 megawatts of power. Several other natural gas plants provide extra power during peak demands, including facilities in Chester, and Surry, and two in Richmond, Gravel Neck and Darbytown.

Richmond's Department of Public Utilities provides the Richmond Metro area's natural gas, including portions of Henrico and Chesterfield counties. It also supplies water to the city and surrounding area through wholesale contracts with Henrico, Chesterfield, and Hanover counties. The DPU is one of Virginia's largest water producers, providing water to approximately 500,000 people, including 62,000 city customers, through a distribution system of water mains, pumping stations, storage facilities, and a modern plant that can treat up to 132 million gallons daily from the James River.

The wastewater treatment plant is on the James River's south bank. It can treat up to 70 million gallons of water per day of sanitary sewage and stormwater before returning it to the river. The wastewater utility also operates and maintains 1500 mi of sanitary sewer and pumping stations, 38 mi of intercepting sewer lines, and the Shockoe Retention Basin, a 44-million-gallon stormwater reservoir used during heavy rains.

Sister cities
Richmond's sister cities are:
 * 🇬🇧 Richmond upon Thames, United Kingdom
 * 🇯🇵 Saitama, Japan
 * 🇲🇱 Ségou, Mali
 * 🇳🇦 Windhoek, Namibia
 * 🇨🇳 Zhengzhou, China

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Richmond, Virginia


text:
Drogheda

Drogheda (, ; , meaning "bridge at the ford") is an industrial and port town in County Louth on the east coast of Ireland, 42 km north of Dublin city centre. It is located on the Dublin–Belfast corridor on the east coast of Ireland, mostly in County Louth but with the south fringes of the town in County Meath, 40 km north of Dublin city centre. Drogheda had a population of 44,135 inhabitants in 2022, making it the eleventh largest settlement by population in all of Ireland, and the largest town in the Republic of Ireland, by both population and area. It is the last bridging point on the River Boyne before it enters the Irish Sea. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of Newgrange is located 8 km west of the town. Drogheda was founded as two separately administered towns in two different territories: Drogheda-in-Meath (i.e. the Lordship and Liberty of Meath, from which a charter was granted in 1194) and Drogheda-in-Oriel (or 'Uriel', as County Louth was then known). The division came from the twelfth-century boundary between two Irish kingdoms, colonised by different Norman interests, just as the River Boyne continues to divide the town between the dioceses of Armagh and Meath. In 1412, these two towns were united, and Drogheda became a county corporate, styled as "the County of the Town of Drogheda". Drogheda continued as a county borough until the establishment of county councils under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, which saw all of Drogheda, including a large area south of the Boyne, become part of an extended County Louth. With the passing of the County of Louth and Borough of Drogheda (Boundaries) Provisional Order 1976, County Louth again grew larger at the expense of County Meath. The boundary was further altered in 1994 by the Local Government (Boundaries) (Town Elections) Regulations 1994. The 2007–2013 Meath County Development Plan recognises the Meath environs of Drogheda as a primary growth centre on a par with Navan.

The town was selected to host Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann for two years in 2018 and 2019.

Hinterland
The town is situated in an area which contains a number of archaeological monuments dating from the Neolithic period onwards, of which the large passage tombs of Newgrange, Knowth, and Dowth are probably the best known. The density of archaeological sites of the prehistoric and early Christian periods uncovered in the course of ongoing developments, (including during construction of the Northern Motorway or 'Drogheda Bypass'), have shown that the hinterland of Drogheda has been a settled landscape for millennia.

Town beginnings
Despite local tradition linking Millmount to Amergin Glúingel, in his 1978 study of the history and archaeology of the town, John Bradley stated that "neither the documentary nor the archaeological evidence indicates that there was any settlement at the town prior to the coming of the Normans". The results of a number of often large-scale excavations carried out within the area of the medieval town appear to confirm this statement.

