The following Incident Reports were extracted from the NPS Morning Reports/Coalition Reports from 1989-2025. They are not a complete record of all incidents which occurred in this park during this timeframe.

Wednesday, June 17, 1998
98-295 - Maggie Walker NHS (VA) - Burglary

Ranger Les Winston responded to a burglary alarm at the park's visitor center around 3:30 a.m. on June 16th. Winston found that a window on the inside of the gated visitor center compound had been broken out and that the donation box inside the visitor center had been forcibly entered. An unknown amount of cash was stolen. Richmond detectives are investigating. [Mike Johnson, CR, FRSP, 6/16]

Friday, September 17, 1999
99-543 - Southeast/Northeast Region Areas - Follow-up: Hurricane Floyd

The following updates have been received from parks affected by Hurricane Floyd (from north to south, more or less):

o Richmond NBP/Maggie Walker NHS (VA) - The two parks received about ten inches of rain and were closed yesterday. They should reopen this morning. About 50 trees fell in the various units of Richmond NBP; high water forced the closure of portions of two roads; and the basements of the Chimborazo and Glendale VC's were flooded. No injuries were reported.

[Ken Garvin and Daryl Rhodes, SERO, 9/16; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 9/16; Earle Kittleman, PAO, NCRO, 9/16; Robert Hickman, Superintendent, PRWI, 9/16; Norm Williams, CM, TIMU/FOCA, 9/16; Brian Peters, CR, CUIS, 9/16; Jim Zahradka, DR, CALO, 9/16; LES, CAHA, 9/16; Chris Revels, KIMO, 9/16; John Breen, Superintendent, FOPU, 9/16; Dispatch, DEWA, 9/17; Greg Stiles, Ken Johnson, SHEN, 9/16; Kevin FitzGerald, CR, CACO, 9/16; John Tucker, Superintendent, FOSU/CHPI, 9/16; Jose Rosario, CR, GATE, 9/16; Rosemary Williams, CANA, 9/16; Rick Nolan, CR, FOMC, 9/17; Tim Mauch, SPR, RICH, 9/17]

Wednesday, January 26, 2000
00-015 - Eastern Areas - Winter Storm Impacts

The winter storm that swung through the South, then strengthened and surprised much of the East Coast yesterday, affected offices and parks throughout the area:

o Richmond NBP/Maggie Walker NHS (VA) - The park closed for the day on Tuesday, along with most everything else in the Richmond area, including the airport, schools and businesses.

Short summaries from other parks affected by this storm would be appreciated and will appear tomorrow. [Jim Carson, CR, JELA, 1/25; CRO, LIRI, 1/25; Steve Ware, CVS, GUCO, 1/25; Dave Barna, WASO, 1/25; Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH/MAWA, 1/25; Jim Burnett, CR, COLO, 1/25]

Wednesday, February 2, 2000
00-022 - Southern and Eastern Areas - Winter Storm II, the Sequel

Several reports have been received on the impacts of the second major ice storm/snow storm to strike the South and East over the past two weeks:

o Richmond NBP/Maggie Walker NHS (VA) - The park closed on Sunday and opened late on Monday due to the ice storm that hit the area. As many as 200,000 residences in the area lost power; half had not yet regained it by Monday morning. All park facilities have power except for the maintenance office. Only minor damage and flooding were reported.

[Dwight Dixon, CR, LIRI, 1/31; Reed Johnson, Superintendent, APCO, 2/1; Mike Hill, Superintendent, PETE, 1/31; Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH, 1/31]

Friday, April 26, 2002
02-129 - Maggie L. Walker NHS (VA) - Burglary

During the early morning hours of April 23rd, employees of park contractor Prestige Construction Company found that two windows had been damaged in a park building and that someone had scaled the locked alley gate and entered an adjacent window by breaking out the plywood covering. The burglar then exited the building by cutting the plastic covering of another window and crawling out into the same alleyway. A search of the building revealed that about $300 worth of hand tools were missing from the second floor. A joint investigation is being conducted by rangers and Richmond police. The building is one of four vacant structures undergoing renovation work that will include the installation of both intrusion and fire alarm systems. [Timothy Mauch, SPR, RICH/MAWA, 4/23]

Tuesday, September 23, 2003
East Coast Areas
Hurricane Isabel Cleanup Moves Into High Gear

Damage assessments and the organization of repair and rehabilitation operations are underway at parks throughout the Mid-Atlantic states. Assisting with and supporting these efforts are JD Swed's Type 1 team (currently relocating from Charlotte to Williamsburg), Rick Brown's Type 2 team, and Clay Jordan's Type 3 team at Shenandoah. Here's a rundown on the current status of affected parks (south to north):

Richmond NB/Maggie Walker NHS

Richmond NB is still without power, and has only one working phone - which rings in the maintenance shop. The park has hundreds of trees down in main areas and along the battlefield road. One of them is leaning against a neighbor's house. Power is back on at Maggie Walker NHS. The Type 1 team will be sending up a team to make a full assessment.

