GATEWAY
Bells Road exit from the I-95 highway corridor in Virginia is named for an African American farmer who afforded toll free access from Southside Richmond to western regions of the state. ​A profitable crop of the times was tobacco, which came to significantly define trade apparatuses from the district through the Commonwealth, United States and beyond.
PHILLIP MORRIS
Philip Morris & Co., one of the nation's largest producers of cigarettes moved to the district in 1924. It proudly integrated the labor force of its manufacturing center in 1933, three decades before the Civil Rights Act became law.
DUPONT
Dupont opened in South Richmond in 1927 on the former Ampthill Estate of Archibald Cary. Once a thriving center for mercantile activities and shipping, today it hosts the largest of Dupont's chemical plants.
PORT AUTHORITY
The Deepwater Shipping Terminal (port) dedicated in October 1940 continues global transport service on Terminal Road, which dead ends to the former Hickory Hill School.
Bio-remediation
Industrial practices in the area have rendered the district environmentally challenged. Phytoremediation is a type of remediation where plants work as organisms to decontaminate the soil. Geraniums, sunflowers, cannabis varieties, and other plants perform such functions. Cannabis is noted for cleaning up metals, pesticides, solvents, explosives, crude oil, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, and toxins. Phytoremediation can help marginalized grounds that were once a source of pride for surrounding neighborhoods.