title: History of the steam engine

text: The first steam engine to be applied industrially was the "fire-engine" or "Miner's Friend", designed by Thomas Savery in 1698. This was a pistonless steam pump, similar to the one developed by Worcester. Savery made two key contributions that greatly improved the practicality of the design. First, in order to allow the water supply to be placed below the engine, he used condensed steam to produce a partial vacuum in the pumping reservoir (the barrel in Worcester's example), and using that to pull the water upward. Secondly, in order to rapidly cool the steam to produce the vacuum, he ran cold water over the reservoir.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Operation required several valves; at the start of a cycle, when the reservoir was empty, a valve would be opened to admit steam. This valve would be closed to seal the reservoir, and the cooling water valve would be opened to condense the steam and create a partial vacuum. A supply valve would then be opened, pulling water upward into the reservoir; the typical engine could pull water up to 20 feet. This was then closed, and the steam valve reopened, building pressure over the water and pumping it upward, as in the Worcester design. This cycle essentially doubled the distance that water could be pumped for any given pressure of steam, and production examples raised water about 40 feet.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Savery's engine solved a problem that had only recently become a serious one; raising water out of the mines in southern England as they reached greater depths. Savery's engine was somewhat less efficient than Newcomen's, but this was compensated for by the fact that the separate pump used by the Newcomen engine was inefficient, giving the two engines roughly the same efficiency of 6 million foot pounds per bushel of coal (less than 1%). Nor was the Savery engine very safe because part of its cycle required steam under pressure supplied by a boiler, and given the technology of the period the pressure vessel could not be made strong enough and so was prone to explosion. The explosion of one of his pumps at Broad Waters (near Wednesbury), about 1705, probably marks the end of attempts to exploit his invention.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The Savery engine was less expensive than Newcomen's and was produced in smaller sizes. Some builders were manufacturing improved versions of the Savery engine until late in the 18th century. Bento de Moura Portugal, , introduced an ingenious improvement of Savery's construction "to render it capable of working itself", as described by John Smeaton in the Philosophical Transactions published in 1751.


title: History of the steam engine

text: It was Thomas Newcomen with his "atmospheric-engine" of 1712 who can be said to have brought together most of the essential elements established by Papin in order to develop the first practical steam engine for which there could be a commercial demand. This took the shape of a reciprocating beam engine installed at surface level driving a succession of pumps at one end of the beam. The engine, attached by chains from other end of the beam, worked on the atmospheric, or vacuum principle.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Newcomen's design used some elements of earlier concepts. Like the Savery design, Newcomen's engine used steam, cooled with water, to create a vacuum. Unlike Savery's pump, however, Newcomen used the vacuum to pull on a piston instead of pulling on water directly. The upper end of the cylinder was open to the atmospheric pressure, and when the vacuum formed, the atmospheric pressure above the piston pushed it down into the cylinder. The piston was lubricated and sealed by a trickle of water from the same cistern that supplied the cooling water. Further, to improve the cooling effect, he sprayed water directly into the cylinder.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The piston was attached by a chain to a large pivoted beam. When the piston pulled the beam, the other side of the beam was pulled upward. This end was attached to a rod that pulled on a series of conventional pump handles in the mine. At the end of this power stroke, the steam valve was reopened, and the weight of the pump rods pulled the beam down, lifting the piston and drawing steam into the cylinder again.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Using the piston and beam allowed the Newcomen engine to power pumps at different levels throughout the mine, as well as eliminating the need for any high-pressure steam. The entire system was isolated to a single building on the surface. Although inefficient and extremely heavy on coal (compared to later engines), these engines raised far greater volumes of water and from greater depths than had previously been possible. Over 100 Newcomen engines were installed around England by 1735, and it is estimated that as many as 2,000 were in operation by 1800 (including Watt versions).


title: History of the steam engine

text: John Smeaton made numerous improvements to the Newcomen engine, notably the seals, and by improving these was able to almost triple their efficiency. He also preferred to use wheels instead of beams for transferring power from the cylinder, which made his engines more compact. Smeaton was the first to develop a rigorous theory of steam engine design of operation. He worked backward from the intended role to calculate the amount of power that would be needed for the task, the size and speed of a cylinder that would provide it, the size of boiler needed to feed it, and the amount of fuel it would consume. These were developed empirically after studying dozens of Newcomen engines in Cornwall and Newcastle, and building an experimental engine of his own at his home in Austhorpe in 1770. By the time the Watt engine was introduced only a few years later, Smeaton had built dozens of ever-larger engines into the 100 hp range.


title: History of the steam engine

text: While working at the University of Glasgow as an instrument maker and repairman in 1759, James Watt was introduced to the power of steam by Professor John Robison. Fascinated, Watt took to reading everything he could on the subject, and independently developed the concept of latent heat, only recently published by Joseph Black at the same university. When Watt learned that the University owned a small working model of a Newcomen engine, he pressed to have it returned from London where it was being unsuccessfully repaired. Watt repaired the machine, but found it was barely functional even when fully repaired.


title: History of the steam engine

text: After working with the design, Watt concluded that 80% of the steam used by the engine was wasted. Instead of providing motive force, it was instead being used to heat the cylinder. In the Newcomen design, every power stroke was started with a spray of cold water, which not only condensed the steam, but also cooled the walls of the cylinder. This heat had to be replaced before the cylinder would accept steam again. In the Newcomen engine the heat was supplied only by the steam, so when the steam valve was opened again the vast majority condensed on the cold walls as soon as it was admitted to the cylinder. It took a considerable amount of time and steam before the cylinder warmed back up and the steam started to fill it up.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Watt solved the problem of the water spray by removing the cold water to a different cylinder, placed beside the power cylinder. Once the induction stroke was complete a valve was opened between the two, and any steam that entered the cylinder would condense inside this cold cylinder. This would create a vacuum that would pull more of the steam into the cylinder, and so on until the steam was mostly condensed. The valve was then closed, and operation of the main cylinder continued as it would on a conventional Newcomen engine. As the power cylinder remained at operational temperature throughout, the system was ready for another stroke as soon as the piston was pulled back to the top. Maintaining the temperature was a jacket around the cylinder where steam was admitted. Watt produced a working model in 1765.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Convinced that this was a great advance, Watt entered into partnerships to provide venture capital while he worked on the design. Not content with this single improvement, Watt worked tirelessly on a series of other improvements to practically every part of the engine. Watt further improved the system by adding a small vacuum pump to pull the steam out of the cylinder into the condenser, further improving cycle times. A more radical change from the Newcomen design was closing off the top of the cylinder and introducing low-pressure steam above the piston. Now the power was not due to the difference of atmospheric pressure and the vacuum, but the pressure of the steam and the vacuum, a somewhat higher value. On the upward return stroke, the steam on top was transferred through a pipe to the underside of the piston ready to be condensed for the downward stroke. Sealing of the piston on a Newcomen engine had been achieved by maintaining a small quantity of water on its upper side. This was no longer possible in Watt's engine due to the presence of the steam. Watt spent considerable effort to find a seal that worked, eventually obtained by using a mixture of tallow and oil. The piston rod also passed through a gland on the top cylinder cover sealed in a similar way.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The piston sealing problem was due to having no way to produce a sufficiently round cylinder. Watt tried having cylinders bored from cast iron, but they were too out of round. Watt was forced to use a hammered iron cylinder. The following quotation is from Roe (1916):


title: History of the steam engine

text: "When [John] Smeaton first saw the engine he reported to the Society of Engineers that 'neither the tools nor the workmen existed who could manufacture such a complex machine with sufficient precision' "


title: History of the steam engine

text: Watt finally considered the design good enough to release in 1774, and the Watt engine was released to the market. As portions of the design could be easily fitted to existing Newcomen engines, there was no need to build an entirely new engine at the mines. Instead, Watt and his business partner Matthew Boulton licensed the improvements to engine operators, charging them a portion of the money they would save in reduced fuel costs. The design was wildly successful, and the Boulton and Watt company was formed to license the design and help new manufacturers build the engines. The two would later open the Soho Foundry to produce engines of their own.


title: History of the steam engine

text: In 1774, John Wilkinson invented a boring machine with the shaft holding the boring tool supported on both ends, extending through the cylinder, unlike the then used cantilevered borers. With this machine he was able to successfully bore the cylinder for Boulton and Watt's first commercial engine in 1776.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Watt never ceased improving his designs. This further improved the operating cycle speed, introduced governors, automatic valves, double-acting pistons, a variety of rotary power takeoffs and many other improvements. Watt's technology enabled the widespread commercial use of stationary steam engines.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Humphrey Gainsborough produced a model condensing steam engine in the 1760s, which he showed to Richard Lovell Edgeworth, a member of the Lunar Society. Gainsborough believed that Watt had used his ideas for the invention; however, James Watt was not a member of the Lunar Society at this period and his many accounts explaining the succession of thought processes leading to the final design would tend to belie this story.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Power was still limited by the low pressure, the displacement of the cylinder, combustion and evaporation rates and condenser capacity. Maximum theoretical efficiency was limited by the relatively low temperature differential on either side of the piston; this meant that for a Watt engine to provide a usable amount of power, the first production engines had to be very large, and were thus expensive to build and install.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Watt developed a double-acting engine in which steam drove the piston in both directions, thereby increasing the engine speed and efficiency. The double-acting principle also significantly increased the output of a given physical sized engine.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Boulton & Watt developed the reciprocating engine into the rotative type. Unlike the Newcomen engine, the Watt engine could operate smoothly enough to be connected to a drive shaft – via sun and planet gears – to provide rotary power along with double-acting condensing cylinders. The earliest example was built as a demonstrator and was installed in Boulton's factory to work machines for lapping (polishing) buttons or similar. For this reason it was always known as the "Lap Engine". In early steam engines the piston is usually connected by a rod to a balanced beam, rather than directly to a flywheel, and these engines are therefore known as beam engines.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Early steam engines did not provide constant enough speed for critical operations such as cotton spinning. To control speed the engine was used to pump water for a water wheel, which powered the machinery.


