Henrico County Government recently shared a series of posts detailing the history of the limestone statues now guarding the Best Products building, tracing their journey from New York to Virginia.
On May 4, 2026, Henrico County Government posted: “Before the stern limestone statues took up guard at the Best Products building in 1981, they were first were installed at the top of the New York Airlines Terminal building in 1940.” The following post elaborated on Sydney Lewis, founder of Best Products and an avid collector of art deco and art nouveau. According to Henrico County Government’s tweet from May 4: “Sydney Lewis, the founder of Best Products, collected art deco and art nouveau and other iconic pieces of 20th Century art throughout his life. When Lewis heard that the terminal was set to be demolished, he took steps to preserve the 20-foot tall eagles.”
A third post from May 4 described the complexity involved in moving these statues: “The statues were not cast as a single piece, so moving them down the east coast was a complicated feat; they had to be carefully deconstructed, labeled and shipped like a stone puzzle.”
Henrico County is also known for its public school system. In the 2023-24 academic year, Henrico County Public Schools District enrolled over fifty thousand students (source). Deep Run High School reported the highest enrollment among all county schools during this period (source). Black students made up more than one-third of total enrollment that year (source), with total district enrollment rising slightly compared to previous years (source). Holladay Elementary led in pre-kindergarten numbers while Tuckahoe Elementary saw the largest kindergarten intake for that year (source).
