Main Street Historic District

Brick commercial buildings line both sides of Main Street in Marion, a mountain town at the base of the Black Mountains, forming a tight district of mostly early twentieth-century blocks. Most were built after the town's 1894 fire, which destroyed nearly everything along the street except the Hotel McDowell, built about 1894 and the oldest surviving building in the district. Growth accelerated after the railroad reached Marion in 1870, and the Commercial Bank of Marion was founded in 1896. Its successor, the First National Bank building of 1903, has a large corner cupola. The 1923 county courthouse, designed by Erle Stilwell of Hendersonville, stands set back on a hill and is among the best Neoclassical Revival buildings in western North Carolina. The 1914 First Baptist Church and the 1937 Community Building, built of native stone under the Works Progress Administration, are also notable. The district remains the county's seat of government and its largest commercial area.