title: History of the steam engine

text: As the 18th century advanced, the call was for higher pressures; this was strongly resisted by Watt who used the monopoly his patent gave him to prevent others from building high-pressure engines and using them in vehicles. He mistrusted the boiler technology of the day, the way they were constructed and the strength of the materials used.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The main difference between how high-pressure and low-pressure steam engines work is the source of the force that moves the piston. In the engines of Newcomen and Watt, it is the condensation of the steam that creates most of the pressure difference, causing atmospheric pressure (Newcomen) and low-pressure steam, seldom more than 7 psi boiler pressure, plus condenser vacuum (Watt), to move the piston. In a high-pressure engine, most of the pressure difference is provided by the high-pressure steam from the boiler; the low-pressure side of the piston may be at atmospheric pressure or connected to the condenser pressure. Newcomen's indicator diagram, almost all below the atmospheric line, would see a revival nearly 200 years later with the low pressure cylinder of triple expansion engines contributing about 20% of the engine power, again almost completely below the atmospheric line.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The first known advocate of "strong steam" was Jacob Leupold in his scheme for an engine that appeared in encyclopaedic works from around 1725. Various projects for steam propelled boats and vehicles also appeared throughout the century, one of the most promising being the construction of Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot, who demonstrated his "fardier" (steam wagon) in 1769. Whilst the working pressure used for this vehicle is unknown, the small size of the boiler gave insufficient steam production rate to allow the fardier to advance more than a few hundred metres at a time before having to stop to raise steam. Other projects and models were proposed, but as with William Murdoch's model of 1784, many were blocked by Boulton and Watt.


title: History of the steam engine

text: This did not apply in the US, and in 1788 a steamboat built by John Fitch operated in regular commercial service along the Delaware River between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour, and traveled more than during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. In 1802, William Symington built a practical steamboat, and in 1807, Robert Fulton used a Watt steam engine to power the first commercially successful steamboat.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Oliver Evans in his turn was in favour of "strong steam" which he applied to boat engines and to stationary uses. He was a pioneer of cylindrical boilers; however, Evans' boilers did suffer several serious boiler explosions, which tended to lend weight to Watt's qualms. He founded the Pittsburgh Steam Engine Company in 1811 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The company introduced high-pressure steam engines to the riverboat trade in the Mississippi watershed.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The importance of raising steam under pressure (from a thermodynamic standpoint) is that it attains a higher temperature. Thus, any engine using high-pressure steam operates at a higher temperature and pressure differential than is possible with a low-pressure vacuum engine. The high-pressure engine thus became the basis for most further development of reciprocating steam technology. Even so, around the year 1800, "high pressure" amounted to what today would be considered very low pressure, i.e. 40-50 psi (276-345 kPa), the point being that the high-pressure engine in question was non-condensing, driven solely by the expansive power of the steam, and once that steam had performed work it was usually exhausted at higher-than-atmospheric pressure. The blast of the exhausting steam into the chimney could be exploited to create induced draught through the fire grate and thus increase the rate of burning, hence creating more heat in a smaller furnace, at the expense of creating back pressure on the exhaust side of the piston.


title: History of the steam engine

text: On 21 February 1804, at the Penydarren ironworks at Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales, the first self-propelled railway steam engine or steam locomotive, built by Richard Trevithick, was demonstrated.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Around 1811, Richard Trevithick was required to update a Watt pumping engine in order to adapt it to one of his new large cylindrical Cornish boilers. When Trevithick left for South America in 1816, his improvements were continued by William Sims. In a parallel, Arthur Woolf developed a compound engine with two cylinders, so that steam expanded in a high-pressure cylinder before being released into a low-pressure one. Efficiency was further improved by Samuel Groase, who insulated the boiler, engine, and pipes.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Steam pressure above the piston was increased eventually reaching or even and now provided much of the power for the downward stroke; at the same time condensing was improved. This considerably raised efficiency and further pumping engines on the Cornish system (often known as Cornish engines) continued to be built new throughout the 19th century. Older Watt engines were updated to conform.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The take-up of these Cornish improvements was slow in textile manufacturing areas where coal was cheap, due to the higher capital cost of the engines and the greater wear that they suffered. The change only began in the 1830s, usually by compounding through adding another (high-pressure) cylinder.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Another limitation of early steam engines was speed variability, which made them unsuitable for many textile applications, especially spinning. In order to obtain steady speeds, early steam powered textile mills used the steam engine to pump water to a water wheel, which drove the machinery.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Many of these engines were supplied worldwide and gave reliable and efficient service over a great many years with greatly reduced coal consumption. Some of them were very large and the type continued to be built right down to the 1890s.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The Corliss steam engine (patented 1849) was called the greatest improvement since James Watt. The Corliss engine had greatly improved speed control and better efficiency, making it suitable to all sorts of industrial applications, including spinning.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Corliss used separate ports for steam supply and exhaust, which prevented the exhaust from cooling the passage used by the hot steam. Corliss also used partially rotating valves that provided quick action, helping to reduce pressure losses. The valves themselves were also a source of reduced friction, especially compared to the slide valve, which typically used 10% of an engine's power.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Corliss used automatic variable cut off. The valve gear controlled engine speed by using the governor to vary the timing of the cut off. This was partly responsible for the efficiency improvement in addition to the better speed control.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The Porter-Allen engine, introduced in 1862, used an advanced valve gear mechanism developed for Porter by Allen, a mechanic of exceptional ability, and was at first generally known as the Allen engine. The high speed engine was a precision machine that was well balanced, achievements made possible by advancements in machine tools and manufacturing technology.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The high speed engine ran at piston speeds from three to five times the speed of ordinary engines. It also had low speed variability. The high speed engine was widely used in sawmills to power circular saws. Later it was used for electrical generation.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The engine had several advantages. It could, in some cases, be directly coupled. If gears or belts and drums were used, they could be much smaller sizes. The engine itself was also small for the amount of power it developed.


title: History of the steam engine

text: Porter greatly improved the fly-ball governor by reducing the rotating weight and adding a weight around the shaft. This significantly improved speed control. Porter's governor became the leading type by 1880.


title: History of the steam engine

text: The uniflow engine was the most efficient type of high-pressure engine. It was invented in 1911 and was used in ships, but was displaced by steam turbines and later marine diesel engines.


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)" is a song by American punk-rock band the Offspring. It is the fourth track from the band's fifth studio album, "Americana" (1998), and was released as its first single in November 1998. The song peaked at number 53 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, number five on the "Billboard" Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, and number three on the "Billboard" Modern Rock Tracks chart. It was a major success internationally, reaching number one in 10 countries, including Australia, where it stayed at number one for six weeks and was certified quadruple platinum.


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: The song appears as the seventh track on the Offspring's 2005 "Greatest Hits" album. It was parodied by Weird Al Yankovic in "Pretty Fly for a Rabbi".


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: Beginning with a sample of the pseudo-German nonsense phrase "Gunter glieben glauchen globen" from Def Leppard's 1983 song "Rock of Ages", chanted as a replacement for the traditional "1, 2, 3, 4" to start the recording, the song ridicules a "wannabe gangsta" who is immersed in hip-hop culture, not because he truly loves or understands it but because it is trendy, makes him feel tough ("Friends say he's tryin' too hard, and he's not quite hip/But in his own mind, he's the, he's the dopest trip") and because he believes it attracts women ("and all the girlies say I'm pretty fly, for a white guy"). The “Give it to me baby” verse was done by voice actress Nika Futterman.


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: As summed up by Dexter Holland, the people described in the lyrics "are from, like, Omaha, Nebraska, regular white-bread boys, but who act like they're from Compton. It's so fake and obvious that they're trying to have an identity." Holland detailed that he meets many teenagers like those in his native Orange County, "going to the mall, where they buy FUBU, Tommy Hilfiger, and Ice Cube's latest record." Given rap culture is the starting point, Holland clarified that it was not an attack on African-Americans, but "poseurs of any kind", but without wanting "to be preachy about it... We're getting amusement out of it more than anything else."


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: "Daily Record" commented that on "Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)", the band "has obviously been inspired by early-Beastie Boys and Run DMC songs."


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: The music video for the song, directed by McG, begins with the "white guy" and some girls singing the opening lines, and Offspring guitarist Noodles walking on the pavement with his guitar, playing the introductory riff. The "white guy" drives through town in his lowrider and tries to act cool in front of African-Americans, playing with his car's hydraulic system and interrupting a break dance session to dance himself. He is then carried by a group of girls to a pool party and thrown into the pool. He jumps out of the pool and finds some bikini clad dancers in front of him. These scenes are cut with the band playing. The video ends with the "white guy" returning home and scaring his little sister, who is wearing a fairy costume, because of his dishevelled appearance.


