40 years of history @ your library

Reeling you in with 40 years of history @ your library

Celebrating our 40th Year

Richard Bland College is celebrating 40 years of providing learning opportunities to first and second year college students. As the campus prepares for various activities, the library is busy doing its part to help in this celebration. Reeling you in with 40 years of history @ your library™ is our theme for this event and will be supported by our monthly themes, a quilt designed and produced by library staff for presentation to the college, a 12 month calendar, and culminating with reeling you in with guest authors @ your library™ in April as we celebrate National Library Week.

Description of the College

     Richard Bland College is a two-year, publicly-supported, non-residential branch of The College of William and Mary in Virginia. The college is located in Southside Virginia one mile south of the city limits of Petersburg. The primary mission of the college is the offering of transfer associate degrees in the liberal arts and sciences. The college offers the Associate in Science Degree and the Associate in Arts Degree. Most of the approximately 1,000 students are of traditional college age. The principal commuting areas include the cities of Petersburg, Colonial Heights, and Hopewell as well as a number of the surrounding counties, including Chesterfield, Prince George, and Dinwiddie. In addition, the college offers courses leading to the Associate in Science in Business Degree at the Defense Supply Center Richmond, about twenty-two miles north of Petersburg. About 100-150 students enroll in courses there each semester.
     The college property consists of one contiguous area of more than 700 acres situated in both Prince George and Dinwiddie counties. The portion of the property used as the college campus has expansive and well-landscaped grounds. The rest of the property consists of woodlands and wetlands.
     Richard Bland College has ties to two salient events in the history of the United States; first, through its namesake, Richard Bland, and the move toward independence from British rule; and second, through the events that occurred on the college property during the Petersburg Campaign of the Civil War.

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Namesake of the College

     Richard Bland College derives its name from that of Richard Bland, Virginia statesman and champion of public rights. Richard Bland was born on May 6, 1710, a descendant of successful colonial planters and heir to the land at Jordan’s Point in Prince George County, Virginia. He was educated at The College of William and Mary and eventually became a visitor (i.e., trustee) of the College. He was commissioned in the Prince George County militia, gaining the rank of colonel; and he read law, gaining admission to the Virginia Bar. From 1742 until his death in 1776, with a brief resignation in 1775 because of ill health, he represented the area in which Richard Bland College is now located - first in the House of Burgesses, and then later in the new House of Delegates. He became one of the most distinguished and active members of the House of Burgesses, having, in particular, become chairman of every major committee. He collected and studied the basic documents of the colony and became the best authority of his time on Virginia history. According to historian Clinton Rossiter, "He was the most articulate political thinker of his time - the very finest model of a colonial legislator."
     Although he owned several dozen slaves at his Jordan’s Point plantation, Richard Bland had more enlightened views on slavery than others of his time. When he moved for moderate extensions of the law to be applied to slaves, Bland, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, became "denounced as an enemy of his country and was treated with the grossest indecorum."
     Richard Bland was an early leader in the struggle for colonial rights; and with his active pen he constructed a framework of protests against British interference. He found himself at the storm center of Virginia politics with the publication of his An Inquiry into the Rights of the British Colonies (1766). It is the earliest published defense of the colonial attitude in regard to taxation. His theories were advanced by influential colonial leaders and became accepted throughout the colonies. He served as a member of the Committee of Correspondence in 1773 and was a delegate in Virginia in both the First and Second Continental Congresses. Unfortunately most of his letters, writings, and records have been destroyed - not surviving the invasion of Virginia by the British under Lord Cornwallis in 1781, the Library of Congress fire in 1851, and the Union campaigns of the Civil War.
     Richard Bland continued as a staunch advocate of colonial home rule even when the idea of insurrection began to gain credence in the colonies. His was a moderate voice trying to coerce the British into recognizing Virginia as a self-governing society within the Empire. As the struggle for independence grew more intense, Richard Bland’s advancing age and ill health forced him to step aside and let others take up the challenge. More radical men took the lead and the movement grew into a revolution. By the spring of 1776, the point was reached where one had to decide between accepting British rule or declaring independence. On May 15, 1776, Richard Bland made his decision. He voted to instruct the delegates from Virginia that the Continental Congress declare "the Untied Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all allegiance to, or dependence upon, the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain."
     Carved on a statue at the entrance to The College of William and Mary in Williamsburg are these words composed by Richard Bland at the request of the Virginia Assembly:

