Richmond Beneficial Insurance Company and Second Street Savings Bank in the Jackson Ward District of Richmond, Virginia

HISTORIC JACKSON WARD WALKING TOUR

STOP 5: RICHMOND BENEFICIAL INSURANCE COMPANY

See the Jackson Ward Walking Tour web page for a map of tour stop locations.

Corner of Jackson and 2nd Streets

The Richmond Beneficial Insurance Company occupied the three-story building on the corner of Jackson and 2nd Streets. It was formed in 1894 by the pastor of the Fifth Street Baptist Church, Reverend Wesley Graham. Richmond Beneficial made this building its headquarters when it was built in 1912. The building also housed the Capital Shoe Company and had rooms for rent to fraternal and social organizations.

The Second Street Savings Bank occupied the smaller building to the right of the Richmond Beneficial building. The bank opened in 1920 and was the sixth bank founded by black businessmen in Richmond. When the Great Depression hit in 1929, Second Street Savings merged with Maggie Walker’s St. Luke Penny Savings Bank to form Consolidated Bank and Trust. A year later, Consolidated merged with another black-owned bank, Commercial Bank and Trust, but kept the name Consolidated Bank and Trust.

Second Street Savings Bank Building in the Jackson Ward District of Richmond, Virginia

Consolidated operated until it was taken over by Abigail Adams National Bankcorp in 2005, making it up until that time the oldest operating black-owned bank in the United States. It did, however, continue to operate under the Consolidated name. In 2011, Abigail Adams was purchased by Premier Financial Bancorp, Inc. and Consolidated was renamed Premier Bank. It did not occupy the building at Jackson and 2nd Streets at that time.

Both buildings were designed by C. T. Russell, one of the earliest licensed black architects in Virginia. Today the buildings have been turned into apartments that go by the name C. T. Russell Lofts.

Stop 4: Third Street Bethel AME Church | Stop 6: Sixth Mount Zion Baptist Church

Back to the Top