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: According to Dexter Holland, the band wanted Seth Green to play the "white guy" but he was unavailable. After seeing an audition tape with "five unknowns", they settled on Israeli actor Guy Cohen, who went on to cameo in the "Why Don't You Get a Job?" video and occasionally appear at Offspring concerts.


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: The music video also appears on the "Complete Music Video Collection" DVD. It was released in 2005. The DVD also contains a storyboard version of the video, in which the storyboard plays over top of the music video.


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: The song was released as downloadable content for the video game "Rock Band". The song was released in the first "Offspring pack", which was released on October 7, 2008, along with "Gone Away" and "Self Esteem".


title: Pretty Fly (for a White Guy)

text: The song was released on the "" spinoff track list on December 22, 2009. It was later made available as downloadable content for "Guitar Hero Live", containing the music video.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: Robert McElhiney James (born December 25, 1939) is an American jazz keyboardist, arranger, and record producer. He founded the band Fourplay and wrote "Angela", the theme song for the TV show "Taxi." According to VICE (magazine), music from his first seven albums has often been sampled and believed to have contributed to the formation of hip hop. Among his most well known recordings are "Nautilus", "Westchester Lady", "Tappan Zee", and his version of "Take Me to The Mardi Gras".


title: Bob James (musician)

text: James was born on Christmas Day of 1939 in Marshall, Missouri, United States. He started playing the piano at age four. His first piano teacher, Sister Mary Elizabeth, who taught at Mercy Academy, discovered that he had perfect pitch. At age seven, James began to study with R. T. Dufford, a teacher at Missouri Valley College. At age 15, James continued his studies with Franklin Launer, a teacher at Christian College in Columbia, Missouri, with more music instruction during high school from Harold Lickey, conductor of the Marshall High School Band and Orchestra. Apart from the piano, James learned to play trumpet, timpani, and percussion. From 1950 to 1956, he competed in the Missouri State Fair piano competitions and received several blue ribbons.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: James attended the University of Michigan, but during his second year transferred to Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. At Berklee his roommate was saxophonist Nick Brignola.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: His first professional music job was when he was eight years old, playing for a tap dance class at Mercy Academy. During his adolescence, James's music career proliferated. Early jobs included being a member of the Earle Parsons Dance Band (c. 1952–55) which played various engagements around the Marshall area. During this time, he penned his first dance band arrangement.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: During the summer of 1955, at Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri, James played for dancing and occasional jam sessions with the Bob Falkenhainer Quartet on the Governor McClurg Excursion Boat in the evenings. He recalls that "during the day we had free time and I became a proficient water skier that summer!" At age 16, a solo engagement followed in the summer when James traveled with good friend Ben Swinger to Colorado and ended up with a job in the piano bar at the Steads Ranch resort in Estes Park.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: While in college at Michigan, James played free jazz with musicians in Ann Arbor and Detroit. In 1962, his band entered the Notre Dame Collegiate Jazz Festival, where the judges included Henry Mancini and Quincy Jones. The trio entered the competition not expecting to win but wanting to provide some avant-garde music in a contest field that was primarily straight ahead music. To the trio's surprise, they won the competition. Not long after, Jones signed James to an album deal with Mercury Records. Mercury released James's first album, "Bold Conceptions" (1963), a free jazz exploration that was produced by Quincy Jones and that differed from the smooth jazz for which he would later become known.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: In New York City, James worked as an arranger and was hired as piano accompanist for jazz singer Sarah Vaughan. He reunited with Quincy Jones when Jones asked him to do some arranging for studio sessions. Creed Taylor, producer and founder of CTI Records, was at the sessions and hired James to work for CTI as a producer, arranger, and studio musician. In the 1970s, James worked on albums by Gabor Szabo, Milt Jackson, Stanley Turrentine, Grover Washington, Jr., and Maynard Ferguson.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: Creed Taylor invited James to record a solo album. The result, "One" (CTI, 1974), contained the song "Feel Like Making Love", with which Roberta Flack had already had a hit. James had been hired to play piano for the song on Roberta Flack's album two weeks before recording a version of his own, using the same band. Radio stations played both and contributed to the commercial success of "One". The album was notable for adapting classical music to a modern-day scene, e.g. "In The Garden" was based on Pachelbel's Canon in D and "Night on Bald Mountain" was a cover of Modest Mussorgsky's composition of the same name.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: After three solo albums, James founded his own record label, Tappan Zee. Immediately thereafter, he cut a disco version of the "Theme to " a 45 of which was included with the soundtrack LP and recorded the album "Touchdown" (Tappan Zee, 1978). Among the songs on the album was "Angela", the theme song for the TV show "Taxi". James provided all the music for "Taxi" and collected some of its music, including "Angela", on "The Genie: Themes & Variations from the TV Series Taxi" (1983). When he toured in 1979, he was supported by a marketing campaign that included posters of him at the wheel of a New York yellow cab. The performances were documented on the album "All Around the Town" (Tappan Zee, 1980), with a cover of James at the wheel of a taxi.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: James turned from smooth jazz to classical music to record "Rameau" (1984), his interpretations of Baroque-period composer Jean-Philippe Rameau. In later albums, he interpreted the work of two more Baroque composers, J. S. Bach and Domenico Scarlatti.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: A year after "Rameau", he collaborated with David Sanborn on "Double Vision" (Warner Bros, 1986). The album won a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Fusion Performance. His collaboration with Earl Klugh, "One on One", won a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1980 and has sold over one million copies. Another collaboration with Klugh, "Cool", (Warner Bros., 1992) was nominated for a Grammy, as was "Joined at the Hip" (Warner Bros., 1996) with Kirk Whalum, recorded "Flesh and Bone" in 1995 and another solo album, "Joyride" (Warner Bros., 1999). "Joined at the Hip" will be reissued with a 2019 Remaster on evosound.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: James was looking for a bass player while recording the album "Grand Piano Canyon" (Warner Bros., 1990) with drummer Harvey Mason and guitarist Lee Ritenour. Mason and Ritenour suggested Nathan East. After working with them for a while, James suggested they form a band, which resulted in the contemporary jazz quartet Fourplay. The band has recorded over ten albums and has seen a couple of personnel changes, with guitarist Larry Carlton replacing Ritenour and then Chuck Loeb replacing Carlton. Fourplay celebrated its 25th anniversary with the album "Silver" (Heads Up, 2015).


title: Bob James (musician)

text: James's music, especially his early albums, has been sampled often, with his songs "Nautilus" and "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" leading the field.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: "Nautilus" was sampled by Eric B. & Rakim in "Let the Rhythm Hit 'em", Run-D.M.C.'s "Beats to the Rhyme", Ghostface Killah's "Daytona 500", DJ Jazzy Jeff's "Jazzie's Groove", Jeru the Damaja's "My Mind Spray", Freddie Gibbs's "Extradite", and "Farandole (L'Arlesienne Suite No. 2)". It appears on the "Funcrusher Plus" LP from Company Flow and Nangdo's "Nikes". The bassline from "Nautilus" appears in "Children's Story" by Slick Rick.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: "Take Me to the Mardi Gras" incorporates in its first four measures a bell-and-drum pattern that is one of hip hop's basic break beats. It has been sampled by Crash Crew's "Breaking Bells (Take Me to the Mardi Gras)", Run-D.M.C.'s "Peter Piper", LL Cool J's "Rock the Bells", the Beastie Boys' "Hold it Now, Hit it", Missy Elliott's "Work It", will.i.am's "I Got it from My Mama", "This Is Me (Urban Remix)" by Dream, "I Want You" by Common, and "Take It Back" by Wu-Tang Clan.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: "Westchester Lady" was sampled by DJ Jazzy Jeff & the Fresh Prince in "Here We Go Again", as well as by DJ T-Rock and Squashy Nice in their song "Evolution".


title: Bob James (musician)

text: James's 1981 song "Sign of the Times" was sampled by Warren G and Nate Dogg in their 1994 single "Regulate".


title: Bob James (musician)

text: His 1980 song "Snowbird Fantasy" was sampled by French house musician and Le Knight Club member Eric Chedeville, also Known as "Rico the Wizard", in his 2009 single "Spell of Love", which was remixed later by DJ Sneak.


title: Bob James (musician)

text: The track "Tappan Zee", an ode to James' record label of the same name, was sampled in Arrested Development's "People Everyday (Metamorphis Remix)".


title: Bob James (musician)

text: In the past, James has stated that he had "a lot of respect" for the creative process of hip hop production, only being unhappy when his music was plagiarized or illegally sampled. James has begun to sample his own music, as shown on the composition "Submarine". He has also been collaborating in recent years with DJ Jazzy Jeff, Ghostface Killah, 9th Wonder, and Slick Rick.


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland. It opened in 1900. The south stand was rebuilt for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The stadium is used primarily for rugby union in winter and cricket in summer, and it has hosted rugby league and association football matches. It is owned by Eden Park Trust Board, whose headquarters are located in the stadium.


