LIBBY PRISON
2001 East Cary Street, Richmond
Built c. 1850, moved to Chicago 1888; demolished 1900
Photograph: Virginia Historical Society
Luther Libby, a ship chandler, leased one of fourteen warehouses that at mid-century had been erected along
Richmond's waterfront. At his death, the Confederate government in 1861 seized the warehouse where his business
sign was still prominent on its wall. That building and the two adjoining it were converted into a prison that was dark,
dirty, unheated, and poorly ventilated and sanitized. "Libby Prison" became infamous because in the 32,000
square feet of its eight rooms that were used to hold prisoners, as many as 1,200 Union officers were confined
at a time. Some 30,000 Union prisoners were housed there during the course of the war. From 1865 to 1868
the buildings were used to imprison former Confederates. In 1888, businessmen in Chicago purchased Libby
Prison and removed it there, to be venerated and viewed as a relic of the late war. In 1900 the building was
demolished and the Chicago Coliseum rose in its place.
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