One of the earliest structures in the town is the motte-and-bailey castle, now known as Millmount Fort, which overlooks the town from a bluff on the south bank of the Boyne and which was probably erected by the Norman Lord of Meath, Hugh de Lacy, sometime before 1186. The wall on the east side of Rosemary Lane, a back-lane which runs from St. Laurence Street towards the Augustinian Church, is the oldest stone structure in Drogheda. It was completed in 1234 as the west wall of the first castle guarding access to the northern crossing point of the Boyne. A later castle, circa 1600, called Laundy's Castle stood at the junction of West Street and Peter's Street. On Meathside, the Castle of Drogheda or The Castle of Comfort was a tower house castle on the south side of the Bull Ring. It served as a prison, and as a sitting of the Irish parliament in 1494. The earliest known town charter is that granted to Drogheda-in-Meath by Walter de Lacy in 1194. In the 1600s, the name of the town was also spelled "Tredagh" in keeping with the common pronunciation, as documented by Gerard Boate in his work Irelands' Natural History. In c. 1655 it was spelled "Droghedagh" on a map by William Farriland.

Drogheda was an important walled town in the English Pale in the medieval period. It frequently hosted meetings of the Irish Parliament at that time. According to R.J. Mitchell in John Tiptoft, Earl of Worcester, in a spill-over from the War of the Roses the Earl of Desmond and his two youngest sons (still children) were executed there on Valentine's Day 1468 on orders of the Earl of Worcester, the Lord Deputy of Ireland. It later came to light (for example in Robert Fabyan's The New Chronicles of England and France), that Elizabeth Woodville, the queen consort, was implicated in the orders given. The parliament was moved to the town in 1494 and passed Poynings' Law, the most significant legislation in Irish history, a year later. This effectively subordinated the Irish Parliament's legislative powers to the King and his English Council.

Later events

The town was besieged twice during the Irish Confederate Wars.

In the second siege of Drogheda, an assault was made on the town from the south, the tall walls breached, and the town was taken by Oliver Cromwell on 11 September 1649, as part of the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and it was the site of a massacre of the Royalist defenders. In his own words after the siege of Drogheda, "When they submitted, their officers were knocked on the head, and every tenth man of the soldiers killed and the rest shipped to Barbados."

The Earldom of Drogheda was created in the Peerage of Ireland in 1661.

The Battle of the Boyne, 1690, occurred some 6 km west of the town, on the banks of the River Boyne, at Oldbridge. The Tholsel in West Street was completed in 1770.

In 1790, Drogheda Harbour Commissioners were established. They remained in place until 1997 when the Drogheda Port Company a commercial enterprise replaced them.

In 1825, the Drogheda Steam Packet Company was formed in the town, providing shipping services to Liverpool.

In 1837, the population of Drogheda area was 17,365 people, of whom 15,138 lived in the town.

Town arms
Drogheda's coat of arms features St. Laurence's Gate with three lions, and a ship emerging from either side of the barbican. The town's motto Deus praesidium, mercatura decus translates as "God our strength, merchandise our glory".

The star and crescent emblem in the crest of the coat of arms is mentioned as part of the mayor's seal by D'Alton (1844). In 2010, Irish president Mary McAleese, in a speech delivered during an official visit to Turkey, stated that the star and crescent had been added in the aftermath of the Great Famine as gratitude for food supplies donated by the Ottoman Sultan, which had arrived at Drogheda by ship. Irish press quickly pointed out the story was a myth, with a local historian calling it 'nothing short of sheer nonsense'. However, later evidence, including a letter displayed at the office of the European Commission, confirms that Turkey came to the aid of the Irish during the Famine.

20th century
In 1921, the preserved severed head of Saint Oliver Plunkett, who was executed in London in 1681, was put on display in St. Peter's (Catholic) Church, where it remains today. The church is located on West Street, which is the main street in the town.

In 1979, Pope John Paul II visited Drogheda as part of his five-stop tour of Ireland. He arrived less than a month after the IRA assassination of Lord Mountbatten, Queen Elizabeth's cousin, in Mullaghmore. On 29 September 1979, he arrived in Dublin, where he gave his first mass. He then addressed 300,000 people in Drogheda, where he appealed "on his knees" to paramilitaries to end the violence in Ireland: "'Now I wish to speak to all men and women engaged in violence. I appeal to you, in language of passionate pleading. On my knees I beg you to turn away from the paths of violence and to return to the ways of peace. You may claim to seek justice. I too believe in justice and seek justice. But violence only delays the day of justice. Violence destroys the work of justice. Further violence in Ireland will only drag down to ruin the land you claim to love and the values you claim to cherish.'"