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park is considered one of rugby union's most difficult assignments for visiting sides. New Zealand's national rugby union team, the All Blacks, have been unbeaten at this venue in 48 consecutive test matches stretching back to 1994. Eden Park is the site of the 2021 Te Matatini. It was the site for the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup, the final of the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup and will stage the opening match of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. In 2011 it hosted pool games, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final of 2011 Rugby World Cup. In doing so it became the first stadium in the world to host two Rugby World Cup Finals, having held the inaugural final in 1987. It was a venue for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, which was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.


title: Eden Park

text: The land where Eden Park stands was originally swampland, fed by lava caverns created by Maungawhau / Mount Eden and Mount Albert over 30,000 years ago. Tāmaki Māori used the swamp to collect food and materials. In 1845, the area was purchased by Cornish farmer John Walters. Eden Park has been a sports ground since 1900. The park began as a cricket ground in 1903, and was due to the vision of one Harry Ryan, a cricket enthusiast who approached landowner John Walters to lease part of his land as a sports field. In the book "Eden Park: A History", the authors write, "Certainly the rough paddock strewn with stones, studded with outcrops of rock and streaked with cowpats, falling away to a boggy trough that filled in a downpour and remained flooded throughout the winter, looked better suited to frog-hunting or duck-shooting than cricket, let alone rugby. Ryan knew or at least imagined better." Much early work on the cricket ground was needed, including clearing the stone walls that had been used to divide farmland, and ongoing drainage issues.


title: Eden Park

text: Those who saw Ryan's vision as madness most likely felt vindicated when, in 1907, massive downpours of rain saw the ground submerged in water for a week. The same thing happened again later in the year. By 1910, the ongoing maintenance costs led the Eden District Cricket Club to approach the Auckland Cricket Association to take over running the park. By 1912, the land had been transferred from John Walters to the trustees of the cricket association, backed financially by a number of well-known Auckland businessman. The name 'Eden Park' settled into general usage around 1912, soon after it had been taken over by the association.


title: Eden Park

text: In 1913 the park was leased to the Auckland Rugby Football Union, becoming both a summer and winter sporting venue, with the union leasing the venue initially for 21 years. The union agreed to pay to build the park's first grandstand, erected in 1913 to hold an audience of 2,500, and later followed by a second members' stand built in 1914. In 1914, the first international cricket match was held, with Auckland hosting Australia. The first rugby match played at the venue was a seven-a-side series on 9 May 1914, and the first representative match was played on 5 September, against Wellington. Drainage issues ceased to be a regular issue for Kingsland and Eden Park in the 1920s, after which the park began to flourish. The first rugby test was held on 27 August 1921, when South Africa beat New Zealand 5–9 before a crowd of 40,000. The Auckland Rugby Football Union officially made Eden Park its home in 1925, and in 1926, a trust was set up to manage Eden Park primarily for the benefit of Auckland Cricket and Auckland Rugby.


title: Eden Park

text: In 1930, the ground hosted its inaugural British and Irish Lions matches as part of the 1930 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia. Matches were held against Auckland and New Zealand sides, both won by the home sides with an attendance of 45,000 at the latter. The ground hosted its first match between New Zealand and Australia as part of the 1931 Australia rugby union tour of New Zealand. New Zealand won 20 – 13. In 1933, New Zealand hosted England in the first cricket test match, where Wally Hammond set an individual test batting record of 336 not out.


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park served as the opening ceremony and athletics venue for the 1950 British Empire Games, when the western part of the grounds were first opened. In 1955, New Zealand hosted England in the second test match of their 1954–55 Tour of New Zealand. During the same year, the New Zealand Parliament passed the Eden Park Trust Act, enshrining the governance structure of the park until 2009. By 1956, the West Stand was completed, followed by the South Stand in 1958. New Zealand won its first cricket test match against the West Indies as part of the 1955–56 West Indies Tour of New Zealand. The ground hosted its third rugby international between New Zealand and South Africa. New Zealand won 11 – 5 before a record crowd of 63,000. The British and Irish Lions returned for the third time in the 1959 British Lions tour to Australia and New Zealand with matches against Auckland and New Zealand. The visitors win both, their first test match win at the ground.


title: Eden Park

text: During the 1960s and 70s, further large scale events were held at the venue, including 1961 French tour of New Zealand and Australia, the 1963 England tour of New Zealand, the 1969 Wales rugby union tour of Oceania, a welcoming party for the royal family during the 1970 New Zealand Royal Visit Honours, the Australian tour of New Zealand (1973–74), and a gymnastic display held by touring Russian gymnasts including Olga Korbut. During the 1975 Scotland rugby union tour of New Zealand, both teams famously played during a downpour on a completely saturated pitch, before the one-off test had to be cancelled as the drainage system was unable to cope with the flooding.


title: Eden Park

text: During the 1981 Springbok Tour, a low-flying Cessna 172 piloted by Marx Jones and Grant Cole disrupted the final test by dropping flour-bombs on the pitch.


title: Eden Park

text: The 1980s saw a number of record events such as a crowd of 43,000 at the 1981–82 Australia Tour of New Zealand, where Australian batsman Greg Chappell dealing with an on ground streaker with his bat. An indoor cricket facility and stand were built next to the outer oval. At the inaugural Rugby World Cup, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 1987, New Zealand defeated France 29 – 9 in the final in front of a crowd of 48,035. In 1988, Eden Park hosted the 1988 Rugby League World Cup Final, with Australia defeating New Zealand 25 – 12 before a New Zealand rugby league record crowd of 47,363. This was the first game of rugby league played at Eden Park since 1919. Eden Park was a venue during the 1992 Cricket World Cup, cohosted with Australia.


title: Eden Park

text: In 1996, the new Auckland Blues began playing at the ground, with the inaugural Super 12 final held at the ground, with the Auckland Blues defeating the 45 – 21 before a crowd of 46,000. The ground hosted Super 12 finals in 1997, 1998 and 2003. The ground hosted its first rugby test between New Zealand and Ireland as part of the 2002 Ireland Tour of New Zealand. In 2003, the playing surface on the main oval was completely overhauled with the introduction of "Motz" turf.


title: Eden Park

text: In 2007, the ground was confirmed by the New Zealand Government as the venue for the final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, with redevelopment beginning in 2008. The ground was the subject of a hotly debated dilemma, as to whether the event should be hosted at historic Eden Park or a new city centre stadium. The redeveloped stadium was officially opened by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on 10 October. The first event was a Rugby League Four Nations double header, including matches between England and Papua New Guinea, and Australia and New Zealand.


title: Eden Park

text: The 2011 Rugby World Cup commenced on 9 September, with New Zealand defeating Tonga 41 – 10 before a crowd of 60,214. In addition to the opening ceremony and match, five pool games, two quarter-finals, both semi-finals and the final are held at Eden Park, with a cumulative attendance of more than 600,000. New Zealand defeated France 8 – 7 before a crowd of 61,079.


title: Eden Park

text: The ground hosted its first game of professional football, with the Wellington Phoenix hosting Adelaide United before a crowd of 20,078.


title: Eden Park

text: In 2013 the New Zealand Warriors announced they would be playing three home games at Eden Park in the 2014 NRL season.


title: Eden Park

text: The Auckland Council takes over five of the nine spots on the Eden Park Trust Board, giving ratepayers control over the ground.


title: Eden Park

text: In 2015, it hosted four matches during the 2015 Cricket World Cup, which was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand including the first semi final between New Zealand and South Africa. The stadium hosted its first day night test match during the English cricket tour in 2018.


title: Eden Park

text: In 2020, after 117 years, Eden Park sold week-long naming rights to longtime partner, ASB. As part of their commitment to small business in New Zealand, ASB gifted their naming rights to Coopers Catch, a small fish-and-chip shop from Kaikōura.


title: Eden Park

text: In 2021, for the first time since 1975, Eden Park hosted a concert, headlined by the band Six60 to a sold-out crowd of about 50,000 attendees. The concert was also one of the biggest concerts in the world at the time, due to COVID-19.


title: Eden Park

text: The $256 million redevelopment completed in October 2010 provided a permanent capacity of 50,000 with a further 10,000 temporary seats for the 2011 Rugby World Cup games. This is the largest of any New Zealand sports arena. There are no standing areas. Temporary seating in front of the North Stand and the West Stand (usually only used for international rugby matches) is required for the capacity to be reached. Due to sight-screens and the larger area required for cricket matches, cricket capacity is smaller.


title: Eden Park

text: The redevelopment project included a three-tier South stand replacing the old South and West stands, with a capacity of 24,000, and a three-tier East replacing the Terraces. The number of covered seats increased from 23,000 to 38,000. The redeveloped Eden Park has an internal concourse that allows people to circulate around the grounds inside the stadium, and world-class facilities, including food and beverage outlets, toilets and corporate areas, were incorporated. The open plan approach to the design and establishment of a community centre and green space, and the removal of the perimeter fence, mean that the stadium has become more publicly accessible and a part of the neighbourhood.


title: Eden Park

text: There were public concerns about the height of the new structure and its shading effect on many nearby houses. Auckland City Council received 470 submissions on the resource consent application, over 300 of which were in favour of the redevelopment. On 26 January 2007, Eden Park received resource consent with 91 conditions imposed. The consent permitted the building of new stands in place of the terraces and south stand, but did not include consent for the NZ$385 million 'full option', which would have included covered seating.


title: Eden Park

text: In September 2006 it was announced that instead of Eden Park, the Government and Auckland City Council were assessing the possibility of a new stadium on Auckland's waterfront to host the 2011 Rugby World Cup. This assessment was part of the Government's formal due diligence process on the decision to redevelop Eden Park. The Government had said it would assist with the funding if a new stadium was built. The Government announced in a report in November 2006 that it would favour a new stadium on the Auckland waterfront, which would have meant that the Eden Park redevelopment would not have gone ahead, and that options for its use or redevelopment would have to be developed. After the Auckland City Council and the Auckland Regional Council differed in their support for the new stadium, the Government changed to supporting the redevelopment of Eden Park, subject to suitable resolution of the design, funding and governance issues.


