We spent the better part of the afternoon today glued to this, the Library of Congress’ searchable database of newspapers.

The Richmond Times, Richmond Dispatch and Times-Dispatch (they merged) are represented. In a 1902 issue of the Dispatch, we found a boosterish account of a day spent at Reservoir Park, later to be named Idlewood Amusement Park and written about in the Times-Dispatch in 1907 (see previous post) but nothing about the development of our neighborhood, which would seem to have been news.

It’s all but impossible to link to specific stories, but click here to see what a search for “Byrd Park” in the Times-Dispatch brings up.  And, you take a spin and see what you can find.