21st century
Two decades into the 21st century some of the historic core of Drogheda town has suffered urban decline. Some of the buildings have been derelict for some years and are in danger of collapse. There was a 2006 traffic plan for pedestrianisation of West Street. It was rejected at a vote of the elected councillors. They had come under pressure from traders in the area concerned about a potential further decline in customer footfall. But the issue has come up for debate again. When asked, Drogheda residents point out that a combination of expensive car-parking and high commercial rates had a push-pull effect on the town's centre. Shops were forced to close and at the same time shoppers brought their business to retail parks such as the Boyne Shopping Centre on Bolton Street. A substantial root-and-branch approach to renewal of the locality was proposed in "Westgate Vision: A Townscape Recovery Guide". The Westgate area of Drogheda is to be subject to a 10-year regeneration by Louth County Council.

Demographics
Drogheda has a hinterland of 70,000+ within a 15 km radius. According to the 2022 census, there were 44,135 people living in Drogheda town at that time.

As of the 2011 census, non-Irish nationals accounted for 16.1% of the population, compared with a national average of 12%. Polish nationals (1,127) were the largest group, followed by Lithuanian nationals (1,044 people). As of the 2016 census, 17.4% of the population were non-Irish nationals, with 676 people from the UK, 1,324 Polish nationals, 1,014 Lithuanians, 1,798 people from elsewhere in the EU, and 1,400 with other (non-EU) nationalities.

As of the 2022 census, the ethnic makeup of the town was 80.65% white total, including 67.81% white Irish and 12.57% other white people, 7.48% not stated, 5.7% Asian, 2.44% other and 3.73% black.

Music
Drogheda has hosted the national traditional music festival, Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann, in 2018 and again in 2019.

Drogheda is home to two brass bands: Drogheda Brass Band and Lourdes Brass Band. In 2014, the town hosted the international summer Samba festival in which samba bands from around the world came to the town for three days of drumming and parades.

The composer and member of Aosdána, Michael Holohan, has lived in Drogheda since 1983. His compositions have been performed and broadcast both at home and internationally. Career highlights in Drogheda include Cromwell 1994, 'Drogheda 800' (RTECO, Lourdes Church); The Mass of Fire 1995, 'Augustinian 700' (RTÉ TV live broadcast); No Sanctuary 1997 with Nobel Laureate and poet Seamus Heaney (Augustinian Church); Remembrance Sunday Service and Drogheda Unification 600 (RTE TV live broadcast, St Peter's Church of Ireland) and two major concerts with The Boyne Valley Chamber Orchestra at Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in 2018 and 2019.

Drogheda regularly hosts "Music at the Gate", a community-run event led by uilleann piper Darragh Ó Heiligh, next to Saint Laurence's Gate in the centre of Drogheda.

Drogheda Arts Festival, a mix of music, live performance and street entertainment, is held over the May Bank Holiday weekend.

The best footballer in Drogheda is Joe McGrane, second is Sam Mulroy and the thiird is Paddy McCabe during the World Cup Finals

Visual arts
October 2006 saw the opening of the Highlanes Gallery, the town's first dedicated municipal art gallery. It is located in the former Franciscan Church and Friary on St. Laurence Street. The gallery houses Drogheda's municipal art collection, which dates from the 17th century.

Places of interest
Drogheda is an ancient town that has a growing tourism industry. It has a UNESCO World Heritage site, Newgrange, located 8 km to the west of the town centre. Other tourist sites in the area include:

 * Millmount Fort and museum
 * Saint Laurence Gate barbican gate c. 1300s
 * John Philip Holland memorial (sculpture commemorating submarine inventor)
 * Boyne Viaduct
 * John Jameson's residential home (not open to the public), and a Jameson distillery trail of malthouses in the town.
 * Battle Of The Boyne Site, visitors centre
 * Éamonn Ceannt's school (formerly St Joseph's CBS now operates as Scholars Hotel)
 * Beaulieu House and Gardens
 * Mellifont Abbey
 * Townley Hall nature trail and woods
 * Princess Grace Rose Garden at St. Dominic's Park
 * St. Peter's Roman Catholic Church, which houses a shrine of Oliver Plunkett
 * St Peter's Church of Ireland church, on Peter's Hill
 * Highlanes Gallery
 * Augustinian Church 'The Passion Window' Harry Clarke Studio

