418 E. Jefferson St: 1000-1920 A.D.

     The city of Charlottesville was chartered in 1762, and is built on the ancestral territory of the Monacan people.¹  The Monacan Nation was formed in roughly 1000 AD, after a collection of smaller, nomadic groups settled along rivers throughout Virginia.² One of the nearest Monacan villages, Monasukapanough, was located just north of modern Charlottesville.²  Despite the town’s inclusion in seventeenth century maps, researchers estimate that it was uninhabited by the mid-eighteenth century.² After centuries of struggle, the Monacan Indian Nation achieved federal recognition in 2018, becoming one of only seven tribes with territory in Virginia that are recognized nationally.³ 

Renaissance School recognizes that its campus is located on the traditional and occupied homelands of the citizens of the Monacan Indian Nation, who have lived here for millenia. With respect and humility, we acknowledge the elders and knowledge-keepers past, present, and future of the Monacan people.

     Charlottesville grew slowly after its founding, in part due to its small size and use as the county seat of Albemarle County (previously located in Scottsville).⁴ Much of the historic Court Square was completed in the 1760s,⁵ but the building that stands at 418 E. Jefferson St. was constructed in 1826.⁶ It was built by John Kelly, a local businessman and landowner who developed several properties in the greater Charlottesville area. An important figure, Kelly was described as “a man of earnest piety”,⁷ who was “tall and graceful, and one of the neatest men in dress and appearance of his day”.⁶ The building was constructed in the Colonial Revivalist style, and originally served as the Kelly-Bragg Storehouse.

When Kelly was enumerated in the 1820 United States, eleven enslaved persons were included in his estate (U.S. Census Bureau, 1820). Though records specifically stating that the building at 418 E. Jefferson St. was built by enslaved persons do not exist, historical context and Kelly’s involvement in the slave trade indicate that it is likely enslaved people played a role.  

     John Kelly died in 1830, and his properties were inherited by his wife of 28 years, Mary E. Kelly neé Alcock.⁷ Sometime in the next half-century, a large portion of the remaining Kelly family moved to Missouri.⁷ 418 E. Jefferson St. was sold along with much of the rest of the surrounding block, which had become known as “John Kelly Square”.⁶ Shortly after the Storehouse was sold, it was converted from a dry goods store to a confectioners, operated by resident John Mannoni.⁶ The founding of the University of Virginia in 1819 and the expansion of regional railroad systems in the late 1800s led to a sharp increase in residents.⁴ The landscape of Court Square changed, as did the various businesses utilizing the property at 418 E. Jefferson St. During this period, the newly-researched Sanborn Insurance Maps of Charlottesville cataloged a more complete story about the usage of 418 E. Jefferson St:

1886 — 418 E. was occupied by a dwelling and a saloon

1896, 1902 — The building served primarily as a saloon

1907 —  418 E. contained a grocery, but the other half of the store store was vacant

1913 —418 E. was used by both a store and a druggist’s

1920 — The building was split between an upholstery and a grocery store⁸

     By this time, the historically inter-racial neighborhood of McKee Row — which formed the western border of Court Square — had been erected and grown in size.⁹ In 1911, an ordinance passed in Richmond made it illegal for Black people to live in majority White neighborhoods and vice-versa.¹⁰ Though the ordinance itself was not adopted in Charlottesville, the perceived threat of the prosperous inter-racial neighborhood led to the razing of McKee Row in 1918 and the subsequent construction of McIntire Park.¹⁰

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