Meadowview First MEETINGS
Meadowview Civic Club MEETINGS
CONTRIBUTE
ADDRESS

Check out the Meadowview Miniatures!

You can buy them at the Apple Butter Festival from the Civic Club on October 21st.  We may have them for sale online soon . . .

Meadowview First, Inc.
Post Office Box 530
Meadowview, Virginia 24361

Or call: 276.944.6900

Meadowview Miniatures

The Francisco Building on the left and the Nichols Building on the right were originally constructed around the turn of the century as grocery stores.  In later years they housed other businesses including a furniture store, an antique store and a restaurant.  At one time a cubby hole between the buildings sheltered a telephone which was used for a taxi cab service.  These buildings had second story living quarters.

H.B. Maiden & Maiden Drug Store
Both the H.B. Maiden Building, know as "The Produce House," and the building across the alley known as Maidens Drug Store, were originally owned by Vernie Kendrick.  In the 1920's Ernest E. Maiden and Mr. Horace B. Maiden shared a produce/grocery business in the H.B. Maiden building.  Mr. Ernest, later moved the grocery business while Mr. Horace continued with his sons in the produce business.  That operation ceased in 1982.  The Maiden Drug Store building housed a pharmacy until the late 1930's, when Sue Maiden Callihan became proprietress.  Both buildings had second story living quarters.

The Yesterday Building, originally constructed on its present site, housed a womens apparel shop.  The owner, Sue Maiden (Callihan), sponsored a contest to select an appropriate name for her business. The wining entry, The Toggery, was submitted by Georgia Gravely, first grade teacher at the school, whose prize was a hat.  In the early 1950s, the building was moved to the rear making room for an egg house, and used for storage.  In the 1990s, it was restored on its original site by V. D. Kendrick.  Inside are display items of historic interest, including mail boxes from the former post office, still labeled with box holders' names.  Craig Kendrick is the current owner of the Yesterday building.

Meadowview Jail
The Meadowview Jail was originally housed in the basement of the Meadowview Town Hall, located on Hillman Highway, facing the square.  the iron-barred enclosure was used mainly as an overnight holding cell.  At the dissolution of the town council, the jail was moved to the D.G. Ritchie Construction Company where it was used to store dynamite. It remained on Ritchie property until the 1990s when it was donated to the Meadowview Volunteer Fire Department by Ritchie/Painter heirs for display in the town square.

 

Maiden’s General Store - Constructed in the late 1920’s, the two-story brick building was originally owned by Sterling Dutton, a druggist who dispensed prescription medicines.  In the early 1930’s, the building was purchased by Ernest Maiden and Horace Maiden.  The business operated under the name Maiden and Maiden, and sold over-the-counter medicines, as well as a variety of other products, including tobacco, ice cream, and groceries.  At the dissolution of the partnership, Ernest Maiden continued the business as Maiden’s General Store.  A one-story brick addition was constructed in the early 1950’s, connecting with the general store, and was called Maiden’s Variety Store.  The new addition offered dry goods, school supplies, household products, kitchen utensils and a favorite of Meadowview children, a well-stocked candy counter.

Meadowview Train Depot
The train depot was constructed in 1883 at the coming of the Norfolk & Western Railroad, and the community known as Edmiston’s Meadow (Edmondson’s Meadow) was renamed Meadowview.  A fire in 1926 destroyed several nearby buildings, and the depot was saved when a passing train stopped and doused it with water.

Meadowview United Methodist Church
The building, then known as Meadowview Episcopal Church, was completed and dedicated during 1898-99.  A new addition for classrooms was dedicated to Mrs. Rebecca White Cole and her son, James White Cole in 1955.  In 1978, a fellowship hall was erected and in 1985 dedicated in memory of the Rev. E.B. Jeffers and in honor of Mauvaline Jeffers, his wife.

In addition to Sunday School and worship services, the church as embraced the Women's Missionary Society, the Women's Society of Christian Service, and the Wesleyan service Guild, all now incorporated into the United Methodist Women. An Epworth league for young people was organized in the early 1920s, known now as the United Methodist Youth Fellowship.

Dr. S. H. Yokley Office
The small, brick office building of Dr. S. H. Yokley, as well as his home, stands as a memorial to one of Meadowview's earliest physicians.  Also on the property stood a small, castle-shaped monument, a headstone for the grave of Dr. Yokley's beloved dog, Polly.  Dr. Yokley was the owner of one of the first Fords in the village.  His fondness for children was widely known, and his car was reportedly used (and
wrecked) by many of Meadowview's youth as they learned to drive. Dr. Yokley, who served not only as a doctor, but at times as a veterinarian, moved to Meadowview in the early 1900's.

Meadowview Post Office
The one-story brick building, constructed in 1930, was home to The County Bank. It faces the railroad, directly across from the Meadowview Depot.  The bank's vault arrived by rail on a flatbed car.  it lingered for several days amidst discussion of means to tke it across the railroad to the bank. Finally, a ramp was constructed across the rails.  In a carefully-
timed move when when trains arriving from both directions were halted for three hours.  Mr. Hugh Smyth and a crew of men used pulleys to haul the vault across the tracks and into the building.  The County Bank was closed during the Bank Holiday of 1933, and reopened as the Meadowview Branch - The Bank of Damascus. Since the early 1970’s, the building has served as the office of the United States Postal Service.

The Roland bulding was built in 1936 by Dr. Sterling P. "Dad" Dutton, a 
druggist. Purchased in 1940 by Mr. and Mrs. W.E. Roland, the building became Roland's Confectionary, providing over-the-counter medicines, a soda fountain and lunch counter to the community. The building serviced as a stop on the Fuller Bus Company's route between Saltville and Bristol.  The spacious second story holds living quarters.

The Hardware Building was constructed in the early 1900's by David Greenway Ritchie.  A photograph around 1910, taken in front of the building, shows a group of well-dressed ladies viewing a cooking exhibition on a Laurel Steel Range.  Mr. Ritchie, known as the "Merchant Prince of Meadowview," provided a vast array of merchandise.  Products available in the four-story building included hardware supplies, farm equipment, fertilizer, furniture, milk separators and coal.  Mr. Ritchie purchased wool and other items for local farmers for resale.  The building also housed a funeral home, with bodies being lifted on a freight elevator to the third floor for embalming. The building held several names over the years, including Ritchie-Vance Hardware, Haynes-Crenshaw Hardware, Perdue Hardware, and Meadowview Hardware.  It is currently called Big M Farm Service.

Meadowview School
In 1923 the citizens of Meadowview pledged money to build a new school. The school was completed in 1924. It was used as an elementary school from 1924 until 1974.  It was used as a high school from 1934 when Greenfield High School burned, until 1960 when Patrick Henry High School was built.  Today the building is used as a furniture store.