The Diamond Hill Neighborhood

The Diamond Hill Neighborhood. . , The Diamond Hill neighborhood was the center of the African American community in Lexington during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. One of the earliest landholders in the neighborhood was John T. L. Preston, a founder of the Virginia Military Institute., The parcel of land along Main Street was purchased during a period when Preston was amassing large land holdings throughout Virginia and Kentucky. By 1877 Preston had subdivided the land and built a series of modest frame structures believed to have been occupied by African Americans from the very beginning., By 1900, the Diamond Hill neighborhood began to take on its independent identity as homes were constructed up the hill to the east of Town Branch creek. Many African Americans in this neighborhood worked in service positions at VMI and Washington and Lee. Another significant employer was the Lexington Steam Laundry., The three traditionally African-American neighborhoods in Lexington were called Diamond Hill (Diamond, Maury, Lewis, High and North Randolph Streets); Green Hill (Tucker, Massie, Henry, Fuller Streets, part of Randolph Street and Marble Lane); and, Centreville or Mudtown (Taylor, East Preston, Moore, Davidson Streets and Varner Lane)., At the tie of the Civil War and for many decades thereafter, Lexington’s population was approximately 30% black. In 1860 the white population of Lexington was 1,438. Its black population of 696 was mostly enslaved persons but included 91 free blacks. The block of Main Street between the First Baptist Church and the Court House was home to several black entrepreneurs for much of the twentieth century. One notable business was the grocery store operated by Harry walker in the building now called the Willson-Walker House.