Robert Orrick (ca. 1827–1902)

African American community leader Robert Orrick, born enslaved, began a freight-hauling business before he became free in 1863. After the Civil War, he became one of the first African Americans awarded a contract to carry the U.S. mail (1865), and he rented a building to the Freedmen’s Bureau to serve as a school. He prospered as the owner of a major livery stable and was a landowner, farmer, and minister. Orrick donated materials to rebuild a Methodist church in nearby Stephens City, later called Orrick Chapel. The African American cemetery in Winchester, which he expanded, was also named for him. Orrick purchased this stone house in 1891, and his livery stable stood on the adjoining lot.