{"nrhp_refnum":"04000554","name":"Shenandoah Historic District","other_names":["Vdhr# 69-5209"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Parts of First,Second,Third,Fourth,Fith,Sixth,Seventh,Eight Denver,Long,H,Sts, Central,Maryland, Penn, and Virg. Aves.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Shenandoah","county":"Page County","state":"VA","lat":38.488150552000036,"lon":-78.62412029573045,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2004-05-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Transportation","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 198-acre historic district covering the oldest part of the town of Shenandoah in Page County, Virginia, on the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. It includes about 451 contributing resources, mostly dwellings and commercial buildings dating from about 1880 to the mid-20th century.","why_significant":"The district shows how a railroad and industrial town grew from the post-1870 flood rebuilding led by William Milnes, Jr., through the arrival of the Shenandoah Valley Railroad in 1881 and the land boom of the 1890s. Its buildings, mostly vernacular with some Queen Anne, Italianate, Colonial Revival and Craftsman examples, record that growth. It is significant under Criteria A and C in architecture, transportation and industry.","narrative":"Shenandoah Historic District covers the old core of a small Page County town between the Blue Ridge and Massanutten Ridge, along the South Fork of the Shenandoah River. The community began around an iron furnace in the 1830s, and a great flood in 1870 destroyed most of it. William Milnes, Jr. led the rebuilding and helped bring the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, which reached the town in 1881. The town was laid out on a grid and expanded in the 1890s by the Shenandoah Land and Improvement Company. The district holds about 450 contributing resources, including houses, a commercial row facing the tracks on First Street, seven churches, two cemeteries, a school, a train station, a former fire station and city hall, and a power station with dam. Most buildings are vernacular, with some Queen Anne, Italianate, Colonial Revival and Craftsman examples. The district reflects the town's rise as a rail division point and its later decline.","period_of_significance":"1880-1954","architect_builder":"William M. Poindexter; Alba K. Simmons; George R. Ragan","architectural_style":"Late Victorian (Queen Anne, Second Gothic Revival, Italianate); Colonial Revival; Tudor Revival; Bungalow/Craftsman; I-house","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Some buildings are in use as dwellings, apartments, a museum, town functions and shops. The Eagle Hotel is abandoned and deteriorated, and First Street is described as somewhat neglected. The town is pursuing revitalization.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:03.161199-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/30/6824/41682430/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/04000554.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000554/725d0b2c55-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/04000554/725d0b2c55-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Waldo Jaquith from Charlottesville, VA, United States","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DowntownShenandoah.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Waldo Jaquith from Charlottesville, VA, United States</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:DowntownShenandoah.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41682430","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shenandoah_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q15277139"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/page-county/shenandoah-historic-district-04000554/"}