Richmond has seen much of the thrilling history of our country unfold. She was a promising village when George Washington and the son of her founder, Colonel Byrd, successfully led Virginia’s two regiments with the troops of her sister colonies and the British regulars in the French and Indian war. She was hostess to that brilliant group of patriots who gathered in St. John’s Church in 1775 to discuss what methods could be taken to avert war with England, only to have Patrick Henry, grown sick of futile measures which obtained no justice for the colonists, rise to advocate the arming of the Virginia militia and utter those words which made him the embodiment of man’s immortal will to freedom: “Give me liberty or give me death.” She was the capital of the State from which Thomas Jefferson, Governor of Virginia, had to flee to prevent capture when Benedict Arnold swooped down on Richmond in 1781 and occupied the city for the British in America’s war for independence. Cornwallis visited it later in the same year. She was a thriving center of commerce in 1812 when the city was often alarmed by the news that the British were coming again, and in 1846 when her “Grays” were accepted for service in the Mexican War. She was the capital of the Confederate States of America from 1861-65, the hope of the South and the despair of the North for those four long, bloody, heart-breaking years. The best commanders, the most immense armies the Federal government could furnish, hammered, hammered at Richmond, while the South’s bravest hearts and keenest minds stood with their backs often at the very walls of the city, but would not let them pass. No city in America ever has or ever will be again so completely the goal of the whole American people. Those years and the ones that followed taught Richmond something that as a city she will never forget—that courage can rise above everything. The incredible sacrifices of Richmond people in that time knit the citizens together with bonds that even time cannot sunder. She was again prompt to the call of duty in 1898 when the country was challenged with outside danger, and once more poured forth her sons and funds in World War I; also in World War II she gave liberally of her sons and daughters and resources. Those wars through which Richmond has lived are but distressing landmarks on the long trail our country has traveled. Her contribution has been equally as great in times of peace. In fact, probably her greatest contribution has been her way of life—a way based on the belief that the best of the old must be kept and adapted to fit in with the best of the new. The city has grown steadily; has been rebuilt after three destructions by fire. Today Richmond is a commercial, industrial, financial, medical and educational center of the South, and one of the fastest growing industrial centers in the nation. Richmond’s industry has been stable and resistant to wide fluctuations in business cycle.