History Thursday: 524 Charlotte Street
From an agricultural lot on the outskirts of town to a boarding house to a single family home.
By Adele Uphaus
MANAGING EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT
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The house that now stands at 524 Charlotte Street was built in 1943, but the lot has a narrative history dating one hundred years before that. Among its owners and tenants are a businessman whose “personal property” included enslaved persons; Jewish immigrants from Prussia; a Black door-to-door salesman; and a widowed female landlord.
In 1840, the lot was part of a five-acre parcel deeded to John Whittemore, the owner of Federal Hill, which now stands at 510 Hanover Street. It was in Spotsylvania County, outside the boundaries of Fredericksburg. An earlier occupant of Federal Hill, Thomas Rootes, and Daniel Grinnan, the original owner of the lots including 524 Charlotte Street, together developed this general area and called it “New Town,” according to research prepared by Meredith Beckett for the Historic Fredericksburg Foundation, Inc.
In 1857, John Alexander, a grocer with a store on William Street, bought the lots at auction. He was the highest bidder at $650. According to city land tax records, there was a garden at the corner of Charlotte and Prince Edward streets, which possibly produced some of the fruit and vegetables Alexander sold.
In October of 1863, Alexander appeared before a notary public to petition for compensation for the loss of four enslaved people, who he claimed had been “abducted, harbored, and carried off by persons acting under the authority of the United States Government, and engaged in Military Service thereof” in July and December of 1862.
The petition lists the four people as Frances, a cook and washer who was 26 years old and valued at $1,000; Betty, a “No.1 seamstress,” 23 years old and valued at $1,500; George, 4 years old and valued at $400; and Horace, 45 years old and valued at $600, with no occupation given.
Alexander swore in his affidavit that he “surely believes” that the “said Slaves” were “enticed away by the Enemy, to wit, the Federal Troops then occupying” the town. The notary public, George Chew, determined that Alexander was entitled to full credit in the amount of $3,500.
Alexander sold the 524 Charlotte Street lot in 1870 and it changed hands several times. In 1873, Simon Hirsch bought it for $500. Hirsch was the son of Kauffman Hirsch, who immigrated to Fredericksburg from Baden, Prussia (now Germany) around 1850 with his family.
Simon and his brother David started a business together in 1870. Simon Hirsch & Bro. sold farm produce, such as eggs and fruit—which they possibly harvested from the Charlotte Street lot—as well as animal hides and “scrap metal, much of it left over from the Civil War battles that took place in Fredericksburg,” according to an article titled “Stories of the Jewish Community in Fredericksburg.” The business was apparently so successful that Simon bought a gold mine in 1878. He also served as president of the Fredericksburg Volunteer Fire Department.
Simon Hirsch died in 1880 and his father and brother became executors of his estate. The 524 Charlotte Street lot was rented; the tenant from 1878-1887 was “Frazier and Co” and “Frazier’s Garden” was located on the lot, according to Beckett. The Fredericksburg City Directory of 1888-1889 lists a Daniel “Frazer,” identified as Black, as having a “home office” at the corner of Prince Edward and Charlotte streets. His trade is given as “huckster”—a person who sells “small items door to door or from a stall or small store,” Beckett writes.
Anna P. Green, who was the daughter of one of the lot’s earlier owners, James Whittemore, bought the 524 Charlotte Street lot in 1896. She and her descendants retained ownership until 1941.
In 1943, the house that now stands on the lot was built by Agnes Hinkle, a widow. She lived there and also rented out rooms for income. Among her many tenants, according to Beckett, were Paul Hook, who was superintendent of Fredericksburg City Schools; Betty Robertson, a supervisor at Mary Washington Hospital; Jimmie Wing, a physicist at Dahlgren; and Grace Kelso, a waitress at Dinty Moore’s diner.
524 Charlotte Street has been single-family occupied since 1971.
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You say Alexander received a judgment for $3500 for the loss of four enslaved people who apparently left with the Union army. Under what authority was that decision made and did Alexander ever receive payment? It seems unlikely he ever received anything.
Interesting. Across the street from 524 is a Presbyterian church for the Korean community. The pastor told me they bought the building when it was a Jewish synagogue.