Monumental Avenue

Building a Neighborhood

Deborah Teel’s assignment was to write a story about a model home that would be open this weekend in the West End. She had already written several articles in the last year about open houses like this one in the Richmond suburbs, including another one by this same builder, and the challenge had become to make this story different and interesting. She had visited the house this morning, and it was already turning out to be a beautiful spring day in Richmond. The paper’s driver had taken her out there, and when he turned the corner at Monument and Libbie avenues, she was immediately struck by the sight of the tall pines. When she stepped out of the car in the neighborhood, a gentle breeze carried the evocative scent of fresh pine needles, and she knew right then that the lead, at least, of this story would practically write itself.

Click here to learn much more (links to a PDF):

History of Monumental Avenue

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Following (for internet search purposes) are names of essential persons mentioned in the PDF, as they appear in the PDF. Birth and death information is provided when available in the PDF or was otherwise discovered during the research. Maiden names of women, when known, are underlined. Also included at the bottom is a list of terms, other than names, that interested parties may search.

• Deborah Parvin Teel — b. February 25, 1910, in Berks, Pennsylvania; d. November 11, 1989, in Newton, Pennsylvania
• George E. Mancos, Jr. — b. February 2, 1893, in Duquesne, Pennsylvania; d. March 26, 1983, in Richmond, Virginia.
• George Mancos, Sr. — b. April 22, 1869, in Trebixov, Kosikcy, Slovaki (alternate spelling of last name: Manezos)
• Anna Vagas Mancos — b. December 5, 1868, Slovaki
• Edna May Leistra Mancos — b. May 10, 1896, in Amelia, Virginia; d. February 1, 1970, in Richmond, Virginia
• Betty Mancos — b. January 30, 1923, in Richmond, Virginia
• Mildred Page Mancos — b. March, 1926, in Richmond, Virginia
• Emily Mancos
• Hazel Leistra Kidd
• H. L. Wyland — b. 1896
• Fred Walker
• LeRoy Crowder
• Johanna Crowder (maiden name unknown)
• Junias W. Smith — b. 1884
• Jessie V. Smith (maiden name unknown) — b. 1886
• Wilton Smith — b. 1915
• Raymond Smith — b. 1919
• Verna Lee Smith — b. 1922
• Claire Johnson (other last names, if used, unknown) — b. 1919
• Myrtie Leistra (maiden name unknown) — b. 1875
• Milton Leistra — b. 1909; d. November 18, 1958
• Leslie Burton Leistra — b. 1913; d. April 21, 1976
• Randolph Winfree — b. 1892
• El Anderson — b. 1890
• John Edward (Jack) Andrews — b. 1935 in Media, Pennsylvania
• Maurice King — b. in Glen Allen, Virginia
• Hjordis Formoe King
• Walter E. Brauer, Jr.
• Mable T. Brauer (maiden name unknown)
• Hal Anderson
• Emily P. Anderson (maiden name unknown)
• Kasper James Putze (AKA Kaspar) — b. February 26, 1911 in Henrico County, Virginia; d. June 19, 1973 in Eastern State Hospital, Williamsburg, Virginia
• Thelma Louise Beadles Putze — b. 1912; d. 1993
• Robert Smith Burrus — b. November 11, 1920, in Middletown, North Carolina
• Martha Jane Harris Burrus — b. 1925 in Newport News, Virginia
• Charles Newton King, Jr. — b. September 1, 1917 in Richmond, Virginia; d. June 25, 2000 in Henrico County, Virginia
• Frances Elizabeth Brown King — b. 1917 in Essex County, Virginia
• Gus Reeves Stevens — b. November 8, 1910 in Newport, Kentucky; d. March 9, 1982, in Richmond, Virginia
• Pauline Wingfield Stevens
• Chester D. Snell
• Louise H. Snell (maiden name unknown)
• Mrs. Boyd C. Cobb (other possible names unknown)
• C. Coleman McGehee — b. 1924; d. February 12, 1995 in Barbados
• Andrew J. Huneycutt
• Norma L. Huneycutt (maiden name unknown)
• John Taylor
• Mary E. R. Meetze (maiden name unknown)
• Caroline McGehee (maiden name unknown)
• Carter White — b. 1937
• Helen Jordan (maiden name unknown)
• Walker Christian Haynes — b. June 1, 1907 in Charles City County, Virginia; d. April 18, 1976, in Richmond, Virginia
• Barbara Madeline DeHart Haynes — b. December 1914 in Virginia; d. May 8, 1958, in Richmond, Virginia
• Frederick H. Powell, Jr.
• James Waldo Westhaver
• Hattie Virginia Westhaver (maiden name unknown)
• H. S. Cauthern, Jr.
• Mary K. Cauthern (maiden name unknown)
• John Holmes Andrews — b. November 12, 1900, in Geneva, New York; d. December 12, 1967, in Surry, Virginia
• Edna Mae McIvor Andrews — b. 1905 in Geneva, New York
• R. W. Jacobus
• Bessie E. White (other possible names unknown, probably married to R. W. Jacobus)
• Edmund Milton Smith
• Evelyn Crowder Smith
• Elizabeth P. Owen (maiden name unknown)
• Wilbur Owen
• Robert J. Grady
• Gladys L. Grady (other possible names unknown)
• W. P. Lewis, Jr.
• Vivian B. Lewis (maiden name unknown

Other search terms: Richmond, Virginia, Henrico County, Slovak, Disputanta, immigrants, Medical College of Virginia, Virginia Signal Corps, basketball, Gem Electric Shop, Lakeside Presbyterian, Duro Water Pumps, Grace Dodge Hotel, Chesterfield Gardens, Sterling Realty Corporation, lightning rods, FHA, Cape Cod, colonial, Monel sink, Henrico Garden Club, Westhampton Methodist Episcopal Church, Cole Street, home staging, pre-war housing, post-war housing, interior decorating in the 1930s and 1940s, Quakers, Jim Crow, property restrictions, covenants, coded language, housing segregation, HOLC, Deep Run Hunt Club, Sauer Estate, Westhampton, Near West End, Monument Crest subdivision, Monument Crest Annex subdivision, Pine Grove, Pine View, antiques, landscaping in the 1930s and 1940s, Richmond Home Builders Association, Rappahannock, sunken garden, Richmond garden clubs, Monument Avenue Crest Garden Club, Monumental Floral Gardens, C. F. Sauer, Jewish Community Center (JCC), St. Mary’s Hospital, miniature books, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collection Library, Mancos Realty Corporation, Bromley Lane, Mount Vernon Avenue, Loftin (AKA Lofton) N. Ellett, Westwood Settlement, historic black neighborhood, Bryan Coal Corporation, Thomas B. Scott, George Cole Scott, James H. Dooley (AKA Dooly), Westview Land Company, W. E. Purcell, Jr., C. F. Sauer Company.