Lower Basin Historic District

Lynchburg's Lower Basin Historic District is a warehouse and factory area lying between the downtown commercial core and the James River. It takes its name from a widened section of the James River and Kanawha Canal that once ran between Ninth Street and Horseford Road. The district includes 60 contributing buildings, a concrete viaduct, a stone bridge and a monument marking the site of Lynch's Ferry. Most buildings are multi-story brick warehouses, factories and commercial blocks from the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Notable examples include the Norfolk and Western and Chesapeake and Ohio freight depots, the Piedmont Flour Mills, the Craddock-Terry Shoe building and rows of buildings on Commerce Street. The 1839 Ninth Street Bridge is the oldest surviving structure, and the 1,600-foot Williams Viaduct dates from 1916-1918. The area grew with the canal, then the railroads, and became a jobbing and manufacturing center that served southern markets. Its brick buildings document that commercial and industrial history.