South Boston Historic District Boundary Increase

South Boston's historic district was first listed in 1986 and has now been resurveyed and enlarged. The update adds neighborhoods east, north and west of downtown and counts 162 contributing buildings in the resurveyed and added areas. Marshall Avenue is anchored by the three-story, brick Colonial Revival C.H. Friend School of 1939 and lined with houses from about 1890 to the 1950s, including Foursquares, bungalows and Colonial Revival homes. The 1900-2400 blocks of North Main Street and the streets around the 1890 Mizpah Presbyterian Church are traditional African American neighborhoods. North Main Street drew teachers, doctors and other rising middle-class residents, while the Ragland Street area housed tobacco warehouse and prizery workers. A ca. 1930 brick tobacco warehouse on Jefferson Avenue reflects the town's tobacco economy. The period of significance now runs to the late 1950s, when tobacco gave way to textile and other manufacturing.