Short Pump, Virginia

Short Pump began as a local tavern stop situated at a strategic crossroads in the early nineteenth century. Purchased around 1814 by Col. Saunders, the tavern profited from the local coal industry, westward movement in the state, and the extension of roads in the period after the Revolutionary War. Along with the food, drink, and lodgings that taverns typically provided for visitors, this tavern served as a post-office, voting precinct, and local market during its roughly 35 years in business. It also briefly housed a school for young white men and a resident doctor. While a gathering spot for white locals and travelers, the tavern relied on enslaved labor and hosted occasional slave auctions.[4]

The tavern eventually declined in the latter half of the nineteenth century, but the name stuck to the area. By the early twentieth century, the tavern was all but gone, and other buildings and businesses rose up to take its place. As automobiles replaced horses as the primary means of transportation, filling stations and garages popped up in the area. At the same time, those living in Short Pump increasingly saw themselves as a suburb of Richmond and worked to better their community through the building of new structures—like the Short Pump High School.[4]

By the 1990s and 2000s, Short Pump transformed from a rural crossroads to an edge-city, a concentration of development on the outskirts of traditional urban areas. The Short Pump Town Center, a mega-mall, proved key to this transformation.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 9.1 square miles (23.5 km²), of which 9.0 square miles (23.2 km²) is land and 0.12 square miles (0.3 km²), or 1.33%, is water.[7] Short Pump is bordered to the west by Goochland County, to the north by the Wyndham CDP, to the east by the Innsbrook CDP, and to the south by non-CDP land and by Tuckahoe.[7]

At the 2010 census,[1] there were 24,729 people, 9,217 households and 6,483 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 76.7 per square mile (29.6/km²). There were 77 housing units at an average density of 32.5/sq mi (12.5/km²). The racial makeup of the CDP was 75.0% White, 5.70% African-American, 15.9% Asian, and 3.2% Hispanic or Latino.

There were 9,217 households, of which 31.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.3% were married couples living together, 10.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were non-families. 26.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.64 and the average family size was 3.30.

26.9% of the population were under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 33.5% from 25 to 44, 18.1% from 45 to 64, and 15.4% who were 65 years of age or older.

The median household income was $105,300 and the median family income was $117,995. The per capita income for the CDP was $46,047. 4.1% of the population lived below the poverty line.

The boundaries of the Short Pump CDP start on the west at the Goochland County/Henrico County line, then proceed east on Kain Road to Pouncey Tract Road (Virginia State Route 271); north on Pouncey Tract Road to Shady Grove Road; east, then north, on Shady Grove Road to Nuckols Road; southeast and south on Nuckols Road to Interstate 295; southwest on I-295 to Interstate 64; southeast on I-64 to Cox Road; southwest on Cox Road to Three Chopt Road where Cox Road becomes Church Road; southwest, then west, on Church Road to Lauderdale Drive; southwest on Lauderdale Drive to Causeway Drive; northwest on Causeway Drive to its crossing of Wilde Lake; southwest through the center of Wilde Lake to its outlet, Harding Branch; westward down Harding Branch to its outlet at Tuckahoe Creek, which is the Goochland/Henrico County line; then north on the county line back to Kain Road.[7]

• www.henricohistoricalsociety.org — Short Pump Lost Architecture (2015). Henrico County Historical Society
• Tharp, William R. (2022). "Roads, Race, and Retail: The Transformation of Short Pump, Virginia". Buildings & Landscapes: Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. 29 (2): 74–98. doi:10.1353/bdl.2022.0014. S2CID 252908720. Project MUSE 867166.