By Lucas Anderson
Kenmore Division is a small neighborhood of four square blocks north of College Terrace and to the east of Mary Washington College, between Littlepage Street and Sunken Road north of Grove Avenue, containing about forty houses. It has its origin in “Kenmore Farm,” the last remnants of the once-vast Kenmore plantation, which now corresponds to the valley between the College and Washington Avenue.[1] The property was subdivided and sold in the 1930s by Gayle Realty and Insurance Company, Inc. That company was formed in 1932 by Alexander Pratt Gayle to manage property he had purchased in Fredericksburg and in neighboring Spotsylvania and Stafford Counties.[2] Mr. Gayle was an electrician by trade, who lived in Stafford County and worked at the Newport News docks during World War II.[3]
The three largest blocks of Kenmore Division were originally laid out in 50’ lots in 1933.[4] However, after selling some lots from the company to himself,[5] he sold the land back to the company in 1935[6] and then laid out new lots. The new map from 1935 only divided up the two larger blocks, and these were divided into more spacious 60’ lots.[7] The leftover block from the 1933 map was laid out in 1938,[8] and most of that land and the land in the larger blocks was sold off in the 1930s. In 1941, Mr. Gayle closed up the company, and repurchased the remaining lots.[9] The neighborhood is comprised of mostly detached, single-family homes, with the exception of two large properties which face each other in the northeastern corner of the neighborhood. The smaller of these faces a swamp, shown on Gayle’s map as “Kenmore Lake” but on modern maps as “Gayle’s Pond.” The larger property, taking up four original lots, is the Silver Complex, a sprawling building formerly owned by Carl D. Silver.[10]
The deeds in Kenmore Division came with a number of covenants which restricted the use of the property. The first restriction was the racial covenant, stating in no uncertain terms “That none of the same shall be sold or leased to people of African descent for a period of fifty years from September 19, 1919”.[11] Given that properties in Kenmore Division were sold from 1936 to 1941, the restrictions lasted for a period of between 28 to 33 years, slightly longer than the traditional length of 21 years.[12] The deeds also had a standard density restriction, limiting construction to one house per lot. The deeds set forth requirements for house value and setback. Interestingly, the actual requirements varied depending on where in the neighborhood the house was located. The lots closest to the college had to cost $3,000 and had no setback requirements.[13] Lots on the inside closer to the college had to cost $4,500 and have a 58’ setback, while lots facing those were even costlier, at $5,500, but with a reduced 48’ setback.[14] The lots on the outside, facing the old city shop and the VEPCO canal, had a $3,500 building cost requirement and a small 38’ setback.[15] This increasing gradation of price and setbacks occurred over time, with deeds from later in the 1930s and in the early 1940s having higher price requirements and larger setbacks, reflecting increasing economic prosperity in the post-World War II era.
Table 1. Owners and Renters of Property in Kenmore Division, 1940 U.S. Census.
| Name | Occupation | Block, lot numbers |
| Gilbert Rollins | Foreman, paper mill | Block B, lot 2 |
| J. Brawner Bolling | Clerk, A.B.C. store | Block B, lot 3 |
| Jacquelin M. Karp | Clerk, post office | Block B, lot 4 |
| Francis Wigginton | Manager, meat market | Block B, lot 5 |
| Roy Seldon Cook | Teacher, college | Block B, lot 6 |
| Alex P. Gayle | Real estate and insurance co. | Block B, lot 8 |
| Gavin Gore (renter) | Insurance adjustor | Block B, lot 8 |
| Bernard J. Carver | Assistant manager, laundry | Block A, lot 19 |
| Hunter Simpson | Proprietor, lumber mill | Block A, lot 17 |
| C. Wade Legette | Instructor, U.S. Army | Block A, lot 15 |
| Charles M. Rosser (renter) | Chemical research, paper mill | Block A, lot 14 |
| Alex Klotz | Proprietor, junk yard | Block A, lots 11–12 |
[1] Deed Book 67, Page 16 (1932), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[2] “Real Estate and Business Are Sold,” The Free Lance-Star, Sept. 20, 1932.
[3] “Alex Gayle dies at 84; rites Sunday,” The Free Lance-Star, Feb. 28, 1987.
[4] Deed Book 67, Page 300 (1933), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[5] See ibid.; Deed Book 67, Page 372 (1933), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[6] Deed Book 69, Page 135 (1935), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[7] Deed Book 69, Page 136 (1935), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[8] The block in question, block C, was entirely within Spotsylvania County until 1940. Thus, the original deed and map are found among the records of the Clerk’s Office of the Circuit Court of Spotsylvania County, Virginia. When the land was sold from Gayle Realty and Investment Co., Inc., to Alexander Gayle in 1941, he re-printed the map in that deed. Deed Book 76, Page 433 (1941), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[9] Ibid.
[10] Plat Book 19, Page 59 (2018), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[11] Deed Book 70, Page 26 (1936), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[12] Richard R. W. Brooks and Carol M. Rose, Saving the Neighborhood: Racially Restrictive Covenants, Law, and Social Norms (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013), 75.
[13] Deed Book 69, Page 136 (1935), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[14] Deed Book 70, Page 265 (1936), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia; Deed Book 72, Page 430 (1938), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.
[15] Deed Book 74, Page 283 (1939), Fredericksburg City Courthouse, Fredericksburg, Virginia.