Fry's Spring neighborhood

From Cvillepedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Fry's Spring
FrysSpring.jpg

Charlottesville
County Area Residential Area
District City of Charlottesville
Size 488.64 acres [1]

Schools*
Elementary Jackson Via
Middle Buford and Walker
High School Charlottesville HS

Other Attributes
Water Public
Sewer Public
Bus Route Yes
Gated No

Neighborhood Features
Southern Rail Road, Fifth Street Extended and Moore’s Creek bound the neighborhood [1]

Neighborhood Recreation
Fry's Spring Beach Club

Natural Amenities
Azalea Park

HOA Fry's Spring Neighborhood Association
Contact fsna@avenue.org
Website FSNA

*Confirm attendance boundaries for individual homes with school divisions

Fry's Spring is one of 18 official neighborhoods of Charlottesville defined by the city's Department of Neighborhood Development Services for neighborhood services coordination. Located in the southwest corner of Charlottesville, the Fry's Spring neighborhood was named for its two resident natural springs and its original owner James Francis Fry (1799–1880), grandson of Joshua Fry (one of the two men who patented Albemarle County in the mid-18th century).

Area description

The neighborhood is a mix of single-family residential and student housing. It is known for its unique architecture.[2] Landmarks include the Fry's Spring Beach Club, Azalea Park, a bridge carrying Jefferson Park Avenue Extended over the railroad tracks, as well as the service station in the northeast corner of the intersection of JPA/Fontaine Avenue/Maury Avenue.

Zoning

Some members of the Fry's Spring Neighborhood Association feel their community is under attack from growth in Albemarle County and consider that the City's rezoning in 2003 created a demand for in-fill development.

History

Parts of the neighborhood are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. [3] The median on Jefferson Park Avenue (JPA) Extended is the remains of a former alignment for an electric streetcar that linked Downtown Charlottesvillea to the Fry's Spring Beach Club. [4]

The neighborhood takes its name from two sources: James Francis Fry and two still flowing springs.

Fry built a sprawling plantation estate, Azalea Hall, in the area in the early- to mid-19th century. Azalea Hall featured a large mansion, fruit orchards, vegetable gardens, tobacco fields and two cemeteries: one for Fry family members and another for the people the family enslaved.

By the 1890s, the two mineral springs near the estate had become a tourist attraction. The water reportedly had healing properties so people from Central Virginia traveled to the springs to drink from them.

City annexation

In 1963 Charlottesville city annexed most of the neighborhood from Albemarle County.

Notable events

  • November 11, 1955 – A Southern Railway conductor was fined $10 for blocking the railway crossing at Shamrock Road. At the hearing, the trainmaster for Southern Railway said the company had offered to build a bridge across the railway but City Council had declined and asked for signal lights instead. Residents at the time had not wanted the bridge. [5]
  • November 13, 1961Charlottesville Planning Commission meets on a rare Monday night in order to make quorum. They consider a request from R.E. Lee and Son to allow building and masonry contractors in B-2 business zones. They wanted to build a garage and tool room at its offices at the corner of Preston Avenue and Tenth Street. They also took up a request to add 66 lots to the Azalea Gardens neighborhood south of Harris Road. [6]

Geography

Fry’s Spring is a mostly residential neighborhood in the southwest corner of the city. Its borders touch the Jefferson Park Avenue, Fifeville and Ridge Street neighborhoods, as well as Albemarle County. Parts of the neighborhood are very close to the University of Virginia campus.[7]

Education

Transportation

Demographics

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 "Featured Neigborhood: Fry's Spring" In Our Backyard (Feb. 2007). City of Charlottesville. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  2. Web. A look at some the area's interesting, unusual homes, Daily Progress, Lee Enterprises, October 10, 2010, retrieved October 11, 2010.
  3. Web. Current Announcements, Board of Architectural Review, City of Charlottesville, retrieved December 7, 2014.
  4. Web. [https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/AB-194_FrysSpringNeighborhood_2010_KALBIAN_InformationBook.pdf Fry’s Spring Neighborhood Historic Survey], Maral S. Kalbian, Preliminary Information Form, July 2010, retrieved February 1, 2020.
  5. Print: Trainman Fined for Blocking R.R. Crossing at Shamrock Road, https://search.lib.virginia.edu/sources/uva_library/items/uva-lib:2697891, Daily Progress, Lindsay family November 11, 1955, Page 3.
  6. Web. Planning Body Will Take Up Zoning Change, Daily Progress Digitized Microfilm, Lindsay family, November 11, 1961, retrieved November 11, 2022. Print. November 11, 1961 page 9.
  7. Web. Fry’s Spring is a mostly residential neighborhood that once had an electric streetcar and an amusement park, Cvilletomorrow.com, MARCH 23, 2023, retrieved January 15, 2024.

External links

Fry's Spring Neighborhood Association website

Surrounding neighborhoods