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park is the home ground for the Auckland Blues in Super Rugby and Auckland in the Mitre 10 Cup. The ground regularly hosts All Blacks rugby union test matches. Auckland first used the ground in the 1913 season, and the first international fixture was against South Africa in 1921. The Auckland Blues have used the ground since their foundation in 1996.


title: Eden Park

text: The final game of the 1981 Springbok Tour was played at Eden Park. A low-flying Cessna 172 piloted by Marx Jones and Grant Cole dropped flour bombs on the field as part of widespread protests against the tour and apartheid.


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park was used in the inaugural 1987 Rugby World Cup and the 2011 Rugby World Cup, both of which the All Blacks won against France, making it the first ground to host two Rugby World Cup finals.


title: Eden Park

text: In late 2015, the ground also hosted a public memorial for legendary All Black wing Jonah Lomu after he died at the age of 40.


title: Eden Park

text: New Zealand's overall Test match record at Eden Park against all nations, updated to 14 August 2021, is as follows:


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park is the home ground for the Auckland cricket team. The ground regularly hosts international fixtures, including Tests, ODIs and Twenty20 Internationals, while the Outer Oval also hosts WODIs, domestic List A and Twenty20 games.


title: Eden Park

text: It first hosted a test in 1930. The ground was also the host to New Zealand's first Test victory, against West Indies in 1955–56 season. It has also been the scene of a dark day in New Zealand's cricket history when on 28 March 1955, the hosts collapsed to their lowest Test score (26 all out) against England.


title: Eden Park

text: The ground hosted four matches during the 1992 Cricket World Cup including the semi-final between New Zealand and Pakistan, which Pakistan won by four wickets en route to winning the tournament after Inzamam-ul-Haq's 60 off 37 in reply to Black Caps captain Martin Crowe's 91. It also hosted four matches during the 2015 Cricket World Cup, which was co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The matches played included two pool B games and the pool A clash between co-hosts New Zealand and Australia, which New Zealand won by one wicket via Kane Williamson's six off Pat Cummins with 6 required after Mitchell Starc had taken 6 wickets in reply to Trent Boult's 5. It also hosted the first semifinal between New Zealand and South Africa, which New Zealand won off the penultimate ball with another six – this time by Grant Elliott off Dale Steyn – to advance to their first Cricket World Cup final.


title: Eden Park

text: In 2018, Eden Park hosted the first day-night test in New Zealand, against England. England were bowled out for 58 in the first innings. It took New Zealand only 20.4 overs to dismiss England on the first day of the test match. Trent Boult and Tim Southee took six and four wickets each and bowled unchanged throughout the 20.4 overs. No other bowler was required to bowl. This was just the fourth instance that only 2 bowlers were required to dismiss the opposition since 1920. Five England players were dismissed for a duck. Trent Boult (6/32) picked his career best figures in test cricket. This was his second five wicket haul at Eden Park and his second consecutive five wicket haul in day night test cricket, the first one against Australia in Adelaide in 2015 which was the inaugural day night test.


title: Eden Park

text: The highest total set by a team here in Test cricket was by the South African national cricket team against the New Zealand national cricket team when they scored 621/5 dec on 27 Feb 1999. The most runs scored in this ground have been by John Wright (1060 runs), Martin Crowe (712 runs) and Nathan Astle (649 runs). The most wickets have been taken by Richard Hadlee- 45 wickets followed by Chris Cairns-35 wickets and Richard Collinge-29 wickets.


title: Eden Park

text: In ODI cricket, the highest total has been set by New Zealand national cricket team against the Australian national cricket team when they scored 340/5 on 18 Feb 2007. The most runs scored in this ground have been by Martin Guptill (818 runs), Martin Crowe (719 runs) and Nathan Astle (705 runs). The most wickets have been taken by Chris Cairns-33 wickets, followed by Chris Harris- 28 wickets.


title: Eden Park

text: In May 2018, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) said that the ground is no longer cost-effective or financially viable to host cricket matches, and that they were looking at hosting fixtures at the Western Springs Stadium instead.


title: Eden Park

text: The ground is also where famed Indian cricket player Sachin Tendulkar made his debut as an ODI opener. Ahead of the second ODI of the New Zealand-India series at the ground in March 1994, regular opener Navjot Singh Sidhu was ruled out with a stiff neck, opening the way for the 21-year-old Tendulkar's promotion. He made 82 off just 49 balls against to steer India to a 7-wicket victory.


title: Eden Park

text: The biggest rugby league game played at Eden Park was the 1988 World Cup Final played on 9 October, giving the venue the distinction of hosting the Union and League World Cup Finals in consecutive years. This also sees Eden Park (as of 2018) as the only venue to host the World Cup Final for both rugby codes. In a spiteful match in which the New Zealand national rugby league team seemed more intent on dishing out punishment than playing football, the Wally Lewis-led Australians defeated the home side 25–12 after leading 25–0 early in the second half. The game was played in front of a record New Zealand rugby league attendance of 47,363 (only 672 less than attended the 1987 Rugby WCF between the All Blacks and France 16 months earlier). Australia had won the right to host the final, but as international crowds in Australia had been dwindling in recent years due to the Kangaroos dominance (only 15,944 had attended the dead rubber Ashes series test between Australia and Great Britain at the Sydney Football Stadium three months earlier), the Australian Rugby League agreed to New Zealand hosting the game in the interests of promoting international rugby league. Their efforts were rewarded with the largest World Cup Final attendance since 1968, when 54,290 saw Australia defeat France at the Sydney Cricket Ground.


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park hosted two matches (a double header) in the 2010 Rugby League Four Nations on 6 November. In the early game, England defeated Papua New Guinea 36–10, with Australia defeating New Zealand 34–20 in the second game. The fixture attracted 44,324 fans. The New Zealand Warriors played the Parramatta Eels in their first NRL match at Eden Park to start the 2011 NRL season in front of a crowd of 38,405 with Parramatta winning 24–18. The Warriors played their first home match of the 2012 season against the Manly-Warringah Sea Eagles in a 2011 NRL Grand Final replay, with Manly winning 26–20 in front of 37,502. The 2012 ANZAC Test between Australia and New Zealand was played at Eden Park, with the Kangaroos winning 20–12 in front of 35,329. The Warriors played the Sydney Roosters in Round 2 of the 2013 NRL season, going down 16–14 in front of 32,740.


title: Eden Park

text: In 2013 a new faster format of rugby league was announced that it would be held at Eden Park. In 15–16 February 2014, Eden Park held the first ever NRL Auckland Nines tournament.


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park has hosted four New Zealand national team games; friendlies against South Africa and FK Austria Wien in 1947 and 1957 respectively, an Olympic qualifier against Israel for the Seoul Olympics in 1988, and most recently a friendly against the Australian Socceroos in 2022. They were defeated in all four games.


title: Eden Park

text: On 19 November 2011, Eden Park hosted its first game of professional club football. The A-League regular season fixture between Wellington Phoenix and Adelaide United resulted in a 1–1 draw. The game attracted 20,078, a new attendance record for the Phoenix. The Phoenix returned to Eden Park on 2 February 2013 against long-distance rivals Perth Glory, drawing a crowd of 11,566 to see them win 1–0.


title: Eden Park

text: On 23 July 2014, Eden Park hosted English Premiership team West Ham United F.C. The A-League team Wellington Phoenix defeated West Ham 2–1.


title: Eden Park

text: Eden Park Outer Oval (also known as Eden Park No.2) is a cricket ground home to the Auckland cricket team and the Auckland Aces of the T20 Super Smash. The ground has a Grandstand with seating for around 1,000 spectators, and can comfortably accommodate 4,000 fans overall.


title: Park Hae-joon

text: Park Hae-joon (born Park Sang-woo on June 14, 1976) is a South Korean actor. Park first drew attention as a supporting actor in the television series' "Doctor Stranger" and "" both released in 2014, which led to him being cast in his first leading role in Jung Ji-woo's film "Fourth Place" (2015). He gained widespread recognition through "The World of the Married" (2020).


