Maggie L. Walker National Historic Site, in Richmond, Virginia, was the home of Walker, a prominent African American businesswoman and community leader. Walker was the first woman in the United States to establish and serve as president of a bank. She established the St. Luke Penny Savings Bank and became its president in 1903.
Walker and her husband purchased the house at 110-1/2 East Leigh Street in 1904. The home, built in 1883, stands in the Jackson Ward community, then the center of African American business and social life in Richmond. In 1922, Walker expanded the house from 13 to 28 rooms so that her mother, her sons and their families, and her household staff could live there. Walker lived in the house until her death in 1934.
The National Park Service has restored the house to appear as it did in about 1930. It contains many of the Walker family’s original furnishings. A visitor center, located next to the house, has exhibits about Walker and the historic Jackson Ward community.
Congress authorized the house as a national historic site in 1978. The Walker family owned the home until 1979.
