[3] The community is considered a suburb of the independent city of Richmond in the Richmond-Petersburg region and is a part of the Southside neighborhoods.

In the first half of the 18th century, Anderson Edwards owned a large plantation on the current site of Bon Air.

The Duvals' two portions of Anderson Edwards' land would eventually comprise large parts of modern-day Bon Air.

An 1864 map[5] shows a small cluster of buildings labeled "Pawhite Stop" on the "Railroad to Coal Mines" line near the site of historic Bon Air village.

In the 19th century, it was believed that the higher elevation and distance from the urban area of Richmond provided a more healthful atmosphere, particularly in the hot summer months in central Virginia.

Bon Air's connections with the railroad's leaders could possibly be evidenced by the fact that over many of the years until passenger service ended in 1957, the community simultaneously had three stops within 1-mile (2 km) of trackage.

During the Civil War, Buford served the Confederacy in Richmond at Virginia Depot, although the title "Colonel" is believed to have been honorary, a southern custom common in the post-slavery years.

With the support of Virginia Governor Francis H. Pierpont, on September 13, 1865, Buford became president of the 140-mile (225 km) Richmond and Danville Railroad (R&D).

A childless couple, a few years later the Burroughs opened an orphanage which was originally called "The Home for Friendless Children", and was incorporated in 1898.

The original Southern Railway Station was a building brought to Bon Air from the International Cotton Exposition which had been held in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1881.

The early railroad alignment through Bon Air may have been to take advantage of a kaolin clay mine said to have been located on the south side of the tracks near the current Buford Road bridge.

A plant built in Manchester to process the clay from Bon Air burned before it could go into production, ending the project.

In the 20th century, as the residential area around Richmond grew, Bon Air evolved into a middle-class neighborhood, occupied year round versus just being a summer resort.

The privately owned Westham Bridge was financed by a group headed by developer George Craghead Gregory, who resided at Granite Hall, an estate about a mile from Williams Dam, where he had a mansion erected which was faced with stone quarried nearby.

Between the James River and Bon Air, Gregory controlled large land areas along the proposed rail line which he hoped to develop.

However, portions of the planned and partially improved route can be seen in modern times with the gentle slopes found on present-day Southampton Road and along Mohawk Drive.

The old bridge was dismantled, but the abutments were still visible at each end, and overhead power and telephone lines continued to mark the route for many years.

Traces of the old streetcar right-of-way may be seen along gently sloped Southampton Road and Mohawk Drive near Forest Hill Avenue (which was formerly known as Granite Road), and on Logan Street and Hazen Street in Bon Air, where a washboard surface was long rumored by local lore to be the remnants of the streetcar project.

Gregory's old mansion, Granite Hall, now located in the Cherokee Estates subdivision near Williams Dam, was still in use as a private residence in 2008.

Further, when the Willey Bridge opened in 1988 near Bon Air, Southsiders had significantly improved ability to access the West End of Richmond.

The privately owned and restored Hazen House Library contains artifacts from Bon Air's history but is open only by appointment.

[16] Just west of the fall line, which divides Virginia's Tidewater and Piedmont geological regions, the average elevation in the Bon Air area is approximately 200 feet (60 m) above sea-level, which is significantly higher than most of Richmond, only 8 miles (13 km) to the east.

Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center consists of the minimum security wing, with several open cottages for offenders with lesser crimes and shorter stays.

While incarcerated at Bon Air Juvenile Correctional Center, residents receive mental health and rehabilitative counseling services.

[21] In the late 2010s, the Commonwealth of Virginia began a process of Juvenile Prison reform with expertise from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

[25] the closure plan has been contingent upon identifying these smaller locations, but attempts to build a 60-bed facility in Chesapeake and near Isle of Wight County have met local resistance.

[27] On April 5, 2019, DJJ and Isle of Wight reached a provisional agreement to split funding of several costs that had held up the deal.

The Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors was to take a final up/down vote on the measure April 18 on whether to transfer 20 acres of farmland to the Virginia Department of Juvenile Justice in order to construct the $13.5 million facility.

[28] On Thursday April 18, the Isle of Wight Board of Supervisors voted 3–2 to reject the plan, leaving the closure of Bon Air in limbo.

Bon Air Elementary was the inspiration for a series of children's books, The Kids of the Polk Street School by Patricia Reilly Giff.