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 33,458. The Bureau of Economic Analysis combines Petersburg (along with the city of Colonial Heights) with Dinwiddie County for statistical purposes. The city is south of the commonwealth (state) capital city of Richmond.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: It is located at the fall line (the head of navigation of rivers on the U.S. East Coast) of the Appomattox River (a tributary of the longer larger James River which flows east to meet the southern mouth of the Chesapeake Bay at the Hampton Roads harbor and the Atlantic Ocean). In 1645, the Virginia House of Burgesses ordered Fort Henry built, which attracted both traders and settlers to the area. The Town of Petersburg, chartered by the Virginia legislature in 1784, incorporated three early settlements, and in 1850 the legislature elevated it to city status.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg grew as a transportation hub and also developed industry. It was the final destination on the Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System, which opened in 1816, to a city mostly rebuilt after a devastating 1815 fire. When its Appomattox River port silted up, investors built an 8-mile railroad to City Point on the James River, which opened in 1838 (and was acquired by the city and renamed the Appomattox Railroad in 1847). As discussed below, that became one of four railroads built (some with government subsidies) constructed (with separated terminals to the advantage of local freight haulers) before the American Civil War. In 1860, the city's industries and transportation combined to make it the state's second largest city (after Richmond). It connected commerce as far inland as Farmville, Virginia at the foothills of the Blue Ridge and the Appalachian Mountains chain, to shipping further east into the Chesapeake Bay and North Atlantic Ocean.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: During the American Civil War (1861–1865), because of this railroad network, Petersburg became critical to Union plans to capture the Confederate States national capital established early in the war at Richmond. The 1864–65 Siege of Petersburg, which included the Battle of the Crater and nine months of trench warfare devastated the city. Battlefield sites are partly preserved as Petersburg National Battlefield by the National Park Service of the U.S. Department of the Interior. Petersburg rebuilt its railroads, including a connecting terminal by 1866, although it never quite regained its economic position because much shipping traffic would continue to the Norfolk seaport. After the consolidations of smaller railroads, both the CSX and Norfolk Southern railway networks serve Petersburg.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg has the oldest free black settlements in the state at Pocahontas Island. Two Baptist churches in the city, whose congregations were founded in the late 18th century, are among the oldest black congregations and churches in the United States. In the 20th century, these and other black churches were leaders in the national Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s-1960s. In the post-bellum period, a historically black college which later developed as the Virginia State University was established nearby in Ettrick in Chesterfield County. Richard Bland College, now a junior college, was originally established here as a branch of Williamsburg's famed College of William and Mary.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg remains a transportation hub. Area highways include Interstate Highways 85, 95, and U.S. Route highways with 1, 301, and 460. Both CSX and Norfolk Southern rail systems maintain transportation centers at Petersburg. Amtrak serves the city with daily Northeast Regional passenger trains to Norfolk, Virginia, and long-distance routes from states to the South.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In the early 21st century, Petersburg civic leaders promote the city's historical attractions for heritage tourism, as well as industrial sites reachable by the transportation infrastructure. The federal government is also a major employer, with nearby Fort Lee, as home of the United States Army's Sustainment Center of Excellence, and the Army's Logistics Branch, Ordnance, Quartermaster, and Transportation Corps.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Archaeological excavations at Pocahontas Island found evidence of a prehistoric Native American settlement dated to 6500 BC, the early third of the Archaic Period (8000 to 1000 BC). Succeeding cultures of indigenous peoples lived in the area for thousands of years before European exploration and colonization.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: When the English arrived in Virginia in 1607, the region was occupied by the "Appamatuck", a significant tribe of the Powhatan Confederacy. They were governed by a "weroance", King "Coquonosum", and by his sister, Queen "Oppussoquionuske". This Algonquian-speaking people later had a town at Rohoic Creek (formerly known as "Rohowick" or Indian Towne Run). Present-day Petersburg developed to the east.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg was founded at a strategic point at the fall line of the Appomattox River and settled by English colonists. By 1635 they had patented land along the south bank of the Appomattox River as far west as present-day Sycamore Street, and about inland. In 1646, the Virginia Colony established Fort Henry a short distance from the Appamatuck town, near the falls. It provided water power for mills and later industrialization. Col. Abraham Wood sent several famous expeditions out from here in the following years to explore points to the west, as far as the Appalachian Mountains.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Around 1675, Wood's son-in-law, Peter Jones, who then commanded the fort and traded with the Indians, opened a trading post nearby, known as Peter's Point. The Kennon and Bolling families, prominent tobacco planters and traders, also lived in the area and engaged in local politics. In 1733, Col. William Byrd II (who founded Richmond at the same time) conceived plans for a city at Peter's Point, to be renamed Petersburgh. The Virginia General Assembly formally incorporated both Petersburg and adjacent Blandford on December 17, 1748. Wittontown, north of the river, was settled in 1749, and became incorporated as Pocahontas in 1752. Petersburg was enlarged slightly in 1762, adding to "Old Town".


