East Radford Historic District (Additional Documentation)

East Radford Historic District covers 141 acres in the City of Radford, Virginia, and takes in most of the historic bounds of Central Depot, later the east ward of the city. Shaped by the railroad that arrived shortly before the Civil War, it has long been the city's commercial center. Brick commercial buildings line Norwood Street south of the rail yard, among them the three-unit Bond Building and the three-story Briggs House or Simon Block. Residential streets to the south hold vernacular central-passage, side-passage and T-plan houses, grand Queen Anne residences on Grove Avenue, and bungalows and Foursquare houses from the early twentieth century. Churches, lodge buildings and the Belle Heth School add institutional variety. The district was recognized for its architecture, commerce and transportation history, with a period of significance of 1880 to 1946. Most of its buildings date from after 1880, when industrial and commercial growth turned a depot village into a regional center.