John Henry Smyth--(14 July 1844-5 Sept. 1908)

Hanover County · dedicated 1999 · Rte. 301 (Hanover Courthouse Road), 0.1 mile north of Rte. 605 (River Road)

Born in Richmond, Va., to a free black mother and enslaved father, John Henry Smyth graduated from Howard University Law School in Washington, D.C., in 1872 and worked variously as a teacher, bank cashier, lawyer, and newspaper editor. He served as minister resident and consul general to Liberia, 1878-1885. His most enduring legacy, however, is the Hanover Juvenile Correctional Center, founded by him in 1897 as the Virginia Manual Labor School, among the first in the United States especially for African American youths. Smyth required his charges to labor on the school's farm to develop a strong work ethic. The center's school is named for him.

David Rumsey Map Collection, Stanford Libraries

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