Railroad transportation was still new in 1836 when the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Railroad Company completed a single track from Richmond, Virginia, to a sawmill 20 miles north in rural Hanover County. At the same time, the RF&P purchased a 482-acre tract beside the newly-laid tracks near the sawmill to use as a source of wood and fuel for their trains.
Ten years later, RF&P President Edwin Robinson thought the area would be good for a resort. It was the right distance from Richmond for a day trip and country picnics popular at the time. Robinson’s resort, Slash Cottage, grew to include cottages for guests, a hotel, a ballroom, a bowling alley and a gas house for lighting.
In 1854, the RF&P began dividing a portion of the land into residential lots. They enticed Richmonders to build permanent or vacation homes in the Village of Slash Cottage by offering the head of household a free or discounted train ticket on the Ashland Accommodation Train which ran between Ashland and Richmond. Slash Cottage changed its name to Ashland in 1855 to honor native son Henry Clay, who had built an estate in Kentucky that he had named Ashland. In 1858, the Commonwealth of Virginia incorporated the town. The same year the resort incorporated as the Ashland Hotel and Mineral Well Company.
After the Civil War, Randolph-Macon College in Boydton, Virginia, decided it needed to be closer to rail transportation to survive. It purchased the 13-acre hotel site that was for sale. The buildings already there could be used as lecture rooms and a dormitory. In October 1868, the college held its first classes on the new campus in Ashland.
After floundering along with the rest of the South following the Civil War, Ashland began to grow. The population in 1860 was 148, and by 1870, the town had more than doubled to 491. At the close of the century, Ashland was home to 1,147 folks.
Businesses began to develop around the intersection of the tracks and England and Thompson streets. In 1893, a stable behind Mrs. Sinclair’s shop in the middle of the southwest block of the business district caught fire. It quickly enveloped the entire block, but did not spread to the residential area. Slowly the shop owners rebuilt, this time in brick with iron shutters, rear doors, and iron-front façades. By 1913, the streetscape in this block looked like it does today.
With the coming of the 20th century, residential neighborhoods developed. Grand Queen Anne and Eastlake style homes, with their turrets and fancy decoration, were built in the Race Course Addition. In the 1920s, impressive Classical Revival, Colonial Revival, and Georgian Revival homes were built in other areas. Today, many of these homes remain the same.
The RF&P built a new station on the west side of the tracks in 1923. Now it serves as the town’s Visitors Center. Established in 1983, the Ashland Historic District contains about 200 residences, businesses and college buildings. Ashland’s population has grown to 7,300, including about 1,400 college students.
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