227-5002

Gretna Commercial Historic District

VLR Listing Date

03/21/2013

NRHP Listing Date

05/28/2013

NRHP Reference Number

13000342

In Southside Virginia’s Pittsylvania County, the town of Gretna took shape with the arrival of the Lynchburg and Danville Railroad through the area between 1872 and 1874. The railroad swelled a settlement known as Franklin Junction. In 1901, it changed its name to Elba and in 1916 to Gretna. The Gretna Commercial Historic District contains 26 contributing buildings constructed between 1881 and the early 1960s, with many dating to the town’s early period of development. Representing historic purpose-built commercial, governmental, and civic organizational buildings, their architecture ranges from the popular Commercial style to the Colonial Revival style of the former Gretna Fire Station and Town Hall, to a Classical Revival social lodge building, and the Art Deco style of an early-20th-century service station.

Last Updated: June 3, 2024

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

071-6230

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