Seventeenth century
In 1606, James I granted a royal charter to the Virginia Company of London to settle colonists in North America. After the first permanent English settlement was established later that James, located between the 14th Street Bridge in modern downtown Richmond and the Pony Pasture. The settlement was made at this location as it is the highest navigable site along the James River.
In 1611, Sir Thomas Dale, the new Governor of the Jamestown Colony, organized an expedition and established a settlement below the falls called “Henricus.” The first hospital in North America was built here and was home to Pocahontas.
In 1622, during the Powhatan Uprising, widespread Indian attacks wiped out every English settlement except Jamestown. Two years later, King James revoked the Virginia Company of London’s charter and declared Virginia a royal colony. By 1634, Henrico County was created. An Indian treaty signed in 1646 ceded all territory below the Falls of the James to the English. Nathaniel Bacon led “Bacon’s Rebellion,” in 1676, which was a historical revolt against the Indians following Sir William Berkeley’s failure to defend the frontier against Indian attacks.
Captain Smith bought a tract of land on the east bank of the river from the Indians, about 3 miles (4.8 km) from the initial settlement. He named this tract, “Nonesuch,” and attempted to establish a small garrison, which was later abandoned due to ongoing attacks by the Indians. In 1645, Fort Charles was erected at the falls of the James – the highest navigable point of the James River – as a frontier defense. New settlers moved in, and the community grew into a bustling trading post for furs, hides, and tobacco.
In 1673, William Byrd I was granted lands on the James River that included the area around Falls that would become Richmond and already included small settlements. Byrd was a well-connected Indian trader in the area and established a fort on the site. William Byrd II inherited his father’s land in 1704, and in 1737 founded the town of Richmond at the Falls of the James and commissioned Major William Mayo to lay out the original town grid. Byrd named the city Richmond after the town of Richmond in England (a suburb of London) because the view of the James River was strikingly similar to the view of the River Thames from Richmond, England, where he had spent time during his youth. The settlement was laid out in April, 1737, and was incorporated as a town in 1742