Industry and economy
There are several international companies based in the Drogheda area. Local employers include Coca-Cola International Services, State Street International Services, Natures Best, Yapstone Inc, the Drogheda Port Company, Glanbia and Flogas (only Flogas Terminals since 2025)

Drogheda also has a history of brewing and distilling, with companies Jameson Whiskey, Coca-Cola, Guinness, Jack Daniel's all having previously produced (or still producing) their products in or near the town. These include the Boann distillery and brewery, Slane Whiskey (a Jack Daniel's-owned company), Listoke House, Dan Kellys (cider), and Jack Codys. The town formerly distilled Prestons whiskey, a Jameson Whiskey brand; Cairnes Beer, founded locally and sold to Guinness; and Coca-Cola concentrate.

Drogheda in recent years has seen a massive growth in new construction of apartments, commercial property & houses. Drogheda in 2024 is expected to receive over 1000 newly constructed homes varying between housing types and prices. Currently under construction estates include; Ballymakenny Park, Seven Winds, Gort Mell & Avourwen.

Road links and infrastructure
Drogheda is located close to the M1 (E1 Euro Route 1) (main Dublin – Belfast motorway). The Mary McAleese Boyne Valley Bridge carries traffic from the M1, across the River Boyne, 3 km west of the town. It was opened on 9 June 2003 and is the longest cable-stayed bridge in Ireland. The town's postcode, or eircode, is A92.

Railway
Drogheda acquired rail links to Dublin in 1844, Navan in 1850 and Belfast in 1852. Passenger services between Drogheda and Navan were ended in 1958, however the line remains open for freight (Tara Mines/Platin Cement) traffic. In 1966 Drogheda station was renamed "MacBride". Drogheda railway station opened on 26 May 1844.

The station has direct trains on the Enterprise northbound to Dundalk, Newry, Portadown, Lisburn and Belfast Central, and southbound to Dublin Connolly. 1 Train a day to Belfast skips Drogheda

A wide variety of Iarnród Éireann commuter services connect southbound to Balbriggan, Malahide, Howth Junction, Dublin Connolly, Tara Street, Dublin Pearse, Dún Laoghaire, Bray, Greystones, Wicklow, and Wexford. The DART is planned to be extended to Drogheda in the late 2020s or 30s as part of the DART+ program.

Bus transport
Drogheda's bus station is located on Donore Road. Past Bus Éireann routes included the 184 to Garristown and 185 to Bellewstown. Currently there are buses to Monaghan and Dublin

Administration
Drogheda was one of ten boroughs retained under the Municipal Corporations (Ireland) Act 1840. Under the Local Government (Ireland) Act 1898, the area became an urban district, while retaining the style of a borough corporation.

Drogheda Borough Corporation became a borough council in 2002. On 1 June 2014, the borough council was dissolved and the administration of the town was amalgamated with Louth County Council. It retains the right to be described as a borough. The chair of the borough district uses the title of mayor, rather than Cathaoirleach. The mayor, elected in June 2019 for the period 2019–2020, was Paul Bell (Labour).

As of the 2019 Louth County Council election, the borough district of Drogheda contains the local electoral areas of Drogheda Urban (6 seats) and Drogheda Rural (4 seats), electing 10 seats to the council.

The parliamentary borough of Drogheda returned two MPs to the Irish House of Commons until 1801. Under the Act of Union, the parliamentary borough returned one MP to the United Kingdom House of Commons, until its abolition under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885. It was thereafter represented by the South Louth from 1885 to 1918, by County Louth from 1918 to 1922, by Louth–Meath from 1921 to 1923, and by the Dáil constituency of Louth from 1923 to the present.

Media
The local newspapers are the Drogheda Leader and the Drogheda Independent and known locally as The Leader and D.I.. Both newspapers are published weekly. The office of  The Drogheda Independent is at 9 Shop Street and The Drogheda Leader's offices are at 13/14 West Street.

The local radio station is LMFM, broadcasting on 95.8 FM. The headquarters of LMFM is on Marley's Lane on the south side of the town.