Additional reports will appear daily during recovery operations, which will likely go on for some time. Current information and essential documents from the incident management teams will be available at the IMT web page: http://www.nps.gov/fire/allrisk/. Please check if for additional details.

Reports compiled from submissions by Kris Fister, IO, Type 1 IMT; Ken Garvin, SERO; Don Boucher, NCRO; Bob Martin and Doug Wallner, NERO; Mary Doll, PIO, Outer Banks Group; Wouter Ketel, IC/Chief Ranger, and Donna Tipton, PIO, CALO; Laura Joss, Superintendent, FOMC; Vidal Martinez, Superintendent, GEWA/THST; Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent, RICH/MAWA; Bob Kirby, Superintendent, PETE; Laurie Coughlan, Superintendent, HAMP; Clay Jordan, IC, Type 3 IMT, SHEN; Tom Nash, Chief Ranger, COLO; Bill Sanders, Superintendent, HOFU; Mike Hill, Superintendent, ASIS.

Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Richmond National Battlefield Park (VA)
Floods From Gaston Sweep Through City and Park

On the afternoon and evening of Monday, August 30th, nearly a foot of rain fell on the city of Richmond and surrounding area, causing massive flooding throughout the area. Parts of the park are in the city itself, other units are well out to the north and east, as is shown on the park map found at http://www.nps.gov/rich/ ri_auto2.htm. As of yesterday afternoon, here's how they stood:

Maggie Walker NHS, administered by Richmond NBP, is also without power and suffering from roof leaks.
Although all employees are accounted for and okay, education specialist Pat Ferrell had a harrowing experience. She was headed home from Tredegar VC when waters began to rise in that area of the city, which is low and near the James River. Police directed her up Main Street, but the water soon rose around her car. As she was explaining the situation to her husband on her cell phone, water began entering the car. She opened the car door just wide enough to get out and climbed onto a nearby train trestle. People on the balcony of an Amtrak station across the street saw her there and motioned for her to climb higher. When she did so, she saw that water was everywhere and was not receding. She clung to the trestle for over three hours, expecting that either the flood water would dissipate or that someone would rescue her. Neither occurred, and no one was to be seen (the people in the Amtrak station had been rescued). By this time it was 9 p.m. Ferrell could see that the water had gone down, so she jumped in, uniform and all, and swam across Main Street, bumping into cars that were underwater beneath her as she did so. She reached the Amtrak station and climbed to the second floor. Although nobody was there, she was able to use a pay phone to reach her husband and to dry off with some paper towels from a bathroom. Around 1 a.m., she saw fire trucks and cars nearby and waded through the water to them. When she emerged, nobody said anything to her, and it was only later that she realized it was because she was in uniform and people thought she was part of the emergency response. In any case, she got home okay and reports that she now has some good stories to teach in her first aid and CPR classes.
[Submitted by Cindy MacLeod, Superintendent]

Thursday, June 29, 2006
Northeast Region
Rains Cause Flooding and Closures

The heavy rains that caused the severe flooding at Delaware Water Gap NRA also had varying impacts on other parks in Northeast Region:

Richmond NBP/Maggie Walker NHS - About five inches of rain fell on the two parks over a three-day period. The Fort Darling unit was closed over the weekend due to tree damage, but was cleared and reopened on Monday morning. There was some minor flooding of Battlefield Park Road in the Fort Johnson unit. Water there has since receded.

[Loren Goering, Chief of Interpretation, and Al Henry, Chief Ranger, UPDE; Tim Mauch, Chief Ranger, RICH/MAWA; Lew Rogers, Chief Ranger, VAFO]

Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Maggie L. Walker NHS
Site Temporarily Closed Due Collapse Of Nearby Hotel

The park was closed on Saturday, April 11th, due to the partial collapse of the nearby unoccupied Eggleston Hotel. The hotel was undergoing a lengthy renovation and stabilization process when it unexpectedly collapsed for undetermined reasons on Saturday morning. The hotel was located diagonally across the intersection of Second and Leigh Streets in the historic district of Jackson Ward in downtown Richmond. The Eggleston Hotel was significant to the area because it was one of the few hotels where notable black entertainers could stay during the height of racial segregation. The sudden collapse of the hotel occurred at approximately 5:30 a.m. The intersection was closed by Richmond city emergency response personnel. They were joined by state and county emergency responders, who were brought in to check for possible trapped victims. None were found. Additional support was provided by an American Red Cross disaster response unit. City building inspectors subsequently determined that the building would have to be completely razed due to the threat of a possible further collapse of its facade. Dominion Power was notified and power was cut to the surrounding area due to power lines running near the partially collapsed hotel. An emergency demolition of the hotel began in the afternoon and by nightfall, the site was completely razed. National Park Service protection rangers were on-scene at the adjacent park property throughout the day to ensure public safety and building security. Park buildings were utilized and made available to firefighters and emergency response personnel during the incident. The park reopened on Monday, April 13th. [Leslie Winston, Protection Ranger]