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: During the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), the final British drive to regain control of the colony led to the Battle of Blanford in April 1781, which started just east of Petersburg. As Virginia militia retreated north across the Appomattox River, they took up the planks of the wooden Pocahontas bridge to delay the enemy. Although the British captured Blanford and Petersburg, they did not regain the strategic advantage. Lord Cornwallis' forces coming up from the Carolinas into Virginia occupied Yorktown on the York River, waiting to meet a Royal Navy fleet. But a larger combined American-French army soon surrounded and besieged them. Cornwallis and his troops found themselves trapped and isolated when the French Navy's West Indies fleet under Admiral de Grasse sailed north and won the offshore naval Battle of the Capes at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay, forcing the British resupply and evacuation fleet to withdraw. In October 1781, Lord Cornwallis surrendered to the superior allied Continental Army's General George Washington and French General comte de Rochambeau. After two further years of infrequent conflict and many treaty parlies, the Revolutionary War ended with Britain formally recognizing the new United States.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: After the war, in 1784 Petersburg annexed the adjacent towns of Blandford (also called Blanford), Pocahontas and the outlying town of Ravenscroft, which became neighborhoods of the larger city. An area known as Gillfield was annexed in 1798. Residents' devotion to the cause of America two decades later during the War of 1812 (1812–1815) led to the formation of the militia unit of the Petersburg Volunteers—who distinguished themselves in action at the Siege of Fort Meigs on the Great Lakes frontier on May 5, 1813. Fourth President James Madison called Petersburg "Cockade of the Union" (which later was applied to the town as a nickname "Cockade City"), in honor of the cockades which Volunteers wore on their caps.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg Blacks established the First Baptist (1774) and Gillfield Baptist Church (1797), the first and second oldest black congregations in the city and two of the oldest in the nation. These black churches were the first Baptist churches established in Petersburg. The Gillfield Baptist Church obtained title to its land in 1818 and in 1859 completed a $7000 brick structure; the Petersburg African Baptist Church also owned its own sanctuary and the community also organized burial and other benevolent societies.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Many free blacks in Virginia migrated to the growing urban community, despite increasing legislative restrictions. Until 1860 Petersburg was a majority African American city, although the enslaved population had few legal rights. Between 1850 and 1860, Petersburg's free black community increased 24%, although industrial growth fueled an even greater increase in the white population. Of the 18,366 people counted in Petersburg by federal census takers in 1860, 9,342 were white, 5,680 were slaves, and 3,244 free blacks. Thus in 1860, nearly 26% of all free persons were black, the highest proportion in any Southern city. Free Black men worked as tobacco twisters, in iron foundries, and as draymen, boatmen and cabdrivers, or in the skilled trades of mason, wheelwright, coopers and blacksmiths. Free Black women worked in tobacco factories as stemmers, or as washerwomen or seamstresses or laborers. Plantation owners also brought slaves for hire into the city. As in many other upper South cities, many white households had slaves, but more than 40% were enslaving just one servant.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Pocahontas Island (actually usually a peninsula on the north shore of the Appomattox River) became the area's free black residential area. With access to waterways and a population sympathetic to refugee slaves, this neighborhood was an important site on the Underground Railroad.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: During the Antebellum period Petersburg became the slave states' eleventh largest city, and 49th among all American cities in industrial development. Commission merchants (39 firms by 1860) bought agricultural products from nearby Dinwiddie County as well as points to the north, south and west and sold supplies. Petersburg's industrialists processed cotton, tobacco and metal, then shipped the resulting products out of the region. Richmond and Petersburg became the two largest tobacco towns in the world, with Richmond selling 61% of the state's tobacco in 1861, and Petersburg 23%. Petersburg's cotton industry relied on water power since its inception in the 1830s, and by 1860 towns had developed around the Lynch and Callender mills at Ettick and Matoaca and Battersea across the Appomattox river, and the Merchant's Manufacturing Company had another mill at Campbell Bridge near Ettrick. Together those cotton mills constituted approximately a third of that industry in the state. The town also had three water-powered flour mills by 1860, and five iron foundries.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The city became an important industrial center in a mostly agricultural state with few major cities. Starting in 1813, the city paved its streets, which helped attract business. In 1816 the Upper Appomattox Canal Company completed the Upper Appomattox Canal Navigation System to bypass the Appomattox Falls, which facilitated traffic up and down river to Farmville as well as powered cotton and flour mills.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg responded to the silting-up of its Appomattox River port by building the 8 mile long City Point Railroad, which linked the city to City Point on the James River, reachable by larger Chesapeake Bay and Norfolk-bound ships. During the same decade Petersburg became a railroad center. The Virginia and North Carolina legislatures authorized the 65-mile long Petersburg and Weldon Railroad, in 1830 (three years after the first American railway, the B.& O.) and its "Southern depot" began handling (mostly freight) traffic to Weldon, North Carolina in 1833. The Virginia legislature authorized the Richmond and Petersburg Railroad in 1835, and three years later it opened between Petersburg's Pocahontas neighborhood and Richmond's Manchester neighborhood, proving a more convenient and cheaper link than the Manchester Turnpike. The legislature in 1846 chartered Southside Railroad to Farmville and Lynchburg to the west. It would run 124 miles westward and supersede the technologically outdated Upper Appomattox Canal, and acquire the Appomattox Railroad in 1854. Petersburg business interests for years managed to block a charter for the last major line, the Norfolk and Petersburg Railroad, which was completed in 1858. It connected Petersburg to the Atlantic Ocean port of Norfolk, and would foster more groth in that city than Petersburg itself.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In 1851 the city introduced gaslights and by 1857 installed a new municipal water system. All these civic improvements helped attract and hold a substantial business community, based on manufacture of tobacco products, cotton and flour and banking.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: At the time of the American Civil War, Petersburg was the second-largest city in Virginia after the capital, Richmond, and the seventh-largest city in the Confederacy. Petersburg's population had the highest percentage of free African Americans of any city in the Confederacy and the largest number of free blacks in the Mid-Atlantic region.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: When the Civil War began in 1861, Petersburg was strategic in supporting the Confederate effort. The city provided several infantry companies and artillery units to the Confederate Army, along with three troops of cavalry. In April 1861 more than 300 free African Americans of Petersburg volunteered to work on the fortifications of Norfolk, Virginia under their own leader. Slaveholders also contributed the labor of numerous black slaves.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In 1864, Petersburg became a target during the Overland Campaign of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Its numerous railroads made the city a lifeline for Richmond, the Confederate capital. After his defeat at the Battle of Cold Harbor, Grant remained east of Richmond, crossed the James River and moved south to Petersburg. Grant intended to cut the rail lines into Petersburg, stopping Richmond's supplies. On June 9, troops led by William F. "Baldy" Smith of the 18th Corps, attacked the Dimmock Line, a series of defensive breastworks constructed to protect Petersburg.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: General Robert E. Lee arrived with his Army of Northern Virginia, and the 292-day Siege of Petersburg began. Due to botched Union leadership and arrival of Confederate General William Mahone, the Union forces suffered a disastrous defeat at the Battle of the Crater, suffering over 4,000 casualties. In early April 1865, Union troops finally managed to push their left flank to the railroad to Weldon, North Carolina and the Southside Railroad. With the loss of Petersburg's crucial railroad lines, the Confederate forces had to retreat, ending the siege in a victory for the Union Army. The fall of Petersburg meant that Richmond could no longer be defended. Lee attempted to lead his men south to join up with Confederate forces in North Carolina. Hopelessly outnumbered, he was surrounded and forced to surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, on April 9, 1865.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In the years after the Civil War, many freedmen migrated to Petersburg, founding numerous churches, businesses and institutions. The Freedmen's Bureau established new facilities for freedmen, including a mental health hospital in December 1869, at Howard's Grove Hospital, a former Confederate unit. The U.S. Federal Government and the railroad companies repaired the damaged railroads to the city. Saint John's Episcopal Church was founded in Petersburg in 1868.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In 1870 the General Assembly incorporated the Central Lunatic Asylum as an organized state institution, as part of an effort by the bi-racial Reconstruction-era legislature to increase public institutions for general welfare. The legislature also founded the state's first system of free public education.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: During the 1880s, a coalition of black Republicans and white Populists held power for several years in the state legislature. This resulted in two major public institutions in Petersburg, as the legislature invested for education and welfare. In 1882, the legislature founded Virginia State University in nearby Ettrick as Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute. It was one of the first public (fully state-supported) four-year historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in the Mid-Atlantic. This was part of a drive to improve public education that started with the Reconstruction legislature. In 1888, its first president, John Mercer Langston, was elected to the US Congress on the Republican ticket, the first African American to be elected to Congress from Virginia.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In 1882, the state legislature also authorized moving the mental asylum facility to the Mayfield Farm and developing a new campus there. This is the site of the present-day Central State Hospital, which provides a variety of mental health services.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The limitations of Petersburg's small geographic area and proximity to Richmond are structural problems that have hampered it in adapting to major economic changes in the 20th century. Other forces in the mid-20th century, such as industrial and railroad restructuring, reduced the number of jobs in the city. In addition, suburban development attracted people to newer housing outside the city.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: World wars led to major federal institutions being constructed near Petersburg, which created local jobs. Soon after World War I started, the US Army established Camp Lee just outside of Petersburg in Prince George County for training draftees. The facility was used again during World War II. In 1950 the camp was designated as Fort Lee, and additional buildings were constructed to house the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps Center and School.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: During WWII Camp Picket was established west of Petersburg near the small rural town of Blackstone, and the Defense Supply Center, Richmond opened in neighboring Chesterfield. In the postwar period, some of these installations have been reduced in size. In the 1950s, Petersburg became the southern terminus of the Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike, predating the U.S. Interstate Highway System.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Since that time, Petersburg has struggled in competition with nearby Richmond, as the capital has grown to dominate the region in a changing economy as industries restructured.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In the late 19th and early 20th century, Virginia's Democratic Party–dominated legislature approved constitutional changes that effectively disenfranchised most blacks and many poor whites. Those disfranchised suffered major losses in the ability to exercise their rights as citizens. The legislature also instituted Jim Crow laws, including imposing racial segregation.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: With many African Americans having served the nation and cause of freedom in WWII, in the postwar years they pressed for social justice, an end to segregation, and restoration of voting power.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In 1949 Petersburg businessman and politician, Remmie Arnold, the president and owner of the Arnold Pen Company, at the time one of the largest manufacturers of fountain pens, launched a campaign for Governor of Virginia. As a Petersburg city councilman, Arnold had pushed through a budgetary increase earmarked for equality and fair access for public housing and recreational facilities for everyone, including people of color, and increased budgetary considerations for the black schools in Petersburg. Unusually for a Democratic politician in the Jim Crow South, Arnold promised to "deal with all Virginians fairly", whatever their ethnicity. He was endorsed by Arthur Wergs Mitchell, the first African American to be elected to the United States Congress as a Democrat. Arnold ultimately lost the Democratic primary to John S. Battle, who won the gubernatorial election.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Even after the Great Migration of many blacks to northern jobs and cities, Petersburg was 40 percent black in 1960. Under state segregation and Jim Crow laws, those citizens were barred from free use of public spaces and facilities.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Major black churches, such as First Baptist and Gillfield Baptist, formed the moral center of the Civil Rights Movement in Petersburg, which gained strength in mid-century and was a center of action. Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, the pastor of Gillfield Baptist Church, had become friends with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the early 1950s when they were both in divinity school in New York state. In 1957 they co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), an important force for leadership of the movement in the South. Walker also founded the Petersburg Improvement Association (PIA), modeled on the Montgomery Improvement Association in Alabama. According to Walker and other close associates of King, Petersburg had played an important role, a kind of blueprint for the national civil rights movement.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Beginning in the 1950s African Americans in Petersburg struggled to desegregate public schools and facilities. In 1958 the City Council closed Wilcox Lake, a popular swimming hole in Petersburg to prevent the lake's public recreational area from being racially integrated. It never re-opened to swimming. Through sit-ins in the bus terminal in 1960, the PIA gained agreement by the president of the Bus Terminal Restaurants to desegregate lunch counters in Petersburg and several other cities.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Virginia officials strongly opposed school integration following the 1954 US Supreme Court ruling in "Brown v. Board of Education" that segregated public schools were unconstitutional. They initiated the program of Massive Resistance. For instance, rather than allow schools to be integrated, then Governor of Virginia, J. Lindsay Almond ordered the schools in several localities including Warren County, Charlottesville and Norfolk, to be closed. The school board of Prince Edward County closed the public schools for five years, starting in 1959. In Petersburg, the Bollingbook School opened in 1958 as a segregation academy for white students.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Retail and industry prospered until about the late 1980s. Petersburg was hit hard in 1985 when tobacco giant Brown & Williamson, the city's largest manufacturer, closed a cigarette factory in town. De-industrialization, restructuring of railroads, and related national structural economic changes cost many jobs in the city, as happened in numerous older industrial cities across the North and Midwest. The post-World War II national construction of highways encouraged development outside cities and suburbanization added to problems. In addition, reacting to racial integration of schools in the 1960s, many middle-class families moved to newer housing in the predominantly white suburbs. They also moved to the Richmond metro area, where the economy was expanding with jobs in new fields of financial and retail services. Some companies shifted industrial jobs to states further south, where wages were lower, or overseas.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The declining economy increased the pressure of competition and racial tensions in Petersburg. These flared from 1968 until 1980, when black members of the City Council accused the white Mayor of racism over a re-districting plan which they and the ACLU alleged was designed to allow whites to maintain white supremacy in the city. For decades, the city government was run by a small group of white businessmen and bankers. Most were wealthy enough to own homes in the exclusive Walnut Hill neighborhood and their interrelated families had been established there for generations. In 1980 one black councilwoman described the Petersburg city government as "our own little version of the Byrd Machine", comparing it to the political organization led by segregationist Democrat, Harry Flood Byrd, that controlled Virginia politics for decades. In 1968, following the April assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., Petersburg was the first city to designate his birthday as a holiday; in 1983 it would be memorialized as the federal Martin Luther King Jr. Day, becoming a true national holiday when South Carolina became the last state to sign the observance into law.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In an attempt to stem its economic decline, in 1971 the city completed steps begun in 1966 to annex 14 square miles of land from adjacent and predominantly white counties of Prince George and Dinwiddie. The annexation had been generally supported by the citizens of Petersburg, black and white alike, since the mid-1960s, as a necessary measure to allow the city of expand its tax base and its potential for growth and development. The city argued to the counties that it was better prepared to provide municipal-type services than the predominantly rural counties and that the city needed more land for expected new development. The annexation was opposed by the county governments, who lost most of their commercial tax base, as well as the residents of the annexed suburban areas.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Following the annexation, blacks realized that the annexations had added 8,000 new white residents. City council members were then elected at-large, requiring majority approval for each seat. Black civil rights organizations challenged the annexations in court, saying these were motivated to illegally dilute the voting power of blacks. A federal judge, citing provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, agreed and ordered the city to be divided into single-member districts, or wards, to enable blacks the opportunity to elect representatives of their choice.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: White flight from the annexed suburban neighborhoods began almost immediately. As residents of the city of Petersburg, their children would be required to attend the Petersburg City Schools, which had become predominantly black due to whites sending their children to private schools or moving to suburbs.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Projected industrial development of large tracts of farmland in the annexed areas failed to take place. In 1985 Petersburg again sought to annex more land from Prince George County. This time the nearby City of Hopewell, a city that already had huge amounts of taxable industry within its borders, joined the annexation suit to try to annex commercial areas of Prince George County, including Fort Lee and suburban neighborhoods near the base where many military families live. Many residents of Prince George had relocated to stay within the county after the previous annexation by Petersburg. They were strongly opposed to another attempt by the cities to annex their neighborhoods. The U.S. Department of Defense also expressed strong opposition to the proposed annexation. After five years of litigation, with attorney Richard Cranwell representing Prince George County, the Virginia courts, including the Virginia Supreme Court, unanimously ruled that the cities had not shown that annexation would benefit their cities, nor was it necessary to provide governmental services to Prince George residents.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The prolonged annexation fight contributed to decades of racially tinged hostility between the county and city governments that have had negative impact on regional cooperation. Prince George County is predominantly white while the city of Petersburg is roughly four-fifths black. These strained relationships have slowed regional progress and eroded business confidence, hampering economic development in the region to the present day.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In the late 1980s and early 1990s, numerous remaining retail merchants, including Thalhimers, JC Penney, and Sears Roebuck, left older shopping areas in Petersburg for the new Southpark Mall that opened in 1989 in adjacent, and predominantly white, Colonial Heights. A Miller & Rhoads store in Petersburg closed when the department store chain went out of business in 1990. The Ku Klux Klan had held marches in Colonial Heights. After the new shopping mall opened, blacks led by civil rights activist Curtis W. Harris and the SCLC boycotted Southpark Mall for about five years. The boycott ended after the Mayor of Colonial Heights, James McNeer, met with Harris and members of his board to discuss job opportunities for blacks in the mall area. McNeer later became President of Richard Bland College.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In the late 20th century, Petersburg worked to restore historic buildings and attract different kinds of stores and businesses to its historic center. During the 1993 Virginia tornado outbreak, Petersburg was struck by an F4 tornado that swept through the downtown area, seriously damaging a number of restored historic buildings and businesses. The same tornado also touched down in Colonial Heights destroying a Walmart store.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: As of 2007, Petersburg has continued to evolve as a small city, and its commercial activities have changed. Downtown Petersburg, known as Old Towne, has had new businesses established in the compact core: these include indie restaurants, bars and coffee shops. The long-abandoned Walnut Mall, which closed in the early 1990s, has been demolished. A new Food Lion grocery store and a Walmart opened on the South end of town. The Army has expanded activities at nearby Fort Lee, home of the United States Army's Sustainment Center of Excellence. The Army's Logistics Branch, Ordnance, Quartermaster, and the Transportation Corps moved there from Fort Eustis following the round of Base Realignment and Closure actions in 2005.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: In 2016, Petersburg faced the prospect of large-scale cuts to public services after a state audit found a $12 million budget shortfall and the prospect of insolvency by the end of the year.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: on August 22, 2022, the City of Petersburg and The Commonwealth of Virginia partners up to form "Partnership for Petersburg", which addresses to improve education, public safety, health, and transportation issues. Current governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin, with current Mayor of Petersburg, Sam Parham, local businesses, law enforcement both local and state level, education partners of local schools and surrounding university and college. Within the partnership there will be 42 initiatives, 61 organizations participating


