The “Historic Downtown Vinton” designation is now official on the national level. The town
received the state Virginia Landmarks Register designation from the Virginia Dept. of Historic
Resources in March 2024, but now officially appears on the National Register of Historic Places.
The announcement was made via the Weekly List of the National Register of Historic Places
issued on August 7.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation's historic sites worthy of
preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National
Register is part of a program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify,
evaluate, and protect America's historic and archeological resources. Being on the list helps
qualified historic properties receive preservation benefits and incentives.
The Vinton Downtown Historic District encompasses the commercial core of the Town of
Vinton, centered around the intersection of South Pollard Street and Lee Avenue, bound by
Walnut Avenue, Washington Avenue, Maple Avenue, and Jackson Avenue.
The district features a collection of commercial and municipal buildings from the early to mid-
20th century and typifies a rural community in southwest Virginia that developed into a
downtown business hub over the course of the 20th century, after the establishment of railway
transportation in the region.
The campaign to place downtown Vinton on both historic registers grew out of the desire to
relocate the historic Cundiff’s Drugs store sign to its original location in downtown Vinton.
Cundiff Drugs sign ignited interest in Vinton being added to state and national historic registers.
The town discovered that Virginia State Code states, “It shall be unlawful for any place of
business which is not a pharmacy to advertise or to have upon it or in it as a sign the words,
‘pharmacy,’ ‘pharmacist,’ ‘apothecary,’ ‘drugstore,’ ‘druggist,’ ‘drugs,’ ‘medicine store,’ ‘drug
sundries,’ ‘prescriptions filled’ or any like words indicating that drugs are compounded or sold
or prescriptions filled.”
The town discovered an exception could be granted “for such signage on an historic building that
formerly housed a drugstore or pharmacy if that building is individually listed as a Virginia
Historic Landmark, a contributing property in a Virginia Historic Landmark District or
determined to be eligible for listing by the Department of Historic Resources, provided that the
signage relates to the historic character of the building.”
Listing a property in the state or national registers is honorary and sets no restrictions on what
owners may do with their property. Designating a property to the state or national
registers—either individually or as a contributing building in a historic district—provides an
owner the opportunity to pursue historic rehabilitation tax credit improvements to the building.
Hill Studio assisted the town in completing the application. The Cundiff Drug Store sign is
currently being refurbished.
