West Radford Commercial Historic District

Three blocks of West Main Street, formerly First Street, in Radford's West Ward make up this commercial district beside the former Norfolk & Western Railroad line. It holds 19 contributing buildings spanning about 1890 to 1955, including Victorian storefronts, a 1925 concrete block apartment and commercial building, an early automobile garage, a funeral home, and a 1939 telephone building in stripped classical style. The oldest landmarks are the Radford Trust Co. Building, designed by Philadelphia architect Robert Gray Kennedy and later used as the West End Hotel, and the 1890 Ashmead Building with its pedimented central bay. The street grew during the 1890s boom, when northern investors and the railroad promoted the West Ward. After the Panic of 1893 the ward never regained that momentum, and the East Ward became the main commercial center. The district was listed for its role in local commerce and for its range of commercial architecture from the 1890s through the mid-twentieth century.