Downtown Chilhowie Historic District

Downtown Chilhowie is a compact commercial district in Smyth County, Virginia, centered on Main Street with additional buildings on Lee Highway and South Whitetop Road. It includes eleven contributing buildings, mostly brick, and one noncontributing office building from about 1960. The town began as Greever's Switch, a railroad village, and grew with the Norfolk & Western Railway, a paving brick plant, farm supply businesses and a local bank. After a fire in 1909 destroyed the original commercial block, stores were rebuilt facing the former alley, which became Main Street. Notable buildings include the 1909 National Bank of Chilhowie, with Beaux Arts influenced classical detailing, the 1916 Chilhowie Drug Company, and the Chilhowie Hardware building with its Luxfer glass transom. A 1947 Cape Cod style restaurant on Lee Highway is also included. The district is recognized for its commercial history and early twentieth-century architecture, with a period of significance from 1900 to 1949 and a significant date of 1913, the year of the town's incorporation.