Hopewell, VA Busy Main Street View 1915 and similar items

Antique Sepia Tone Postcard, circa 1915. A magnificent early Virginia town view. Identified as Main Street (aka Hopewell Street) in Hopewell, Virginia. This rare image depicts a very busy dirt road business district, throngs of town folk, and old storefronts. Published by Perry Ulman of Hopewell. Divided back, unused. Condition: This is an original antique postcard, not a copy or reproduction. It is in very good condition. Comments: Hopewell, part of the Eppes' plantation, was developed by DuPont Company in 1914 as Hopewell Farm, an incorporated area in Prince George County. DuPont first built a dynamite factory there, then switched to the manufacture of guncotton during World War I. Nearly burned to the ground in the Hopewell Fire of 1915, the city prospered afterward and became known as the "Wonder City" as the village of Hopewell grew from a hamlet of 400 in 1916 to a city of more than 20,000 people in a few short months.