History Thursday: 213 Princess Anne Street
Building has been a staple of the lower Princess Anne Street neighborhood for 135 years.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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In July of 1891, the Fredericksburg Free Lance published an article about on-going development at the lower end of Princess Anne Street, which had been purchased “several months since” by “Messrs. A. M. Garner and John W. Rodgers.”
“On this lot there had stood for years a dilapidated stable and cow-house, and the sidewalk was impassable,” the article states. “As soon as the above named gentlemen came into possession of the property, they commenced to improve it, and now a portion of the lot has a handsome two-story on it…
The development has “greatly enhanced the value of lots in the neighborhood,” the article continued. “There is nothing lost in improving property.”
It concluded, “What became of the cow-house is a matter of indifference to the neighbors, so it is gone.”
The house described in the article still stands at 213 Princess Anne Street, according to research prepared for the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc. in 2001 by Richard Hansen. The original two-story house has a brick foundation, and both it and a one-story addition added shortly after construction had tin roofs.
The builder who was praised in the Free Lance article was Frank Brown. Brown was born in Italy in either 1836 or 1845 under a different name, which he changed when he immigrated to the United States in 1856 (according to the census of 1900). He moved to Fredericksburg after the Civil War and according to his 1908 obituary, was a “highly respected citizen” and consistent member of the Presbyterian Church.
John W. Rodgers, the first occupant of the house, was a painter. According to Free Lance articles, he was contracted in 1894 to paint Union House public school, a former residence at the corner of Caroline and Lewis Street (where the downtown library stands) that served as the city’s first public school for white students through grade 6.
In 1919, Rodgers bid $327 to paint the Free Bridge across the Rappahannock River between Fredericksburg and Stafford. (That bridge collapsed in 1937 and was replaced by the Chatham Bridge.)
Rodgers sold 213 Princess Anne to his wife’s brother L. L. Layton in 1901 for $800. Layton had been born and grew up in the lower Princess Anne Street neighborhood, according to Hansen, and had numerous jobs, including “drayman,” or wagon driver; cornet player in the Euterpean Orchestra and other local bands; and finally small business owner, operating the Parlor Confectionary and Lunchroom at 912 Caroline Street.
In a Christmas Eve, 1901 advertisement in the Free Lance, Layton invited customers to “Leave your orders at Layton’s for a box of Sheetz’s Fine Candy for your best girl.” Sheetz’s Brittles and taffy are “the best,” the advertisement claimed, selling at 15 cents per pound. The store was also selling oranges for 15 cents a dozen, “nuts of all kinds in profusion,” and “fireworks of every description.”
Layton also advertised his restaurant: “This department is first class in every respect. Our specialty for this season of the year is OYSTERS. Look at the price: Half dozen fried Oysters, 15c; one dozen fried Oysters, 25c, and coffee with them if you like.”
Layton sold 213 Princess Anne in 1905 to James Revere, the son-in-law of its original builder, Frank Brown. He also grew up in the neighborhood and was also a painter. When “Mr. Jim,” as he was known, died in 1963 at age 94, one block away from the house where he was born, he was considered “Fredericksburg’s oldest native resident” and had “painted every church in town, including St. George’s Episcopal, which he did at [age] 75, five years before he retired,” according to his obituary in the Free Lance-Star.
For four decades, Revere and then his sister, Virginia, rented 213 Princess Anne to Nannie Rodgers Johnson, who was related to the house’s original occupant, John W. Rodgers.
Johnson had also grown up in the neighborhood and she ran the neighborhood grocery store across the street, according to Hansen. When Virginia Revere died in 1972, she left the house fully to Johnson, her tenant and friend.
213 Princess Anne Street continued to be rental property through 1996, and at one point between 1985 and 1987 the tenant was Elsie Shelton, a niece of original occupant John W. Rodgers.
In 1996, the 105-year-old house was restored and enlarged.
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