Virginia - Staunton

Staunton



The main hall of the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind, at left, dates to 1846 in this view from US Route 11 east of the city.


On the other side of the city, the pump house in front of Gypsy Hill Park dates to about 1876 when the city's water was first centralized. It remained in use until the 1920s when the Staunton Reservoir was dammed up in the mountains, and is now the headquarters of the Stonewall Brigade Band, a storied community band formed prior to the Civil War (and then renamed).


All of these buildings belong to Mary Baldwin University. The first was its first building from 1844, now its main hall, giving bragging rights over the School for the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind as it was then known. The second is the 1869 Agnes McClung Residence Hall, and the third is the 1900 C. W. Miller House at #210 New Street, purchased by the then-college in 1941.


Working my way south on North Augusta Street (US Route 11 Business), #1310 dates to about 1898, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church dates to 1897, and the theater is newer at 1937.


A glimpse of downtown along East Frederick Street, looking west from Coalter Street, is dominated by the 1872 First Presbyterian Church, but there are other churchs beyond.


Compare Our Quality, challenges this old advertisement for the Grand Piano + Furniture Co. on the side of #11 South Augusta.


The remainder of my photos are devoted to the 1901 Augusta County Courthouse at the corner of Johnson and Augusta Streets, a block south of the exact center of the city. Justice is perched thereon.


Rounding the corner onto South Augusta Street, I don't know what the plaque is next to the front door - it looks vaguely religious (divine law?), but I know that the cornerstone has three dates to memorialize the two courthouses that came before.

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