University of Virginia Library

April 15, 1874

Main Street, 1828-1874.—In the paper of last week
we gave some account of Main street from its eastern
end to the third cross (School) [East 3rd] street. We
will now commence at the corner of that and Main
street, [north side], lots No. 21 and 22. There were
four small houses on this square in 1828; the first, now
F. Hartnagle's,[109] was a small two-story brick store and
dwelling, and was formerly the mercantile house of Col.
Jno. R. Jones, who owned it, and he had also a store on
the Public Square. There was a platform in front of
the store, an ascent of several steps led to the store room;

these steps were afterwards removed and the floor of the
store lowered about four feet. Mr. Martin, a merchant
who sold hats and shoes, and who married a daughter of
Joseph Harper, had this store till he emigrated to the
West. Thomas Grady afterwards kept for several
years a grocery store in it. Mr. G. was of a tall, lank
and ungainly appearance, his clothes fitting loosely
about his person; he was full of jokes, very free spoken
and often using, like many of the older residents, profane
language; he was, however, friendly, sociable and
kindly disposed. He had been a soldier in the war of
1812, and entertained a strong feeling of love and respect
for General Andrew Jackson, and a stronger,
more determined Democrat did not live in these parts.
At the other end of the lot, on Market Street, lived Dr.
James A. Leitch, then a young practitioner, full of
humor; he kept chained up a tame bear, that often got
loose and troubled the neighbors. Bears are very fond
of sugar; Bruin one day made a visit to the store of Mr.
Grady and took possession of the hogshead of sugar,
while the proprietor, afraid to meddle with him, stood
aghast hallooing at and berating the beast, but this did
not disturb the equanimity of Dr. Leitch's pet, and he
ate his fill of the saccharine sweets. Francis Mannoni,
confectioner, had this store room for twelve years. The
present owner, F. Hartnagle, has enlarged and improved
both the store and the house as it now stands; he
also built the brick store room adjoining, now occupied
by J. M. Daniel & Bro., booksellers, and French A.
Balthis, jeweler,[110] as well as the tenements north on
School [3rd] street. Adjoining the bookstore is an old
wooden house with modernized front; J. C. Kelley, tinner,
and W. R. Cogbill, barber, are the tenants. The
next house is an ancient one, old as the town, perhaps; it
has also a modern front; the porch formerly stood several
feet on the sidewalk; it belonged to James Leitch, a
very successful merchant, an Irishman, who was largely
patronized by Mr. Jefferson; he gave it to his sister,
Miss Rebecca Leitch, fifty years since, and she is still
the owner of it as well as the one occupied by Kelley and
Cogbill. In this house a Mr. Dawson taught school.
Mrs. Logan and daughters, milliners, once lived here,
and then Mr. Joseph Martin, bookbinder, who published
the Virginia Gazetteer [in 1835], a large octavo volume,
and other works. Mr. A. C. Brechin is now the
occupant and deals in fancy goods, picture-frames,
prints and wallpaper. The next, west, is a small
wooden tenement, belonging to T. W. Savage; Peter
Diggs, the barber, occupies it. The next building, a
two-and-a-half story dwelling, is the residence of Mr.
Savage; the store under it is occupied by L. W. Cox, the
gunsmith; it at one time was used for the Post-office,
when Wickliffe Hutchinson was post master. There
formerly stood on this place a small, one-and-a-half
story brick dwelling, where Lyman Peck, deputy sheriff
in 1828, and town Sergeant of the corporation, lived; his
horse, on one occasion, ran away with him in a buggy,
when he jumped out and broke his leg, which had to be
amputated, and he died under the operation. His
widow and children now reside in Mississippi. Mr. T.
W. Savage and E. Watts purchased their property of
Andrew Leitch, executor of James Dinsmore, who
owned it for several years. Mr. D. lived on the place
now owned by Peter Harman,[111] near the University.
Mr. James Dinsmore and his brother William were by
birth Irishmen, and were carpenters, the former, with
Mr. Nelson, was a contractor in building the University,
and acquired a handsome estate. He lost his life by
falling into a stream that flowed through the Orangedale
farm.[112] Mr. D. left the bulk of his estate to a
brother who lived in Louisiana. Mr. Wm. Dinsmore
died and was buried at Orangedale. The next building
is a one-and-a-half story wooden structure[113] extending
for some distance up Church [East 2nd] street; it is
perhaps one of the old settlers, and we learn, was a
mercantile store previous to 1828. Mr. E. Watts, bookbinder,
had a small store here for many years; it is now
owned by Fred Hartnagle; Meade & Co. keep cigars
and tobacco for sale in this store room. Mr. Hartnagle,
in 1872, built the handsome brick building on Church
street, extending to the Presbyterian church.[114]

