The Middletown Historic District is a national historic district located in Middletown, Virginia. It originally encompassed 234 contributing properties, the majority of which are residential buildings and their associated outbuildings. The boundaries of the historic district are approximately Church Street, Senseney Avenue, and First through Sixth Streets, except for a portion of Main Street that ends just south of Reliance Road (Route 627).
The non-residential historic structures include four specialty shops, a former theater, four churches, the Town Hall, two former schools, three warehouses and an inn. Notable buildings include the former Middletown Mission Church (c. 1818), Grace United Methodist Church (1897), the former Mt. Zion Church (1880), the former Middletown School (1909), the Town Hall (1880), the Wayside Inn (1797), Larrick's Tavern (1750), the former Wayside Theatre (1946), and Lafolette House (1800). Located in the district and separately listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) and Virginia Landmarks Register (VLR) is St. Thomas Chapel (1837).
The present-day Middletown area began developing in the mid-18th century due to the Great Wagon Road that brought settlers and commerce to the Shenandoah Valley. When the Virginia General Assembly formally established Middletown in 1796, there were already many residential and commercial buildings in the area. The town continued to develop thanks to the Valley Turnpike, present-day Main Street/U.S. Route 11, which connected the town to nearby Newtown (Stephens City) and Strasburg.
During the 19th century Middletown experienced continued residential and commercial growth until the Civil War. Many skirmishes took place in the area during Jackson's Valley campaign. The 1864 Battle of Cedar Creek, which began just south of the town limits before moving north through the town, resulted in many damaged properties. Commerce increased after a railroad track built in 1870 helped the town recover from the war's effects. Many of the town's historic houses were constructed in the late-19th century.
In the 20th century Route 11 was widened, utilities were installed, and the county's first high school opened in Middletown. Additional houses, warehouses, and commercial buildings, including a bank and movie theater, were constructed. A fire station built in the 1960s replaced historic houses, a trend that continued during the next few decades.
Due to the efforts of a local heritage group and with support from residents, a large portion of the town was listed as a historic district by the VLR and NRHP in 2003. Despite the historic designation, several contributing properties have been demolished. Town officials are hoping to avoid further demolition by encouraging residents to maintain their property and by preventing the construction of buildings that do not fit in with the character of the historic district.
Geography
Middletown is located in southern Frederick County, Virginia, one of several counties in the Shenandoah Valley. The nearest towns are Stephens City, five miles (8 km) north, and Strasburg, five miles south. The town is bordered by Laurel Ridge Community College to the north, Interstate 81 to the east, and the Cedar Creek and Belle Grove National Historical Park to the south.
The historic district encompasses approximately 100 acres (40.4 ha), including the town's original 60 acres (24.3 ha), and additional properties on Main Street, north of First Street (Route 627), stretching almost to Reliance Road. The historic district is centered around Main Street, the portion of U.S. Route 11 located in the town, which runs southwest to northeast. The other streets in the historic district running southwest to northeast are Church Street, which is south of Main Street, and Senseney Avenue, located north of Main Street. The streets running northwest to southeast are First through Sixth Streets. There are also alleys running parallel to the streets which are included in the historic district's boundaries.
History 17th and 18th centuries Present-day Middletown was part of the Fairfax Grant, a 17th-century land grant by King Charles II, encompassing a portion of colonial Virginia. The Van Meter brothers, who had acquired a 40,000-acre (16,187 ha) portion of this grant, later conveyed the land to German immigrant Jost Hite in 1731. During the next few decades, a 2,168-acre (877 ha) portion of this grant was conveyed to various men, ending with Dr. Peter Senseney, who acquired it in several transactions beginning in 1776. He moved to nearby Winchester and left the land for his children to maintain. Clockmaker Jacob Danner was tasked with surveying the area, then known as Senseney Town, and plotting 126 half-acre (0.2 ha) lots to establish a town. Middletown, possibly named because it was halfway between Newtown (later renamed Stephens City) and Strasburg, was established on May 4, 1796, by the Virginia General Assembly. It was chartered by the Frederick County government in 1796, becoming the third town established in the county.
The town was centered around the Great Wagon Road, later renamed Valley Turnpike, and now known as U.S. Route 11. The portion passing through Middletown, present-day Main Street, was designed to be wider than standard streets to accommodate commercial traffic. Commercial buildings, including the Wayside Inn (7783 Main Street; originally known as Larrick's Hotel and Wilkinson's Tavern) and Larrick's Tavern (7793 Main Street), were built in the 18th century. Houses built on Main Street during this time include the Jacob Danner House (7846 Main Street), Cirrani House (7896 Main Street), and Hoffman House (7827 Main Street). The Weaver-Jenkins House (7805 Church Street) and George Wright House (7845 Church Street) also date to the 18th century.
