Site
37° 31.88′ N, 77° 25.248′ W. Marker is in Richmond, Virginia, in Church Hill.
Marker is on East Grace Street near North 24th Street, on the right when traveling east.
History
1861 - 1865
Richmond mayor Dr. John Adams built a mansion here in 1802. It became the residence of Elizabeth Van Lew (1818-1900) whose father obtained it in 1836. During the Civil War, Elizabeth Van Lew led a Union espionage operation. African Americans, such as Van Lew's associate Mary Jane Richards served in Richmond's Unionist underground.
Van Lew served as postmaster of Richmond from 1869 to 1877. Maggie Lena Walker, nationally known African American businesswoman, banker, and leader of the Independent Order of St. Luke, was born here by 1867. The house was razed in 1911 and in 1912 the Bellevue School was erected in its place.
Elizabeth Van Lew
An opponent of slavery, she helped the Union by running a successful spy ring in Richmond and in later years championed women's suffrage.
Marker is on East Grace Street just west of North 24th Street, on the right when traveling east
Mary Richards Bowser
Freed slave of the Van Lew family and indispensable partner to Elizabeth Van Lew in her pro-Union espionage work, she worked at the Confederate White House gathering and passing on military intelligence to the Union through Van Lew to General Grant.
Marker is on East Grace Street just west of North 24th Street, on the right when traveling east.