Crossing over to the opposite [south] side of Main
street are lots 35 and 36, extending from the third cross
(School) [3rd] street, to the fourth cross (Church)
[2nd] street. These lots were owned by Nancy West, a
free mulatto woman, and the wife (not lawfully) of
David Isaacs, a German Jew. On these two lots, at our
first recollection, was a two story wooden house with
wings east and west adjoining; David Isaacs did business
here, and Nancy West sold cakes, &c. One of the
sons of the above couple, Tucker Isaacs, was a painter,
and was a good citizen and much respected; he is now a
resident of Chillicothe, Ohio, and a man of large property.
His brother Frederick was a printer, and both
were educated with the whites in this town. Fred. had a
natural talent for drawing, and could imitate with accuracy
every signature in the Declaration of Independence,
even to the palsied, shaking one of Steph.
Hopkins, of R. Island. On these lots there are now
eight large and commodious brick stores and dwellings.

The first[115] on the corner of School [3rd] street, was built
by Tucker Isaacs, and was sold to F. Potentini, Corsican,
who had a confectionery in the old wooden house
for several years; he removed to Washington city, and
during the late war accumulated a large fortune and returned
to France with $100,000. T. and S. M. Keller
had a confectionery here. James Lobban afterwards
purchased this house, and sold it to Mrs. Mary Keblinger;
it is now the property of her children, and the
store is occupied by Mrs. Bachrach, milliner; the next
two buildings were erected by James Lobban, one store
is occupied by J. Bachrach, dry goods merchants, and
the other by Henry Benson, auctioneer. The next store
room is the hardware establishment of Lobban & Sinclair,
and the upper part is the residence of Mr. Lobban.
The house was built by Tucker Isaacs. From this store
to Church [East 2nd] street, Rev. James Fife purchased,
who built the store occupied by A. B. Heller,
dry goods and clothing merchant; G. M. McIntire,
druggist and apothecary, occupied the store for many
years. The next two stores are stuccoed work; the land
was sold by Mr. Fife to John Wood, Jr. and John T.
Antrim, who erected them. Ed. M. Antrim occupies
one for dry goods and S. Bass, clothier, the other. The
next building west,[116] on the corner of Church street, is a
large three story house, built by Rev. J. Fife; the store

Main Street looking East from foot of Vinegar Hill, about 1880

is a deep one and occupied by E. Hechheimer as a clothing
house, the upper story Dr. E. S. H. Wise has for a
boarding house. The one story L to the old house which
stood on this place, Dr. J. Staige Davis had for his office
previous to his becoming professor at the University; it
was removed down the lot on Church street and is at
present occupied by Rev. C. R. Ross as the Depository
of the Albemarle Colportage and Sunday School Society,
where bibles, tracts and religious publications are
sold. A. H. Cleveland is now the owner of this property.
The house below the Depository is occupied by
C. H. Wingfield, carriage maker, and was the property
and residence of Jane West, and not as we stated last
week, the place south of it owned by M. M. DuPre. We
also stated that the house on the corner of Main and
Court streets was built by John Mannoni fifteen years
since—it was built in 1866.

We next come to lots Nos. 37 and 38 [on south side],
once the property of David Isaacs. It was known as the
old barracks; by some it is said the name was derived
from the fact that Tarleton quartered his troops here in
1781, and others say Gen. Bankhead[117] had his headquarters
here in the war of 1812, from which it took its
name, which we believe to be the true version. As we
first recollect it in 1828, there were only two wooden
buildings on these lots, the one now standing and owned

by R. S. Jones, and a small one-story tenement which
stood a few feet back, where the late J. P. Halbach's
house stands.

