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[photo]
Winchester Historic District streetscape

Photo courtesy of Virginia Main Street Program

The Shawnee were the earliest known inhabitants in the Winchester area, having established a village at Shawnee Springs. Charles II of England granted the area to Lord Culpeper in 1664. By 1743, Frederick County's seat, known both as Opequon and as Frederick's Town, had been established as a courthouse town. When the town was officially established in February 1752, founder James Wood renamed it Winchester after his native city in England. Winchester's strategic location at the northern end of the Shenandoah Valley would make it a focal point for trade and also for the conflicts of the French and Indian, Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

[photo] Frederick County Courthouse, a focal point of the district
Photo courtesy of Virginia Main Street Program

Winchester grew a bit more quickly than the average courthouse town in Virginia during the 19th century. New visitors and merchants regularly frequented Winchester during market days and fairs from the late 1700s and into the early 1800s. Using roads, both new and improved after the American Revolution, travelers from both the north and east passing through Winchester on westward routes contributed to the city's rise as a mercantile center. By 1810, Winchester was a flourishing town, compactly built and having a number of respectable buildings that included the courthouse, a jail and several churches.


[photo] Wincester scenes
Photos courtesy of Virginia Main Street Program

Completion of the Winchester and Potomac Railroad in 1836 provided new commercial outlets for Winchester's wheat stores and its hide, fur, tobacco and hemp trades. Although not located on the main line of the Baltimore and Ohio, this secondary rail line linked Winchester and the lower Shenandoah Valley with markets accessible via the Potomac River.

Located at the junction of nine well-paved major roads and on a secondary rail line, Winchester became an important point of battle during the Civil War. In 1862, General Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson established his headquarters in Winchester. Military action in and around Winchester remained intense until Federal forces secured the lower valley with a victory at the third Battle of Winchester.

[photo] Produce vendors in downtown Winchester
Photo courtesy of Virginia Main Street Program

Though the war severely curtailed economic activity, the town rebuilt itself afterward as a manufacturing and commercial center. To stimulate growth, the town granted new businesses municipal tax abatements. By 1886, Winchester's industries included four glove factories, three furniture factories, five tanneries, two foundries and several other specialized mills and factories. Until the 1920s, Winchester served as the commercial and industrial center of the Shenandoah Valley with glove manufacturing as the leading industry. The commercial apple industry traces its birth in Winchester to the planting of the area's first commercial orchard in 1871. By 1905, the area around Winchester processed over 100,000 trees producing seasonal shipments of close to one million bushels. In 1925, 355 commercial orchards supplanted manufacturing as the primary source of commercial activity in Winchester. Today, Frederick County remains one of Virginia's leading apple producers.


[photo]
Winchester Historic District

Photo courtesy of Virginia Main Street Program

A movement to create a greater public awareness of the city's unique history and architecture began with the establishment of Preservation of Historic Winchester in 1964. The creation in 1976 of a local historic district preceded the listing of the Winchester Historic District in the National Register of Historic Places in 1980. One of Virginia's founding Main Street communities, the Old Town Development Board has lead revitalization efforts. Winchester has attracted many millions of dollars in private investment for building rehabilitation and created a large number of jobs downtown.

The Winchester Historic District is located off of I-81 at the intersections of U.S. Rte. 17 and VA Rte. 7. The Old Town Development Board is located at 2 N. Cameron St., Suite 100 and is open from 9:00am to 5:00pm, Monday-Friday. For more information about shopping, dining and events in downtown Winchester call the Old Town Development Board at 540-722-7576.

 

 


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