Category: History

This view of the west entrance to the Downtown Mall was taken in the 1980s from the top of what historically is known as “Vinegar Hill”. This is after the Omni Hotel was constructed (1984) but well before the ice park. The paved street seen here is Water Street but Main Street once ran down…

This view of downtown Charlottesville is looking north on 5th Street East from Water Street. The photograph was taken in 1972 before the construction of the Downtown Mall.  Main Street at that time had a major furniture store (M.C.Thomas) and also a full-service grocery store (Reid’s) that faced East Main Street in the 500 block…

Main Street, 1963.  This photograph by Ed Roseberry shows the 200 and 300 blocks of East Main Street (looking west from about Fourth St.) A full decade before the Downtown Mall would be built, automobile traffic flowed one-way (west) at the time.  Note the businesses along Main Street: the tall building to the right was…

This photograph of the 100 block of West Main Street shows patio seating for what appears to be Miller’s on the Downtown Mall. Miller’s opened in in 1981 in the former Miller’s drugstore.  This section of the DTM was installed several years after the original brick-paved pedestrian mall.  Note that the Willow Oak trees in…

With the 2014 Dogwood Festival in full swing, Vintage DTM looks back to one of the last Dogwood Festival Parades that would navigate Main Street downtown before the construction of the pedestrian mall.  This photograph shows East Main at Third Street. The bank building (still there today) stands in the back ground, as well as…

This undated photo shows South First Street, possibly in the early-mid 1980s.  The brick pedestrian mall is in place along Main Street by this time but not yet on some of the side streets.  Today this block is pedestrian-only with the exception of a couple of parking spots near Water Street.  All of the shops…

This photograph (undated, but we’re pretty certain from sometime in the 1980s) shows the 200 block of East Main Street on the Downtown Mall.  Although an easily recognizable part of the DTM, much has changed in the three decades since this photo was taken.  Stacy’s Music, a long-time C’ville business, continues to thrive at their…

This photograph by Ed Roseberry shows the DTM in the early years of the brick-paved pedestrian mall.  The willow oak trees are just getting established and some of the signage that hung along Main Street (dating to the 1950s and earlier) can still be seen here. Roseberry has documented downtown Charlottesville and UVA through his photography since…