LET WISDOM AND JUSTICE PRESIDE IN ANY COUNTRY THE PEOPLE
THE PEOPLE WILL REJOICE AND MUST BE HAPPY

After returning to Williamsburg, then the state capital, as a legislative representative of Prince George County in the newly created state of Virginia, Richard Bland collapsed on Duke of Gloucester Street on October 26, 1776, and died later that day. He was buried at his home, Jordan’s Point, along the James River in Prince George County.
It is said by his biographer, Richard Detweiler, "Richard Bland deserves a place in our memory beside such men as Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, George Mason, and James Madison. He distinguished himself in the struggle to preserve liberty in Virginia just as assuredly as the more famous leaders of the Revolutionary era, only he engaged in the struggle a generation before them."

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Petersburg Campaign of 1864-1865

     Before the Civil War the Richard Bland College property was a farm owned by the Gurley family. It became an important part of the Union-occupied territory during the 1864-1865 campaign for Petersburg. The present campus was the scene of one engagement and one battle during that campaign.
     After arriving on the outskirts of Petersburg with the Union Army, General Ulysses S. Grant failed in his initial attempts to take the city. His chief objective then became the capture and destruction of the railroads that supplied Petersburg and Richmond from the south and west. On June 22-23, 1864, within a week of arriving at Petersburg, Grant sent his troops towards the Petersburg Railroad, also called the Weldon Railroad, which ran along the present day western boundary of the college. This railroad was one of the oldest in America. The skirmishing for the railroad, known as The Engagement at the Gurley Farm, resulted in the Union troops being pushed back across what is now the main part of the campus. The engagement was part of a larger battle, sometimes known as the Battle of Jerusalem Plank Road.
     Again on August 18, 1864, under Grant's orders, General Gouverneur K. Warren moved the Fifth Corps to attempt the capture of the Weldon Railroad. His force reached the railroad near the Globe Tavern. The Globe Tavern was an old tavern situated on the western end of the present college property. General Robert E. Lee was not prepared to give up the Weldon Railroad without a fight. Warren headed north towards Petersburg but his troops were driven back by a Division of General A. P. Hill's Corps. On the 19th and 20th of August, Warren was able to get his troops entrenched north and west of his headquarters at the Globe Tavern. On August 21, the Confederates repeatedly attacked, but were unable to dislodge the Union forces from their control of the railroad. A field hospital for the Union troops was set up near the Gurley House in the present day pecan grove. By the end of the day on August 21, Lee realized that the upper portion of the Weldon Railroad could not be regained from Union control. The Union Army had sent over 20,000 troops into the battle with losses of about 4,300 men, including over 3,000 prisoners; the south had committed around 14,000 with losses of about 2,300 men, including around 800 prisoners. T his battle, known as The Battle of the Weldon Railroad is significant in that it became a major component of the encirclement of the city of Petersburg by the Union Army. This battleground is the most important item of historical interest on the RBC campus. The Civil War Sites Advisory Commission 1993 Report on the Nation's Civil War Battlefields declared this battleground to be one of national significance.
     After gaining control of the railroad, the Union Army continued building its series of trenches and forts to encircle Petersburg. Once the Union Army captured the campus property, it never relinquished it. Two large forts were built nearby - Fort Wadsworth, one-half mile northwest of the campus, and Fort Dushane, one-half mile southwest. A series of entrenchments and an earthen fort, Fort Davison, were constructed across the center of campus property facing southward to guard against Confederate cavalry attacks.
     From September 1st through the 9th, the Union Army continued construction of the City Point and Army Line Railroad westward for the transportation of troops and supplies. The eastern terminus was at their base on the James River at City Point (now Hopewell). This railroad was constructed directly across campus property. It crossed the Gurley Run ravine, between the present day Petersburg Country Club golf course and the campus pecan grove, on a 750 ft. long trestle. The tracks crossed the campus from the east near the present President's residence, running north of Statesman Hall to the western part where it was connected to the captured Weldon Railroad. Some of the railroad bed still exists today in the woods near Statesman Hall. Near the Globe Tavern, the intersection known as Warren Station, contained several tracks to park and turn the various train cars and locomotives. A little known fact is that in March of 1865 President Abraham Lincoln traveled across the RBC campus property on this railroad to view the Petersburg fortifications west of Globe Tavern. He was accompanied on this journey by his wife, Mary; his young son, Tad; along with General Grant and his wife, Julia.
     The entire campus property was denuded of timber for use in the fortifications, shelters, and firewood supplies that were necessary for the men encamped there over the winter of 1864-1865. Both the Gurley House and the Globe Tavern were used as military headquarters. The Globe Tavern was torn down several months after the August battle due to its shell-damaged condition - most of the windows, doors, and roof were gone. The Gurley House outlasted the siege, but has completely disappeared.
     One of today's main roads to the campus, Flank Road, was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930's to view the remains of the earthen trenches and forts constructed by the Union Army. Many of these can still be seen.  The present Student Center has one entire wall given to a large impressive topographical map of the Petersburg area during the famous siege.* The map was originally made by the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1938 for an interpretive center at the Petersburg national Battlefield Park, then it found its way to the basement of the private museum at Center Hill Mansion in downtown Petersburg. It was rescued and brought to the college in 1978 after the museum changed ownership. The Student Center also houses numerous display cases containing Civil War artifacts, most of which were found on the college campus.

