Banking and Finances.— The city has over 30 banking 'institutions, including seven national banks. There • are also State banks, savings banks, trust companies. private bankers and brokers and Joan and deposit companies. Rich mond is .a national reserve city and the seat of the Federal Reiterve Bank for the Fifth Dis trict, The combined resouroes of the banks 'ex ceed $160,000,000; they have a combined capital and surplus of $21,302,599; deposits amount to $102,095,244 and bank clearings for 1918 to $2,404,367,314. The property valuation of Rich mond is $230,299,969; public assets amount to $23,613,852. The public debt is $14,252,095. Building operations have averaged nearly $50300,000 dining a recent period of five years, and annual real estate sales amount to $20,712, 516a The tax rate is reasonable.
Government.— Richmond is governed by a mayor, council and four directors of depart ments acting under the mayor; has highly effi dent police and fire departments, the latter with partially motorized apparatus and equipment. The municipal assets include waterworks, gas plant, city hall, parks, market houses, school buildings, Public Buildings, Parks and Monuments.— Richmond is historic ground and her noted pub lic buildings are valued not only on account of their association but also for the architectural merits which they possess. Capitol square, on Shockoe Hill, has an area. of 12 acres. It takes its name •rom the State capitol, which is on the square. The capitol was built after a model procured by Thomas Jefferson when he was in France, and which was patterned after the Maison Carrie of Nufles, an ancient Roman temple, the columns being changed, however, from the Corinthian to the Ionic. The corner stone was Laid in 1785, and on 19 Oct. 1789, the eighth anniversary of the surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, the Virginia State legislature convened in the new capitol. The model for the capitol is still in the building. In the rotunda is the most valuable piece of marble in America, Houdon's statue of Wash ington, Modeled from life. The general assembly of Virginia (1903-04) appropriated $250,000 for the purpose of adding wings to the east and west sides of this building, for steps to the imposing portico at the southern end and for some interior improvements. These addi tions are in harmony with the architectural style of the original building and preserve its most characteristic features while they furnish additional room, much needed by the general assembly and the various State departments.
On the same square is the library building, which contains the parole signed by Lord Corn wallis at Yorktown, the original Virginia Bill of Rights, and the Virginia ordinance of seces sion. The executive mansion is on this square, on land which was once a part of Nathaniel Bacon's plantation. The old building known as
the Bell House has many interesting associa tions. The old bell, purchased in 1790, was for years a to the people.* Among the famous pieces of statuary on the grounds is the equestrian statue of Wash ington, by Thomas Crawford (q.v.). Of the statues at the base Crawford completed only Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, the other • pieCes, George Mason, John Marshall, Thomas Nelson and Andrew Lewis, were made by Ran' doiph Rogers; Nearby stands a fine marble statue of Henry Clay, by Joel T. Hart; also several other marble statues and a bronze statue of Jackson, by Foley. • Three fountains add to the beaux of, the squares The 'William Byrd Mirk' the: 'Meet' of the city, has an area of 300 acres. lithos two Woes, a fine boulevard and the. chief city Teeervoir. The Joseph Bryan Park -- a .gift • to the city from the family, of the late Joseph Bryan--con tains 262 acres. Monroe Porkbas many fine trees and some good pieces, of statuary. Libby Park is on Libby Hill. It is terraced from Main street to the summit, and a snonumeat is honor of the Confederate soldiers and sailors stands op the highest point. Chimborazo Hill Park has an area of 36 acres. A. government road leads from the park to the National Cemetery, where are buried 6,547 Federal soldiers who fell in the attempts to capture the city during the Civil War. Jefferson Park is between Pleasant and Marshall streets ; Gamble's Hill Park is on a of the James River and Kanawha Canal, still used as a race to a number of important water-power plants. It also overlooks' the famous •Teedegar works, where cannon were made, and the no less famous Belle Isle, the site of the Old Dominion Iron and Nail Works, Where a number of Federal prisoners were con. fined during: the war• between the States. Lee Circle, in the western part of the city, has a bronze equestrian statue of Robert E. Lee (q.v.), by ,Mercie, a French sculptor. • It rep resents the general on (Traveller," his well known war horse. In Howitzer Park is a monument in memory of the Richmond-Howit-; zer battalion. A favorite drive is the one to Hol lywood, where sleep 12,000 Confederate soldiers. A monument of granite, pyramidal in form, 90 feet high and softened by a covering of Vir ginia creeper and ivy, has been erected to the memory of the dead Confederate soldiers. Many of Virginia's famous men are buried here. Tyler and Monroe, Presidents of the United States; John R. Thompson, the poet; Matthew F. Maury, ((Pathfinder of the Seas"; John Ran dolph; Jefferson Davis, President of the Con federacy, and a number of Confederate gen erals. The most •noted parks and squares have a combined area of 358 acres; but the little squares and circles, not mentioned as noted, ornament the city and give it an appearance.