Calvert Historic District

Calvert's historic district preserves a railroad and cotton town of the late nineteenth century. Its boundaries take in eight blocks of Main Street commercial buildings and a large residential area to the east, covering 37 complete blocks and parts of nine more. The rail lines run one block east of the commercial strip and shaped the town plan. Early wooden false-front stores were replaced by one- and two-story masonry buildings, many with cast iron or pressed metal fronts, French doors, corner entrances and decorative brickwork. Nearby, Victorian houses dominate, with turned columns, jig-saw trim and Eastlake ornament, while some were later remodeled in Colonial Revival style. The district also holds the 1875 former county courthouse, a Victorian Gothic building being restored as a museum, plus a city park with a bandstand and a cemetery established in 1870. Alterations to storefronts and heavy highway traffic threaten the area's character, though local preservation efforts are active.