*In 2000 the topographical map was moved to the Pamplin Historical Park in nearby Dinwiddie County, where it can be viewed by visitors from all over the world.

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Petersburg Training School and Hospital and the Petersburg State Colony

     Shortly after the turn of the century the Hatcher Seward family established a dairy and cattle farm on the RBC property and two farm houses were constructed. Today they serve as the President's Residence and the residence of the Dean of Administration and Finance. In the early part of this century the still beautiful grove of pecan trees was planted. Another use was made of the property when the farm was used as a work camp for about twenty conscientious objectors during world War I.
     The Commonwealth of Virginia authorized Central State Hospital to purchase the land in 1932 for use as the Petersburg Training School and Hospital. The facility was intended to house mentally retarded African-American males. The U-shaped building, now containing classrooms and faculty offices, was constructed in 1932 and contained classrooms, offices, areas for patient sleeping and a dayroom - all on the first floor. The basement contained the kitchen and dining areas. The facility housed 230 patients. In 1938, the Virginia General Assembly established the Petersburg State Colony to care for the African-American mentally retarded citizens of the state. Admission was limited to those deemed trainable who were between the ages of eight and twenty-one. The building now containing the college administration was added in 1940 to house female patients. It contained seventy beds.
     Programs at the facility consisted of academic classes through the sixth grade, vocational training, and social recreation. This was the beginning of the first programs for training the African-American mentally retarded in Virginia. The success of the program showed the need for a much larger facility and the Petersburg State Colony was moved in 1959. The land, still owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia, was available for another state agency. It became a primary site when the establishment of a new junior college in the Petersburg area was being considered.
     For many years, the history of the land that is now the Richard Bland College campus was, for African-Americans, one that reflected many hardships. Prior to the Civil War, they lived in slavery on the Gurley farm, then were most likely refugees after the Union occupation. In later decades, they were treated in the training facility. Those confined here endured the institutionalization and segregation which characterized society’s attitudes at that time toward mental deficiency and race. Until the buildings were restored in 1994, basement security cells were clearly visible - a reminder that sadness was endured here.
     How fitting it is, therefore, that this place of so little promise for African-Americans has become a place of equal opportunity and upward mobility. The Richard Bland College student body is today approximately one-fifth African-American. Their work is now one of scholarship and educational growth. The liberating dynamics of education have replaced the hopeless toil of slavery and the marginal training for menial work. Indeed, the Richard Bland College campus is now a locus of academic hope and shared achievement for students of every race and every ethnic heritage.

