Post-Civil War Richmond's railroad connections enabled the city to participate in the rise of the New South. A compact city of mixed residential, industrial and commercial space, Richmond remained a classic example of what historians call a "walking city" through the end of the nineteenth century. As streets were improved and public transportation became available, the city's white merchants and emerging white middle class sought homes removed from the congested downtown. The city's African-American and white workers generally could not afford this residential migration, and the mixtures of race and class began to disappear. The city's size, diversity and economic position at the time allows for comparisons to both Northern and Southern cirites and permits an analysis of the role of groups other than the elite in the city building process. -- From publisher's description.