Hospitals and health care
Drogheda is a regional centre for medical care. Its main hospital is Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, a public hospital located in the town. and is part of the Louth Meath Hospital Group. Facilities include a 24-hour emergency department for the populations of County Louth, County Meath and the North-East of Ireland. The hospital provides 340 beds, of which 30 are reserved for acute day cases.

Education
There are seven secondary schools situated in Drogheda. St. Joseph's secondary school in Newfoundwell is an all-boys school, as is St. Marys Diocesan School on Beamore Rd. The Sacred Heart School, situated in Sunnyside Drogheda, is an all-girls school. The Drogheda Grammar school, located on Mornington Road, St. Oliver's Community College, on Rathmullen Road, and Ballymakenny College, on the Ballymakenny Road, are mixed schools. Our Lady's College, in Greenhills is an all-girls school. There is also Drogheda Institute for Further Education (DIFE), a third-level college situated in Moneymore townland.

Sport
The town's association football team, Drogheda United, was formed in 1919, and their home matches are played at Head In The Game Park. Nicknamed "The Drogs", they currently compete in the League of Ireland Premier Division, which they won for the first time in 2007. The club achieved success by winning the FAI Cup in 2005, and back to back Setanta Sports Cup successes in 2006 and 2007, along with the 2012 EA Sports Cup. The Drogs came close to UEFA Champions League qualification on 2 occasions, in 2008 and 2013. They also narrowly missed out on a UEFA Cup place twice, in 2006 and 2007. Since their formation, the club have won 11 major honours. In 2011, Drogheda became the sister club of Turkish club Trabzonspor due to their matching colours, and the town's history of Ottoman assistance during the Great Famine.

In rugby union, the local Boyne RFC team was formed in 1997 from the amalgamation of Delvin RFC and Drogheda RFC. , the men's 1st XV team were playing in the Leinster J1 1st division.

Town twinning

 * Bronte, Italy
 * Saint-Mandé, France
 * Salinas, California, United States

Arts and media

 * Yasmine Akram, comedian and actress in Sherlock
 * Pierce Brosnan, actor, film producer and environmentalist was born in Drogheda
 * Eamonn Campbell, member of The Dubliners
 * Alison Comyn, journalist and broadcaster
 * Susan Connolly, poet, Patrick and Katherine Kavanagh Fellowship 2001
 * Daniele Formica, actor, stage director and playwright was born in Drogheda
 * Angela Greene, poet, Patrick Kavanagh Award 1988, Salmon Press
 * Michael Holohan, composer, member and former chair of Aosdána
 * Jonathan Kelly, singer-songwriter
 * Evanna Lynch, actress known for her role as Luna Lovegood in the Harry Potter films
 * Colin O'Donoghue, actor known for his role of Captain Hook/Killian Jones in the American TV Show Once Upon a Time
 * Hector Ó hEochagáin, broadcaster and podcaster
 * Deirdre O'Kane, actress and casting director
 * Eliza O'Neill, actress.
 * John Boyle O'Reilly, poet and novelist, member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood
 * Nano Reid, painter of landscapes, particularly Drogheda, the Boyne Valley and surrounding areas
 * Fiachra Trench, composer. Penned the string arrangement for fairytale of New York wrote music for many Hollywood movies
 * Offica, drill rapper

Politics and diplomacy

 * Éamonn Ceannt 1916 Rising Leader – secondary school student in St Joseph CBS Drogheda
 * Damien English, Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment and TD for Meath West
 * Paddy O'Hanlon, a former Nationalist MP for South Armagh
 * William Hughes, Irish-born US senator from New Jersey
 * Alison Kelly, Irish ambassador to Israel
 * Tony Martin, Canadian social democratic legislator
 * Dominic McGlinchey, INLA leader, assassinated 10 February 1994
 * Ged Nash, Irish Politician, Labour Party. Former Mayor of Drogheda 2004–2005. Served as Minister of State for Business and Employment from 2014 to 2016. He was a Senator for the Labour Panel from 2016 to 2020. Currently TD 2020–present (Previously 2011–2016)
 * Geraldine Byrne Nason diplomat, Irish Ambassador to the United Nations
 * John Neary Diplomat. Ambassador to Netherlands
 * Henry Singleton, judge and friend of Jonathan Swift, was a lifelong resident of Drogheda
 * Peadar Toibin, TD for Meath West and leader of Aontú
 * T. K. Whitaker, former Irish economist who wrote the Programme for Economic Expansion

