{"nrhp_refnum":"08000072","name":"Fieldale Historic District","other_names":["Vdhr # 044-5173"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by 10th St., VA 682, Co. Rd. 609 & Chestnut St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Fieldale","county":"Henry County","state":"VA","lat":36.70375948250006,"lon":-79.94113428670028,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2008-02-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Industry","Social History"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A company mill-town historic district in Fieldale, Henry County, Virginia, laid out after 1917 by Marshall Field & Company of Chicago around a towel mill, business district and workers' housing.","why_significant":"The district is a largely intact example of a planned early twentieth-century textile company town, with its mill complex, business district, schools, community center and hundreds of company-built bungalows. The town was built to produce towels for Marshall Field's department store. The excerpt does not include the formal Statement of Significance, so the significance is inferred from the description.","narrative":"Fieldale is a company mill town in central Henry County, Virginia, built by Marshall Field & Company of Chicago. The company bought 1,841 acres in 1916-1917 and opened the town in 1919 to make quality towels for its department store. The plan had three parts: the brick mill complex, a business district with a bank, post office, grocery and theater, and a residential area to the west. Company-built one-story bungalows, mostly from stock plans, were rented to workers for 25 cents per room per week. The company also financed two schools and a community center. In 1941 the company sold the houses to its employees, and the mills became independent in 1953. They went bankrupt in 2003 and were bought in 2006 for manufacturing and distribution. The district contains hundreds of resources, including the mills, a former railroad depot, a Warren truss bridge and a downtown of two-story brick buildings. Later ranch houses and secondary buildings are non-contributing.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Marshall Field & Company (builder of the town and its company housing)","architectural_style":"Bungalow/Craftsman, Commercial Style, Colonial Revival, Georgian Revival, Tudor Revival, Industrial, Warren truss bridge","criteria":[],"status_note":"Mixed: the community center and many houses remain in use, while the Fieldale Elementary School, the Danville & Western depot and the Route 701 bridge are described as vacant or deteriorated. Two companies bought the vacant mill buildings in 2006 for manufacturing and distribution.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:52:02.752407-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/85/6812/41681285/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_VA/08000072.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000072/620f45f0b3-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/08000072/620f45f0b3-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fieldale_former_school.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fieldale_former_school.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/41681285","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fieldale_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14712318"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/virginia/henry-county/fieldale-historic-district-08000072/"}