{"nrhp_refnum":"05001409","name":"Hickory Southwest Downtown Historic District","other_names":["Second Street Place Southwest Historic District"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Portions of Government Ave.SE, Second Street Place SE, First Ave. SW and Third St. SW","address_restricted":false,"city":"Hickory","county":"Catawba County","state":"NC","lat":35.731155067500055,"lon":-81.34102047858202,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-12-16","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of five city blocks in the southwest quadrant of downtown Hickory, Catawba County, North Carolina, bordered on the north by the Southern Railroad line. Its principal buildings are the 1912 Southern Railroad passenger depot, the 1914 Post Office, the 1911-12 Armory, the Abernathy Livery Stable/Hickory Bonded Warehouse, and the Harper Motor Company building.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is an important group of commercial, industrial and governmental buildings that reflects Hickory's growth after the Civil War, when railroad-related businesses such as liveries, hotels, a depot and an auto dealership developed near Union Square. It states the district meets Criterion A for its significance to the transportation and commerce history of the city. It also notes that the district contains some of Hickory's most distinctive and relatively unaltered early twentieth-century commercial and governmental buildings.","narrative":"Five city blocks in southwest downtown Hickory, bounded on the north by the Southern Railroad line, make up this district of commercial and governmental buildings built mainly between the 1880s and the 1920s. The Abernathy Livery Stable, begun around 1885, later became the Hickory Bonded Warehouse, and it marks the western edge of the district. The Southern Railroad passenger depot of 1912 is a long brick building with a bellcast hip roof and an octagonal ticket office. The Post Office, finished in 1914 to designs by Oscar Wendworth, is a two-story Classical Revival building with a limestone portico of paired colossal Tuscan columns. The three-story Armory, built in 1911-1912, housed a National Guard cavalry stable and later served as a textile factory and basketball arena. The district reflects the railroad's role in Hickory's development, since the town grew after the line arrived and businesses here served travelers and freight. Its buildings document the town's commercial growth before and after World War I.","period_of_significance":"ca.1885 - ca.1955","architect_builder":"Oscar Wendworth (architect)","architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"The former passenger depot was converted to a restaurant in 1977, and the Armory was renovated in the 1990s into office suites. The Hickory Overall Company office is described as currently vacant.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:42.133198-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/55/7174/47717455/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/05001409.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001409/ef2fe30805-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001409/ef2fe30805-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Tylerg","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hickory_Southwest_Downtown_Historic_District_Hickory_NC.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Tylerg</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hickory_Southwest_Downtown_Historic_District_Hickory_NC.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47717455","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hickory_Southwest_Downtown_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q18151719"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/catawba-county/hickory-southwest-downtown-historic-district-05001409/"}