Last updated: April 28, 2021
Place
William Washington Browne Historic Home
NPS Photo/Maggie L. Walker NHS
Quick Facts
Location:
Jackson Ward, Richmond, Virginia
Significance:
Home of William Washington Browne
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Privately owned home
The W.W. Brown home is the fourth house from the corner of Price and Jackson Streets. This Federal-styled brick home, with beige trim, is located at 105 West Jackson Street at the intersection of Chamberlayne Parkway and Jackson Street. Built in the 1840s, this is the former home of Reverend William Washington Brown. Brown was born in 1849 in Habersham County, Georgia and escaped from slavery as a boy and traveled throughout the South. He later joined the Union Army and attained an education.
He was summoned to Richmond around 1881 by members of the temperance organization, the True Reformers, and subsequently transformed the True Reformers into one of the largest African American fraternal and business enterprises in America. The 7 True Reformers made African American business history when, in March of 1888, they received a charter from the state of Virginia to open the Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers. Thus, the True Reformers bank became the first chartered by African Americans in America. The bank opened for business on April 3, 1889 in Brown’s home, here at 105 West. Jackson Street. The symbolic date of April 3 was chosen because it was the anniversary month and date of the arrival of Union troops in Richmond after the fall of the city at the end of the Civil War. It should be noted that the former Capital Savings Bank of Washington, D.C. received its charter in October of 1888 and opened shortly thereafter and prior to the opening of the True Reformers bank. However, the True Reformers bank retained the distinction of having been the first African American-owned bank chartered in America. The bank was later housed in the True Reformers Hall in the 600-block of North Second Street. The bank collapsed in 1910.
He was summoned to Richmond around 1881 by members of the temperance organization, the True Reformers, and subsequently transformed the True Reformers into one of the largest African American fraternal and business enterprises in America. The 7 True Reformers made African American business history when, in March of 1888, they received a charter from the state of Virginia to open the Savings Bank of the Grand Fountain of the United Order of True Reformers. Thus, the True Reformers bank became the first chartered by African Americans in America. The bank opened for business on April 3, 1889 in Brown’s home, here at 105 West. Jackson Street. The symbolic date of April 3 was chosen because it was the anniversary month and date of the arrival of Union troops in Richmond after the fall of the city at the end of the Civil War. It should be noted that the former Capital Savings Bank of Washington, D.C. received its charter in October of 1888 and opened shortly thereafter and prior to the opening of the True Reformers bank. However, the True Reformers bank retained the distinction of having been the first African American-owned bank chartered in America. The bank was later housed in the True Reformers Hall in the 600-block of North Second Street. The bank collapsed in 1910.