Military

 * John Barrett Captain of HMS Minotaur (1793) and HMS Africa (1781)
 * George Forbes, 3rd Earl of Granard Naval Officer
 * William Kenny, recipient of the Victoria Cross
 * Thomas Charles Wright Admiral and Genera A founder of the Ecuadorian Navy/

Academia and science

 * James Cullen, mathematician who discovered what are now known as the Cullen numbers.
 * John Philip Holland, inventor of the modern-day submarine.
 * Thomas McLaughlin ESB founder and first CEO. Built the Shannon Hydro Electric Plant.
 * Michael Scott, architect who designed Busáras and the Abbey Theatre

Religion

 * James Chadwick, theologian, lyricist and Archbishop of Newcastle and Hexham
 * Patrick Curtis Archbishop of Armagh, Spymaster for the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsular War. No 1 on Napoleon's most wanted list.
 * Thomas Lancaster, bishop, buried at St. Peter's Church

Sport

 * Keane Barry, professional PDC darts player
 * Tommy Breen, Manchester United goalkeeper
 * Gavin Brennan, midfielder for Warrenpoint Town, Drogheda United and Shamrock Rovers. Brother of footballer Killian Brennan.
 * Killian Brennan, midfielder with several League of Ireland clubs, and winner of 3 League of Ireland's, 3 FAI Cup's and 5 League Cup's
 * Lukas Browning Lagerfeldt, footballer
 * Tommy Byrne, former racing driver, raced briefly in Formula 1 in 1982
 * Tony Byrne, bronze medal winner for Ireland 1956 Summer Olympics in Melbourne in the lightweight division.
 * Megan Campbell, Liverpool association footballer
 * Jerome Clarke, former Drogheda United forward, earned one cap for the Republic of Ireland.
 * Nick Colgan, goalkeeper for Chelsea, Hibernian and the Republic of Ireland.
 * Barry Conlon, former Manchester City Striker
 * Daryl DeLeon, Filipino-British racing driver
 * Mick Fairclough, Former Irish International (English Premier League of that era )
 * Bernard Flynn, member of the Meath football team during the 1980s and 1990s
 * Paddy Gavin, former full-back for Dundalk, Doncaster Rovers and Republic of Ireland B
 * Deirdre Gogarty, 1997 Women's International Boxing Federation (WIBF) featherweight world champion.
 * James Hand, footballer for Huddersfield Town
 * Ian Harte, former footballer with several English clubs and the Republic of Ireland national football team.
 * Gary Kelly, football player and charity campaigner.
 * Colin Lowth, an Olympic swimmer who represented Ireland at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.
 * David McAllister, midfielder for Sheffield United, Shrewsbury Town and Stevenage.
 * Shane Monahan, Professional rugby player, Gloucester, Leinster, Munster, Connaught, Ireland U-21s International.
 * Des Smyth, professional golfer, vice-captain on the winning Ryder Cup team in 2006
 * Steve Staunton, former Liverpool and Aston Villa defender and Republic of Ireland captain and manager was born there.
 * Gary Tallon, midfielder for Mansfield Town
 * Kevin Thornton, former footballer with several English clubs and the Republic of Ireland under 21s
 * Sean Thornton, former footballer with several English clubs and the Republic of Ireland under 21 national team, former Sunderland Player of the Year

Other

 * Sir John Lumsden, founder of St John Ambulance Ireland
 * Jill Meagher, crime victim
 * George Drumgoole Coleman, architect who played an instrumental role in the design and construction of much of the civil infrastructure in early Singapore

Freedom of the Town
The following people have received the Freedom of the Town of Drogheda.
 * Charles Stewart Parnell: 1884.
 * Éamon de Valera: July 1933.
 * Pope John Paul II: 29 September 1979.
 * John Hume: 14 May 2001.
 * Father Iggy O’Donovan: 23 October 2013.
 * Michael D. Higgins: 22 May 2015.
 * Seamus Mallon: 8 June 2018.
 * Geraldine Byrne Nason: 10 January 2020.

title: Drogheda