Short Pump, Virginia

Short Pump, Virginia
Census-designated place
Short Pump Town Center at dusk
Short Pump, Virginia Location of Short Pump, Virginia Show map of Virginia Short Pump, Virginia Short Pump, Virginia (the United States) Show map of the United States
Coordinates: 37°39′43″N 77°37′36″W / 37.66194°N 77.62667°W / 37.66194; -77.62667
Country	United States
State	Virginia
County	Henrico
Area
• Total	9.1 sq mi (23.5 km2)
• Land	9.0 sq mi (23.2 km2)
• Water	0.1 sq mi (0.3 km2)
Elevation	282 ft (86 m)
Population  (2020)
• Total	30,626
• Density	3,400/sq mi (1,300/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
FIPS code	51-72272[1]
GNIS feature ID	1495125[2]

Short Pump is a census-designated place (CDP) in Henrico County, Virginia, United States. It is a suburb of Richmond, Virginia. The population was 30,626 at the 2020 census.^[3]

The original village of Short Pump was located at the intersection of Three Chopt Road (formerly known as Three Notched Trail), Richmond Turnpike and Pouncey Tract Road. The area first centered around a local tavern that was expanded by Col. Robert H. Saunders beginning in 1814. According to local legend, it was named for the short handled water pump for stagecoach horses to drink from, which was located beneath the porch of the tavern, though there is some debate over the name's origin.^[4] This area was on the principal route between Richmond and Charlottesville, as well as other towns in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Thomas Jefferson,^[5] the Earl Cornwallis, the Marquis de Lafayette, General Peter Muhlenberg, Stonewall Jackson and Ulric Dahlgren all visited this area.

The crossroads was officially named Short Pump by 1853, according to a Henrico County map found in the Virginia Historical Society.^[5]

It has now become part of Richmond's Far West End. In 2003, developers opened Short Pump Town Center, a 1,200,000-square-foot (110,000 m²) open air shopping mall. Other shopping and living spaces include West Broad Village.^[6]

Short Pump is noted for its shopping centers, restaurants, skating rink, and bowling alley. The area is an edge city of Richmond.^[4]

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 people per square mile (29.6 people/km²). There were 77 housing units at an average density of 32.5 units per square mile (12.5 units/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.

• Colonial Trail Elementary School
• Rivers Edge Elementary School
• Gayton Elementary School
• Nuckols Farm Elementary School
• Short Pump Elementary School
• Twin Hickory Elementary School
• David A. Kaechele Elementary School

• Holman Middle School
• Pocahontas Middle School
• Short Pump Middle School

• Deep Run High School
• Mills E. Godwin High School

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.