HISTORIC DOWNTOWN TOUR
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Roanoke was founded in 1832. For many years, the downtown area was the heart of the community. Downtown Roanoke has been an eyewitness to much of what makes up our revered past. It was a place where people could shop, eat, and see friends from the surrounding communities. The area was lined with stores, theatres, hotels, car dealerships, banks, a pool hall, cafes, a bowling alley, and even a Dairy Queen. One trip downtown could provide you with all the things you needed; there was little need to travel far from home.
The most popular spectacles hosted by the downtown area have been a multitude of parades that have marched through Main Street over the years. These parades have honored events ranging from soldiers leaving for World War I to Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal and from the arrival of the circus to the celebration of high school homecomings. Perhaps the most popular parade occurred in late fall and signaled the start of the Christmas shopping season for the downtown stores. |
Photographs courtesy of The Randolph (Roanoke) Leader, the Randolph County Historical Museum, and the collections of Rhonda Baldwin and Merredith Sears.
Farmers and Merchant Bank. 2016. (Postcard Collection) Merredith Sears, Roanoke.
Bonner Hotel. 2016. Roanoke Leader, Roanoke.
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Farmers and Merchant Bank. 2016. (Postcard Collection) Merredith Sears, Roanoke.
Bonner Hotel. 2016. Roanoke Leader, Roanoke.
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