19th century
Less than half of the lots were sold by 1804 when Senseney died. Many of these lots were conveyed to his widow and children. Danner continued assisting the town's development, serving as the community leader until his death in 1850. During his stewardship local churches were founded, businesses continued to open, and two schools operated, all while the population slowly increased. A Methodist church for white residents was built at present-day 7893 Senseney Avenue in 1818 and later given to the town's African American residents, who renamed it the Colored People's Church. The Colored People's Church congregation later moved to nearby 7913 Senseney Avenue which was named Mt. Zion Methodist Church.
Most of the residences built in the early-19th century were log houses, including the Jacob Brookover House (7868 Main Street) and the houses at 7930 and 7952 Main Street. Many of these log houses were eventually covered with weatherboard, stucco, or brick, the latter beginning in the 1830s. The turnpike was paved in 1834, bringing additional commerce through Middletown and further increasing the population. St. Thomas Episcopal Church, which included members of the Hite family, was founded in 1834. The congregation built the Gothic Revival St. Thomas Chapel (7854 Church Street) in 1837. The white Methodist congregation built a brick church in 1852 on the corner of Main and present-day Third Streets, which has since been demolished.
During the Civil War, the Shenandoah Valley was the site of many battles. Soldiers traveled up and down the turnpike between Winchester and points south, with several bloody battles taking place in and around Middletown. Buildings in the town were often hit with artillery. Confederate soldiers used St. Thomas Chapel as a hospital until Union soldiers arrived and kicked them out. Union soldiers used the church as a stable and burned most of the interior. The last major battle to take place in the area, just south of the town limits, was the Battle of Cedar Creek. Fighting took place around the Belle Grove Plantation and Monte Vista before moving north through the town. Middletown slowly recovered after the war, with commerce increasing after a railroad track was built around 1870 between Winchester and Strasburg.
The town was incorporated in 1878. A town council was established and J. W. Rhodes served as the first mayor. These new local officials redrew the town's plats, changed the address number system, and renamed streets, except for Main Street. Many of the surviving buildings in the historic district were built in the late-19th century, representing various architectural styles. Folk Victorian, Greek Revival, Colonial Revival, Queen Anne, and Italiante houses were built, along with additional vernacular buildings, which had been present since the town's beginnings. A log cabin school that stood on Church Street from around 1800 was demolished in 1880 and replaced with the first Middletown Public School (7875 Church Street). During the last decade of the 19th century the Methodist church was replaced with an imposing Romanesque Revival building (7882 Main Street) and the town's first bank and only historic brick commercial building, Middletown State Bank (7843 Main Street), opened.
20th century
Electricity and phone service arrived in Middletown in the early 20th century, and when Route 11 was widened, none of the properties fronting Main Street were demolished because buildings had been constructed further away from the road in anticipation of future development. The town's first auto repair shop, Stubley's Garage (no address listed; between 7957 and 7969 Main Street) was built around this time. A new Middletown School (7690 Main Street, formerly 7688) was built in 1909, becoming the county's first high school and one of the first agricultural high schools in Virginia. The schoolmaster lived in an American Foursquare house (7700 Main Street) that is located next door. African American children attended the segregated Senseney-Middletown Colored Elementary School (7883 Senseney Avenue). The former school on Church Street was deeded to the town. One of the requirements in the deed was that the Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) would be allowed to meet on the second floor.
Residential buildings constructed in the 1920s include an American Craftsman house (7895 Main Street), a bungalow (7935 Church Street), and the vernacular 2435 First Street, which later served as a nursing home. A warehouse (2325 First Street) that was later home to Route 11 Potato Chips was built around the same time. Among the buildings constructed in the 1930s and 1940s were a dance hall and eleven bungalows for employees of the American Viscose Corporation in nearby Front Royal. The dance hall and some of the bungalows were later demolished.
There were several significant fires in Middletown in the early-20th century. Following a devastating fire that took place on Main Street in 1941, residents and town officials saw the need for a volunteer fire company, which was formed two years later. In 1946 the Bordon-Lee Theater (7853 Main Street), which played films, was built on the site of the former Shenandoah Normal School, which had been recently destroyed in a fire. Fifteen years later the Bordon-Lee building began housing a live theater company and was later renamed the Wayside Theatre.