Shawsville Historic District

Shawsville's historic core is a seven-acre strip of 13 buildings lining Main Street beside the railroad in Montgomery County, Virginia. Commercial blocks of frame and brick stand at the center, with houses at the outer edges and a single brick church, White Memorial Church, built in the 1930s. Nothing was built after 1950. The town grew from a turnpike tollhouse site and became a railroad stop, later serving as the railhead for the upper South Fork of the Roanoke River and parts of Floyd County, where farmers sold cross ties and tan bark. The standout building is the 1910 Bank of Shawsville, a brick Classical Revival structure with Ionic columns, designed by Roanoke architect Homer W. Miller. Other notable buildings include the W. W. Lykens Furniture Store, Gardner's General Store and the Showalter House. The district was listed for its intact depiction of a small railroad town, with its buildings preserved largely because traffic moved to a bypass.