Hillsboro Historic Business District

Hillsboro's central business district covers about 16 acres around the Highland County Courthouse and Jail, with buildings fronting Main and High Streets. Of 83 sites, 30 are classed as anchor buildings and 36 as contributing, while 17 are intrusions from new construction or inappropriate remodeling. Most buildings are two- to four-story brick commercial blocks from the 1800s, built in Italianate, Queen Anne, French Second Empire, Richardsonian, Federal Influence and Greek Revival styles. Eighteen are Italianate. Three buildings were already individually recognized: the Bell Opera House, the courthouse and the Bell Foundry. The area has served as the town's commercial center since Hillsboro's founding in 1807. Early tanyards, stores, taverns, mills, foundries and banks operated here, and many log-built business structures were rebuilt between 1850 and 1900. The Colony Theatre, an Art Deco building from about 1940, adds a later element to the streetscape. Storefronts have often been altered, but upper floors largely keep their original character.