Regional Industry & News

After decades of neglect, Richmond commits to a preservation plan for Historic Westwood

RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) -

Richmond City Council has unanimously passed a resolution calling on the city to dedicate time, resources, and staff to developing a neighborhood preservation plan for Historic Westwood.

The vote comes as rising property values in the surrounding Libbie-Patterson corridor have intensified concerns about displacement and overdevelopment in one of Richmond’s oldest Black neighborhoods.

Westwood’s history goes back more than 150 years, when it was founded by Black men, women, and children, including formerly enslaved individuals who came from the Patterson plantation.

They established Westwood Baptist Church, built their homes and a school for people in the neighborhood.

Decades later, Westwood was annexed by the city, which then threw almost everything at the neighborhood.

“Their wells were condemned, but they weren’t connected to the water system,” Breton said. “They were threatened to be bulldozed for a park. The students here were not allowed to go right across the street to the West Hampton School. They were bused all the way into the city to a Black school.”

Westwood students were among the earliest to spark legal challenges that contributed to the path toward Brown v. Board of Education.

Daisy Jones Cooper and her mother Elizabeth Cooper lived in the neighborhood and helped desegregate Richmond Public Schools. Daisy was the first black student to attend Thomas Jefferson High School and still lives in Westwood.

More recently, the neighborhood’s playground was placed on an abandoned list and people had to fight to revamp it and keep the green space for the community.

The neighborhood is a place that teaches perseverance and strength, from the experiences that come with it.

It raised Arthur Ashe’s mother, it’s where former mayor Dwight Jones was a pastor, and has led to success for numerous other neighbors too.

“When you look at the city, you don’t find neighborhoods like this,” said Jeanette Brown. “This is sacred ground.”

Brown moved to Westwood when she was around 11 years old. She lived in book end houses with Tammy Rose. While Brown technically lives in Maryland now, Westwood remains a second home to her.

Meantime, Rose still lives on the block where she was raised, even after moving away she knew she had to come back.

“One of the great things about being back in my neighborhood was everyone was still here,” Rose said.

In some ways, the neighborhood has not changed. Most of the homes remain one-level, modest houses. Rose can still rely on the older women who watched her grow up to keep an eye on her own children outside when she’s busy.

But a new threat has also emerged.

Westwood sits tucked behind the Libbie-Grove area, which has led to rising costs for the people whose families built the neighborhood.

While people like Rose and Brown love to see new people enjoy the space like they do, and learn about its history, they also want to make sure they do not get pushed out.

“When you look at the homes a couple of blocks over — 1.2, 1.5 million dollars — this is ripe for the picking for developers to come in, buy up the property, tear down and build,” Brown said.

She said she is encouraging residents to hold on to their properties and has been fighting different special use permits in recent years to prevent the overdevelopment, but it is a lot to take on.

While the fight to preserve Westwood has been ongoing for years, the city’s Code Refresh draws more attention to it, as Richmond revamps its master plan.

“We saw the gradualness of it,” Rose said. “And when you know it’s happening, when your children say, ‘Oh, wait a minute’ — they come home from college and they look and they were like, ‘Well, what’s going on? When did this change?’”

Rose started working with Breton in the early days of his term. She invited him to the neighborhood’s Night Out even before he was elected, to start sharing her concerns.

Since then, they’ve tried to craft a plan to preserve the neighborhood.

The latest solution is the resolution, passed by City Council on Monday, July 27.

While the resolution does not officially change anything, it sets the stage for next steps. It calls on the city to dedicate time, resources, and investments to working with Westwood neighbors.

“Richmond prioritizes telling our stories, confronting our history. Historic Westwood is one place where we can do that in person,” Breton said.

Breton says everything that comes out of the plan will be community driven.

“It is time for the first district along with the city to come together and actually do for us what they’ve always said that they would do, but never did,” Rose said. “And to hold them accountable for the promises that were never kept.”

For Rose and Brown, the resolution brings hope and a sense of collaboration. Browns says she still cries when she thinks about the moment it was unanimously passed by the Council.

Councilmembers also noted it could set a precedent for other neighborhoods to be protected.

While rising costs are a challenge many face right now, Westwood’s situation and rich history are unique. It is why residents say now is their time.

“I am excited about how in 50 years, I will still be able to see my neighborhood,” Rose said.