Gate City Historic District

Gate City's historic downtown is a five-block commercial strip along East and West Jackson Street in Scott County, Virginia. The town has been the county seat since 1815 and grew into a commercial and social hub for surrounding farming communities, helped by its closeness to coal fields. The district contains 58 resources, including about 40 commercial buildings, seven dwellings, government buildings, a cinema and several smaller structures. The oldest standing building is the 1829 Scott County Courthouse, the tallest and most imposing structure and the focal point at West Jackson Street and Manville Road. Most surviving buildings date from 1910 to 1940 and are two- to three-story attached brick rows with corbelled cornices, stone trim and decorative brickwork, reflecting the prosperity of the early twentieth century. Some storefronts have been altered, yet the most intact blocks read as nearly continuous masonry walls. The district was recognized for preserving this commercial and civic character from 1829 to 1960.