Historic District

Overview

We have just completed an update of our historic district to include development between 1934 and 1964. This project was accomplished in coordination with the Department of Historic Resources (DHR) and Commonwealth Heritage Group, Inc. This process was made possible by the town receiving $20,000 from DHR's Cost Share Grant program. Benefits include the following:

  • Increased federal and state tax credit availability to spur investment in rehabbing historic homes and buildings (e.g. Ashland Theater).
  • Improved accounting of Ashland’s post-WWII build-out, civil rights, and massive resistance era history.
  • Corrected errors in the original nomination.
  • Preservation and protection of Ashland’s small town character.

This update would NOT add regulations to prohibit property owners (e.g. painting their house a certain color) or install an architecture review board.

Click here for the package of materials that explain the update process and map of the existing district. 

Final Report

After the survey, findings were packaged into a nomination form that will be submitted to the National Park Service to be listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The exciting information is that 111 new contributing resources, constructed between 1934 and 1964, are being recommended to be added to the register (pages 3-28). Individual findings for each property (click here) provide information on the assessment and whether it is recommended as a "contributing resource." Individual surveys are indexed by DHR ID, which you can find for your property through the VCRIS Mapviewer.  

New periods of significance (pages 31-41) include: Legal Disenfranchisement and Racial Segregation in Ashland (1902 to 1968), Recovering from the Great Depression (1936 to 1945), and Ashland in the "New Dominion" (1945 to 1967).