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which of land and (1.1%) is water.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg is located on the Appomattox River at the fall line, which marks the area where the Piedmont region (continental bedrock) and the Atlantic coastal plain (unconsolidated sediments) meet. The fall line is typically prominent where a river crosses its rocky boundary, as there are rapids or waterfalls. River boats could not travel any farther inland, making the location the head of navigation. The need of a port and abundant supply of water power causes settlements to develop where a river crosses the fall line.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Located along the Eastern Seaboard, approximately halfway between New York and Georgia, Petersburg is south of Virginia's state capital, Richmond, and is at the juncture of Interstates 95 and 85. The city is one of 13 jurisdictions that comprise the Richmond-Petersburg Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA).


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis combines the city of Petersburg with the cities of Colonial Heights and Hopewell, and neighboring Dinwiddie and Prince George counties for statistical purposes. Petersburg is also a part of the Tri-Cities regional economy known as the "Appomattox Basin", which includes a portion of southeastern Chesterfield County.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg is located 21.69 miles south of Richmond, Virginia, 38.24 miles north of Emporia, Virginia, 66.83 miles northwest of Norfolk, Virginia, 91.68 miles north of Rocky Mount, North Carolina, and 118.99 miles northeast of Durham, North Carolina.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: "Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race."


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: As of the 2010 United States Census, there were 32,420 people living in the city. 79.1% were Black or African American, 16.1% White, 0.8% Asian, 0.3% Native American, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 1.8% of some other race and 1.8% of two or more races. 3.8% were Hispanic or Latino (of any race).


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 33,740 people, 13,799 households, and 8,513 families living in the city. The population density was 1,474.6 people per square mile (569.4/km). There were 15,955 housing units at an average density of 697.3 per square mile (269.2/km). The racial makeup of the city was 79.00% African American, 18.5% White, 0.20% Native American, 0.70% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.59% from other races, and 1.00% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 1.37% of the population.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: There were 13,799 households, out of which 27.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 30.1% were married couples living together, 26.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.3% were non-families. 32.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.98.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The age distribution was 25.1% under 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 27.5% from 25 to 44, 22.9% from 45 to 64, and 15.6% who were 65 or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 84.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.7 males.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The median income for a household in the city was $33,927, and the median income for a family was $40,300. Males had a median income of $30,295 versus $23,246 for females. The per capita income for the city was $18,535. About 22.4% of families and 27.5% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.1% of those under age 18 and 15.8% of those age 65 or over.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Arnold Pen Co., Seward Trunk Co., Titmus Optical, and Amsted Rail-Brenco bearings operate in Petersburg. The city has a long history as an industrial center for Virginia. It was home to many tobacco companies, including tobacco giant Brown & Williamson. The Southern Chemical Co., the original maker of Fleets Phoso-soda (used in hospitals worldwide), was a well-known brand associated with the town. In the early 1990s the retailer Walmart opened a large distribution center just west of town in neighboring Dinwiddie County. As of September 2012, the e-tailer Amazon.com also opened a fulfilment center in neighboring Dinwiddie County. This brought hundreds of new jobs to the area.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: As noted above, Petersburg is on the CSX and Norfolk Southern rail lines. These lines host Amtrak train services; the Petersburg station is located in Ettrick, Virginia. There is a bus station with Greyhound desk. A Greater Richmond Transit Company bus between Petersburg and downtown Richmond is active. Richmond International Airport, located less than 30 miles north of city, serves passengers from the city. Also close by is Chesterfield County Airport, and the Dinwiddie County Airport lies a few miles west of the city. Interstate highway I-95 forks with I-85, with the latter highway ending here; these two highways also make up the former routing of the tolled Richmond-Petersburg Turnpike that was decommissioned in 1992. The south end of I-295 lies to the south of the city. Petersburg Area Transit serves the mass transit needs of the city and the Tri-Cities.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Since the departure of the tobacco company Brown & Williamson, Petersburg has invested heavily in historic preservation of its rich range of architecture. The city's numerous 18th-, 19th- and 20th-century structures in its historic neighborhoods provide unique character of place. Groups such as Historic Petersburg Foundation and Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities have worked to restore many of the city's buildings and recognized important districts.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The Petersburg Old Town Historic District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, as are other historic districts. People appreciate the preserved historic buildings and pedestrian scale of the downtown, as well as their architectural variety. The buildings are being adapted for new uses. Many restaurants, specialty shops, and up-scale apartments and condos have been developed, with more underway. "Southern Living" magazine featured this area, as did HGTV's "What You Get For The Money".


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The area has become a vibrant arts center. It has an Arts League and a performing arts center, Sycamore Rouge, "Petersburg's Professional Theatre for the Community". Sycamore Rouge produces a five-show mainstage theatre season and a "black box" theatre season, supplemented with live music and cabaret performances. The city celebrates a "Friday of the Arts" on the second Friday of each month, in which many locations feature local artwork and live music.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Numerous historic properties and districts are associated with the downtown area. Pocahontas Island, a historically black community, is listed as a historic district on the National Register. Among the city's most architecturally refined properties is Battersea, a Palladian-style house built in 1767–1768. On the city's western edge above the Appomattox River, the house is situated on . It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A non-profit group is working with the city to develop a long-term plan for the property.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg was home to the Petersburg Goobers and numerous minor league baseball teams playing in the Virginia League between 1885 and 1951. Petersburg teams played 29 seasons in the Virginia League and the 1954 Piedmont League. Petersburg was an affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals (1923) and Cincinnati Reds (1954).


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: Petersburg was home to the Petersburg Generals of the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The Generals played at the Petersburg Sports Complex. The Generals began play in 2000 and won a league championship in their inaugural season.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The city of Petersburg has a council-manager form of city government. One member is elected to the council from each of the city's seven wards, or single-member districts. The city council then hires a city manager.


title: Petersburg, Virginia

text: The city council elects one of its members to serve as mayor and one member to serve as vice mayor, but generally those positions have the authority only of being chair and vice chair of the city council.