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Establishment of Richard Bland College

     When the college was created by an act of the General Assembly of Virginia in 1960, the former hospital facilities were converted to educational use. The former male dormitory became the main academic building that also housed the library and admissions offices. The building was partitioned into classrooms with a door cut so each classroom could open onto a portico running the length of the building. The addition of the portico with white columns, railings, and benches, gave the building a whole new look. The female dormitory became the science center. An old laundry building was made into another classroom building, and the last dairy barn was renovated into a gymnasium.
     In the late sixties, space was cleared on the Dinwiddie side of campus and an academic building (Ernst Hall, named for a local business leader influential in the establishment of the college), library and student center, and gymnasium were constructed. The barn was little used until a renovation in the late 1970’s developed a performing arts center there and a theatre program was established. The performing arts center is now known as the Barn Theatre. In 1991, the gymnasium was used Statesman Hall in honor of the namesake of the college, Richard Bland.
     In the early 1990s, a renovation was undertaken on the old science center which changed it into a handsome building containing administrative offices. The old science center was recently named Maze Hall in honor of the college’s second president, Dr. Clarence Maze, who served for twenty-one years. The U-shaped academic building, known as Commerce Hall, was also renovated with updated classrooms and faculty offices. Commerce Hall, now referred to as the Humanities and Social Sciences Building, contains the faculty offices and classrooms used by the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences. The old laundry building is now the Crater Criminal Justice Academy and is a training base for exercises by southside police officers. The most recent construction on campus has been a maintenance facility erected in 1994.
     Classes began on the Richard Bland College campus in 1961. The college opened its doors to 175 students, taught by nine professors. Today the college has over 1,200 students and thirty-four full-time faculty members.
     When the college was founded, it was intended that a series of junior colleges would be established in the commonwealth that would eventually mature into four-year schools. Indeed, all the other junior colleges in the commonwealth have done so. In the late 1960’s, Richard Bland College prepared to become a four-year institution after having been authorized to do so by the General Assembly of Virginia. However, Richard Bland College had been established during an era of segregation and a public four-year black college, Virginia State University, already existed about five miles away. In 1971, this change in status was prohibited by the federal courts on the grounds that it would adversely affect the rate of racial integration at both Richard Bland College and Virginia State University. The court order still stands today. Since then, the commonwealth has also established a branch of the community college system, John Tyler Community College, within the principal service area of Richard Bland College. Virginia State University and John Tyler Community College today are the primary competitors with Richard Bland College for area students.
     Richard Bland College and the School of Nursing at the Southside Regional Medical Center established a cooperative program in nursing in 1962. That program has continued to the present. In 1975, the college began offering courses at two United States military installations; Fort Lee, about four miles east of the college, and the Defense General Supply Center (now Defense Supply Center Richmond). The courses at Fort Lee have been discontinued, but the college continues to offer classes at the DSCR.
     The various disciplines on campus are now consolidated into two divisions, the Division of Humanities and Social Sciences (H&SS) and the Division of Science and Quantitative Methods (S&QM). RBC has been required to submit periodic assessment reports to the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). In 1991, a Director of Assessment was appointed from the faculty. Some release time from teaching was given to the director for assessment duties which included chairing the Faculty Assessment Committee. SCHEV has recently required a restructuring report from all institutions of public higher education in the Commonwealth and on October 1, 1995, Richard Bland College submitted the Richard Bland College Restructuring Report outlining thirty-four initiatives the college hopes to take in years ahead.
     In 1996, Dr. Clarence Maze, Jr., president since 1975, retired. Provost James B. McNeer was chosen to succeed Dr. Maze. The college now enters a new phase with President McNeer. He begins his tenure with a commitment to the self-study, restructuring, and the advancement of Richard Bland College.