Bristol Commercial Historic District is located in the commercial center of the city, which is unique in that it straddles the Virginia-Tennessee border. State Street provides the main corridor in downtown Bristol, and its center line serves as the boundary between the two states. Eighty percent of the district’s 105 buildings are evaluated as contributing to the late-19th- and early-20th -century architectural character of downtown Bristol. The city grew with the construction of steel rail-era railroads, and the downtown developed as an important commercial, industrial, and entertainment center. The Bristol Commercial Historic District has been expanded to include a number of related properties on Piedmont Avenue.
In early 2005, the nomination for the Bristol Commercial Historic District was amended to update the contributing status of two buildings on the Virginia side of the 600 block of State Street.
[NRHP Approved: 6/17/2005]
Later in 2005, the Bristol Commercial Historic District’s nomination was amended again, in this instance to update the status of the Susong Building at 501 State Street.
[NRHP Approved: 10/11/2005]
Many properties listed in the registers are private dwellings and are not open to the public, however many are visible from the public right-of-way. Please be respectful of owner privacy.
Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Programs
DHR has secured permanent legal protection for over 700 historic places - including 15,000 acres of battlefield lands
DHR has erected 2,532 highway markers in every county and city across Virginia
DHR has registered more than 3,317 individual resources and 613 historic districts
DHR has engaged over 450 students in 3 highway marker contests
DHR has stimulated more than $4.2 billion dollars in private investments related to historic tax credit incentives, revitalizing communities of all sizes throughout Virginia