Downtown Chilhowie Historic District
Also known as: 189-0001
Why it's listed
Downtown Chilhowie is a compact commercial district in Smyth County, Virginia, centered on Main Street with additional buildings on Lee Highway and South Whitetop Road. It includes eleven contributing buildings, mostly brick, and one noncontributing office building from about 1960. The town began as Greever's Switch, a railroad village, and grew with the Norfolk & Western Railway, a paving brick plant, farm supply businesses and a local bank. After a fire in 1909 destroyed the original commercial block, stores were rebuilt facing the former alley, which became Main Street. Notable buildings include the 1909 National Bank of Chilhowie, with Beaux Arts influenced classical detailing, the 1916 Chilhowie Drug Company, and the Chilhowie Hardware building with its Luxfer glass transom. A 1947 Cape Cod style restaurant on Lee Highway is also included. The district is recognized for its commercial history and early twentieth-century architecture, with a period of significance from 1900 to 1949 and a significant date of 1913, the year of the town's incorporation.
Significance in brief: The district is argued to be significant under Criteria A and C as the surviving historic commercial center of a town that grew from a railroad depot village, Greever's Switch, into a small regional trade center. The brick commercial buildings show early twentieth-century design, with the National Bank of Chilhowie as the most architecturally sophisticated. The district also reflects the rebuilding after the 1909 fire and later storefront modernization.
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 00000065, listed February 4, 2000. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | Main St. S. Whitetop Rd. and Lee Hwy., Chilhowie |
|---|---|
| County | Smyth County |
| Listed | February 4, 2000 |
| Reference number | 00000065 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | 1900-1949 |
| Architect / builder | Unknown |
| Architectural style | Late 19th and 20th Century: Beaux Arts |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Architecture, Commerce |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | The form lists the current function as commerce/business and also as vacant/not in use. It says owners have struggled to find appropriate uses for the buildings since Interstate 81 was built. |
| Acreage | 2 |
| Coordinates | 36.79831, -81.68124 (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 00000065.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q15214947
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.