Woolen Mills Village Historic District
Approximate location: the National Park Service places this pin arbitrarily within the property, not at a surveyed point (stated accuracy ±12 m).
Why it's listed
Woolen Mills Village is a former company town at the eastern end of East Market Street in Charlottesville, where Moore's Creek meets the Rivanna River. Milling began on the site in 1829, and the Charlottesville Woolen Mills was incorporated in 1868, later becoming a major producer of cloth for uniforms. The company built housing for its workers, including three brick Gothic Revival duplexes from the 1840s and the Pireus Row houses of the 1870s. A large frame house on the hill served the mill superintendent and later president, Henry Clay Marchant. In the 1880s nearby farmland was subdivided, and mill employees bought lots and built their own houses, mostly vernacular designs with Victorian or Colonial Revival porch details. Riverview Cemetery was founded in the 1890s. The mills closed in 1962, and the village was annexed by the city in 1968. Today it is mainly residential, and the surviving brick mill buildings recall its industrial past.
Significance in brief: The nomination argues local significance under Criterion A in industry and social history, and under Criterion C for architecture. The village was a mill company town with company housing, a store and a chapel. Unusually, workers also bought lots in the 1880s and built their own homes near their jobs. The dwellings span Gothic Revival, Late Victorian vernacular and Colonial Revival forms.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 10000196, listed April 12, 2010. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| Address | Parts of Chesapeake, Market, and other sts., in Charlottesville; parts of Pireus Row and Marchant..., Charlottesville |
|---|---|
| County | Charlottesville |
| Listed | April 12, 2010 |
| Reference number | 10000196 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1847-1962 |
| Architectural style | Mid-19th Century: Gothic Revival; Late Victorian; Colonial Revival; Bungalow/Craftsman; No Style |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Industry, Social History |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The district is now almost exclusively residential. The mill complex is used by a moving company for storage and loading, the smaller mill buildings are largely vacant, the power plant is ruined, and the 1870 dam was removed in 2007. |
| Acreage | 80.4 |
| Coordinates | 38.02163, -78.45641 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 10000196.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q8033795
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.