Commerce Street Industrial Historic District

Commerce Street in Petersburg's Pride's Field neighborhood holds a linear industrial district of four large brick factory complexes built between about 1915 and 1925. They are the Petersburg Trunk and Bag Company, Titmus Optical Company, Rogers and Madison Trunk Corporation and Southern Chemical Company. Each grew through many additions into a compound of interconnected two- to four-story buildings, designed for function and flexible space rather than stylistic display. Titmus Optical's mid-1930s office is a Colonial Revival exception, with granite detailing. A handful of late nineteenth and early twentieth century frame dwellings and one commercial building survive between the factories, recalling the modest homes and stores that once lined the street. The district reflects Petersburg's early twentieth century manufacturing growth, including a luggage industry that peaked at twenty factories in 1922 and an optical lens trade boosted by World War I. Rail spurs of the Seaboard Air Line connected the plants to wider markets. The industrial character sets the corridor apart from the largely residential neighborhood around it.