This article, published May 17, 1890, by the Richmond Planet, reports on business, community, and personal news from Charlottesville, including the establishment of the Piedmont Industrial and Land Improvement Company, a joint stock company, formed by nine African American businessmen from the Charlottesville area. This was an entrepreneurial attempt to increase property ownership among African Americans, with stockowners assuming risk proportional to their shareholding in the Piedmont Industrial and Land Improvement Company.