The house on the corner of Church [East 2nd] street
is one of the original houses of the place, but the solid
timbers are good for a century or more yet. A Mr.
Grant, in 1828-29 had a drygoods store here. Bragg &
Kelly, Joseph Merrell and Joseph Bishop also occupied
it later, then Jesse W. Jones in 1842 purchased it from
David Isaacs, and afterwards sold it to his brother, Ro.
S. Jones, who is the present owner. He has been altering,
adding and building to it on every side, and changing
it till it has become almost a light house in the sky.
For several years Mr. Retzer had a photograph gallery
there, then Jones himself carried on the same business
and afterwards Tyson & Perry[118] had it for the same
business. George & Co. occupy the corner store for the
drug and apothecary business; J. Tyler Jackson sells
confectioneries and has an insurance agency in the next
store, and in the next room Charles Thompson has a
news agency and a tobacco and cigar store. The large
three-story brick building, next to Thompson, was built
by R. S. Jones in 1843, in the second story of which Rev.
Stephen H. Mirick, a Baptist minister, once had a female
seminary. Sterling & Wood occupy one of the
stores for Jewelry, watches, etc., and in the other E.
Oppenheim has a liquor establishment.

On lot No. 36,  Peter U. Ware , tinner, did business
here forty odd years ago; he was robbed and murdered
by two negro men, who followed him from Charlottesville

to where the Mount Eagle Baptist church[119] stands,
in this county; they had seen him obtain money which
they thought was a large amount, but it was only a dollar
or two. The negroes were apprehended, tried, convicted
and hung. Mr. Ware was a good man, and highly
respected, his wife, the daughter of the late Claudius
Mayo, still lives in this county; he was a member of the
Episcopal church in this town.

The next store to Oppenheim was built by John J.
Pace, where he once carried on mercantile business, and
afterwards in the firm of Pace & Keblinger; Mrs. N. A.
Terrell now occupies the store for the millinery business.
The next store is the place where for years J. P. Halbach
had a merchant tailoring establishment, and of late
years a news depot; he built all three of the stores on this
lot, to the corner of Green [First] street; next to his
place of business Edward Benner, jeweller, did business
for several years, and Bear & Conrad also conducted the
jewelry business here; recently it was occupied by Jesse
W. Jones jr. as a hardware and fancy store. The next
store, corner of Green, the 6th cross street, is the place of
business of M. Kaufman, grocer.[120]

We again cross over to the northern side of Main
street, on lots 23 and 24; on these two lots there was
only one house erected till of late years, and that house is
now standing,[121] and was, perhaps, built in the town's
first days, ere the Revolution; we have been told that it

was occupied by Col. Taliaferro, as a public house; this
Col. Taliaferro was sheriff of the county, and owned the
lots below on the same side of the street, and also the
farm belonging to John Fry, near town, on the old
Lynchburg road. The house afterwards was the property
of Col. Bell, also of the revolutionary army, which
had a store in it, and he built an addition on the western
end of the house. This house is now as it was when first
built, with its thick, heavy doors, and all the timbers are
in a good state of preservation; the shingles on the house,
after serving for 60 years were taken off, turned over
and put on again; it is one and a half stories high, and,
like the original buildings, the first floor is elevated several
feet above the ground. Jesse Scott, the celebrated
fiddler—half Indian, half white—married the daughter
of Col. Bell and became the owner of the house and
the acre of land attached; his sons, Robert, aged 71, and
James, aged 63, are now the owners of the house; both
of them play the fiddle every year at one of the watering
places in Virginia, and at weddings and parties elsewhere.
The Scotts, father and sons, have always stood
well in this place, and were respected by every one. On
Main street, next to this old house, is a small wooden
building in which James Ferguson, the barber and hairdresser,
carries on his business; the next is a one-story
brick store, occupied by Robertson & Dodd, grocers; the
next is a two-story brick building occupied by D. H.
Stern,[122] boot, shoe and leather dealer; adjoining this is a
butcher's stall, kept by colored men. In the next house,
F. D. Brockman,[123] merchant tailor, has been doing business
for near 40 years, and C. C. Ashford, sign painter,
has rooms above the store. The next house is a large
double brick dwelling;[124] in one of the stores A. Moser,
boot and shoe maker, occupies, and C. H. Wingfield,
confectioner, the other. John A. Marchant built this
house and for several years did a mercantile business in
it. In the rear there was a lager beer manufactory, but
at this time it is occupied [by] B. F. Hawkins, painter
and glazier. At the other end of this lot, on Market
street, is the brick mansion of Wm. A. Watson,[125] and
adjoining it the residence of Capt. C. C. Wertenbaker.[126]