Ashland at the Turn of the Century

This photograph shows Ashland’s business district looking south from the intersection of Railroad and College Avenues. The passenger station on the left was built by the Richmond Fredericksburg and Potomac railroad in 1866.  The tower supplied water for steam engines.  The freight depot is hidden by the water tower. 

Frame shops are located on the east (left) side of the tracks beyond England Street, but across the tracks on the west side, Meyberg’s store can be seen in one of the first of the brick buildings built after the great fire of 1893. 

The D.B. Cox building was not yet built.  Stebbins Store and deep porch roof can be seen at the corner of Thompson and Railroad Avenue.  Barnes Drug was there, but is barely visible.  The Post Office and the Hanover Bank building are the last buildings on the right. 

Notice the double track through town, which was laid in 1903.  The extra track on the left is the siding for the Ashland Accommodation.  Notice also the kerosene streetlights along the west side of Railroad Avenue and the street trees protected by wire on the east side of the street.  The tall poles support telegraph wires.