Manchester Historic Districts
Commercial/Industrial District Boundaries: Commerce Road & Everett Street to the James River
Residential District Boundaries: Cowardin Avenue to 9th Street and Perry Street to Hull Street

Manchester was originally known as Rocky Ridge, a settlement built around the old home of William ByrdI. In 1769 the town was given a charter and renamed Manchester. Warehouses and factories and flour, cotton and paper mills once lined the banks of the James River. Before they merged in 1910, Manchester and Richmond were rivals in some ways. Manchester boasted a better water supply due to the Manchester Water Works while Richmonders had to contend with water that sometimes "resembled boarding-house coffee." The Richmond and Manchester Railway Company's electric line helped bring people back and forth across the James. Established in 1890, the line stretched a distance of fourteen miles and helped develop the suburbs of Richmond and Manchester.

Forest Hill Park
District Boundaries: Reedy Street to New Kent Street & 48th Street to 42nd Street

The Forest Hill Park trolley line brought people to this popular recreation site. Located here was an amusement park replete with ice skating in the winter and boating in the summer. The land once belonged to Holden Rhodes whi built the "Old Stone House" still standing in the park today. In 1890 the land was subdivided and another trolley suburb was born. The park closed after the depression. It is now a public park.