A front door on R Street

In April 2010 I first learned that there was more to the brick office on the southeast corner of the Mill site than meets the eye. In a conversation with Bill Beckstoffer, he explained that the Mill had not always included a portion of the land where 29th and R come together and that there was a wood and coal business there. He also mentioned this section used to have concrete scales used for this business and that horses were once stabled there. Although remnants of the scales were not apparent, it’s clear that at one time R Street was a front door to this portion of the site. The photo to the right shows the remnants of the gate on R Street.

A little research showed that the business was located at 2832 R street and operated an office out of the brick building on the corner, in what we now know as Ruth’s Beauty Shop. The business was started in 1923 by Phillip L. Farmer, whose home residence was 1201 N 28th (source 1926 City Directory), one of the last houses still standing in the Beckstoffers block. Prior to that he lived on Burton Street and was a carpenter.

By 1935 Farmer left R Street for Jennie Scher Road and Floyd Parsley moved in, running the same type of business as Farmer but called FL Parsley's.  At some point the buisness's focus changed and they sold kerosene and fuel oil, instead of coal and wood.

In 1960, after 25 years at that location, Parsley spread his wings but stayed in the neighborhood, moving to 2600 Nine Mile Road. Although the business’s ownership changed over time, its product was more or less the same, being a fuel and gas station/convenience store up to 2006 when it closed its doors for good.  That vacant gas station is still standing.

Below are Sanborn Maps from 1925 and 1950.  The map from 1950 show the scales, along with the office, coal and wood storage, a building with a gas engine and wood sawing, and a paint shop of some kind.




1950 Sanborn Map

  

1925 Sanborn Map



A peek into a 100 years of life in Church Hill

This article from VCU's Virginia Black History Archives is one I recently ran across while researching Beckstoffers.  It was part of a Church Hill Oral History project carried out in the early 1980s and there is a small portion about the Mill. 

It is remarkable for several reasons.  First, the interviewee /narrator is 102 years old and his mind appears to be sharp.  Second, the interview itself is almost 30 years old and a number of the places mentioned are still around.  Finally, about half way down they mention the Mill and the gentlemen talks about buying lumber for his house from Henry.  I have provided the Beckstoffer's portion below but the whole things is worth reading.  The I stands for Interviewer and the N means Narrator.  His name was Mr. Robert Willis Roane.

I - What about Beckstoffer, did you have any dealings with them?

N - Yeah. He's still running the business now.

I - Yeah. Did you ever have any dealing with them?
N- Oh yeah. I bought lumber from Beckstoffer to build my house.
I- What kind of man, or what kind of family were they?

N- They were friendly.

I- Very friendly.

N- Friendly people. They run a business and all the people around there bought lumber from Beckstoffer and I don't know if he run, I know the old man ain't living, but I guess ...

I - I think his son, one of his sons, or some of the sons are still living.
N - Yeah, and running the business now. The little house set right on 28th Street used to be the office at one time.

I - You say they still run the business.

N - Yeah, I think Beckstoffer still running that. I bought lumber from them many times.

I - So, as far as you're concerned, they were a pretty nice family.

N - Yeah. I don't have no trouble all they look for was their money. Whatver they sold you they expected you to pay for and I bought lumber from them many times. I first bought a couple of lots on Richmond Street and built up my own house. A five room house then. The City take that property and I moved over on 31st Street. And I got a home on 31st Street now.

A look back 30 years ago.

1981 Year in Review

Total sales were $1,142,000 with sales averaging about $95,250 per month. At this time, the Mill experienced explosive growth from prior years. From 1980 to 1981 orders grew 41% and topped the million dollar mark for the first time in the Mill’s history. Beckstoffer’s sales grew more than 200% since 1971.The best month for sales was May, followed by February. December was uncharacteristically slow.

The contractor with the most purchases in dollar value was Heinol-Evans Construction, then Taylor & Parrish (T&P). The largest order at Beckstoffers that year was for $123,570 to Heinol-Evans for the Chesterfield Mall Office Park in May 1981. T& P placed the most orders (14), followed by Conquest, Moncure & Dunn (11).

The following is a list of some of the more noteworthy orders that year with the Contractor’s name in parenthesis:

• Federal Reserve Bank (Taylor & Parrish) 
• Museum of the Confederacy (Taylor & Parrish)
• Fife and Drum (Taylor & Parrish)
• VEPCO Admin Building (Bass Construction)
• Capital Savings & Loan (Kayhoe Construction)
•  Richmond Memorial Hospital (Miller Manufacturing)
• Autumn Leather Shop & Porcelain Gallery (J.B. Violette Construction)
• Jewish Community Center (Kenbridge Building. Systems
• Providence Hall (Taylor & Parrish)
• Mt. Calvary Chapel Mausoleum (Heinol-Evans)
• E.C. Robins Residence (Taylor & Parrish)
• A.H. Robins - Office Expansion (Taylor & Parrish)
• G.C. Carver School (G.E. Peterson Construction)
• Andrews Job (Ross A. Hotchkiss, Jr.)

In terms of employees, they generally had 11-13 workers in the shop, 2 men in the yard and 2 truck drivers handling deliveries. Payroll for the shop, yard men and the truck drivers totaled $166,253.92 for the year. In addition to the employees mentioned above, there were four regular office staff. Finally, there were three other officers drawing a salary, namely William Beckstoffer, Richard Beckstoffer and George Helfert. It’s unclear who had what roles, but jobs were performed among this group to handle sales, billing, and accounting.

Looking back 40 years

1971 in Review
Total orders for 1971 were $488,573, which was an average of $40,783 per month in sales. This was the third year in a row of growth, with millwork orders increasing 11% over the prior year and more than double the sales from 1961.

December saw the most sales, which was very common at Beckstoffers. Total sales were $101,746, which was $43,000 over next highest month. The highest dollar value for an order was placed by contractor Kjellstrom & Lee in December for $59,501 of millwork for Richmond Memorial Hospital. This was located on Westwood Avenue in Richmond’s Ginter Park area.

Contractor Herman F. Blake placed the highest number of orders – 28. All of these were for newly constructed homes and the orders averaged about $2,700 per address.

Some of the notable orders that year were a US Post Office Addition in Petersburg (Hendrick Construction), Redeemer Lutheran Church (Barker Construction), two small orders for American Tobacco Company at 400 Jeff Davis Highway (Taylor & Parrish), the Multiphasic Screening Unit at Medical College of Virginia or MCV (Century Construction), The Rountowner Motor Inn in Williamsburg (Philip Richardson Company), Henrico Parrish Church-St. John's (Davis & Spiers), an order for the Virginia Orthopedic Association (Kayhoe Construction), the President's office at the University of Richmond Admin Building (Taylor & Parrish), Sunset Hills Baptist Church located at the intersection of Horsepen & Patterson (Century Construction), a Racquet Club at 6200 West Club Lane (Kayhoe Construction), Non Commission Officer’s (NCO) Building #2101 at Camp Pickett, VA (Payne Construction)and Toy Maker's Shop #8 (Philip Richardson Company).
Records were not available for the number of employees working at the Mill.

A look back at 1961

Fifty years ago total orders were $231,728 or an average of $19,310 per month. 1961 was a down year compared to sales in other years around that time. Although my records only go back to 1956, this was the lowest sales amount of the 1950’s or 1960’s and represented a 20% drop in sales from the prior year. However, this seemed to be an anomaly because the next year orders increased by 46% to total over $337,000.

As was often the case, December was the month with the highest sales volume. The largest dollar value for a Millwork job that year was placed by contractor Conquest, Moncure & Dunn in December for $30,654 for St. John Vianney Seminary. To read more about this project, click here. Kayhoe Construction placed the most orders with nine for a total of $19,088.

Some of the notable orders that year were the State Chamber of Commerce building (contractor: Russell Blank), a Day Care Recreational Building for the Memorial Foundation (contractor: Alexander Construction), the Southside Baptist Church (contractor: Bass Construction), a job for the Dillard Paper Company (contractor: Bass Construction) and the Hyman-Meyers Residence on Wilton Road (contractor: Russell Blank).

The Mill’s configuration was virtually identical to the way it was on the day it closed in 2007 and it had all of the same buildings, with a few buildings on 1208 N. 28th having been added in the mid fifties.

Herman and Bernard Beckstoffer were both the proprietors of the Mill at that time, according to the Richmond City Directory.

Looking Back

Over the next few weeks I will be posting snapshots of the business in ten year increments, starting with 1961.  Each will tell a little about the sales, the contractors who were frequent clients that year, and the interesting projects that the Mill worked on.  Stay tuned.

The mansion to end all mansions

River Run Manor (shown here) is a four story, 20,000 square foot Georgian mansion located in Goochland County, Virginia overlooking the James River. Completed in 1987 after 6 years of construction, this house is known county-wide.

It was the dream house of Edith and Bill (William Blair) Massey and still resides in the Massey family.

Sitting on a 60 acre parcel of land, this house has 40 rooms, 11 baths and 5 half-baths. Its many over-the-top features include 24-karat gold fixtures, Italian marble flooring, marble baseboards, 18 feet columns with 23- karat gold Corinthian capitals, a sauna, a steam room, and 12 inch modillion block egg and dart crown molding. The house has a separate floor consisting entirely of servants' quarters and is the equivalent of a residence in itself with a kitchen, living room, with a fireplace, library, four bedrooms and two baths. In addition, River Run Manor has a lower ballroom that can seat 150 people for dinner. Features in this 24’ x 39’ ballroom include a Waterford-style chandelier of antique Strauss crystals, handcrafted red oak spiral staircase and balcony , Louis XV carved marble fireplace and 24 feet from floor to ceiling. It was built by Taylor & Parrish (T&P), a contractor who frequently ordered millwork from Beckstoffer's.

For the Mill it represented the largest millwork job for a private residence they ever did and one of the largest 2 or 3 jobs in its history. While reviewing the 45 page order sheet, I ran across a diverse mix of materials such as heart pine, red wood, walnut, red oak and cedar. The first order for millwork was placed by T&P in October 1984 and orders came through the rest of 1984 and then sporadically in 1985 and 1986. All told, Beckstoffers produced $658,039 in millwork for the Massey house and the Massey job represented almost 30% of all sales in 1984 and just under 15% of sales in 1985.