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Historic Architecture Downtown Richmond:
A Walking Tour
 

Richmond's Downtown District
In 1806, President Thomas Jefferson signed the bill that established the National Road (America’s Main Street). It would cross seven states and create a corridor for settlers moving west. By 1827, the National Road had reached Richmond, Indiana. When Richmond was settled in 1805 by Quakers from North Carolina, the commercial trade was largely concentrated on Front Street (now South 4th St.), facing the Whitewater River. The National Road quickly became Richmond’s new Main Street. Retailers relocated their businesses to greet settlers moving west.

Early buildings on Main Street were largely simple, two-story structures of Federal or Greek Revival styles, similar to those that can be seen today in nearby Centerville, Indiana. These soon gave way to a more popular style of the taller Italianate architecture, in vogue during the 1850s to 1890s, such as the first Knollenberg’s building built in 1877. The influence of the Queen Anne style, more common in residential architecture, can be seen in the eastern half of Knollenberg’s built ten years later in 1888. Both buildings were designed by the Richmond Architect, John A. Hasecoster.

As Richmond grew, having become a railroad center and the county seat of Wayne County, new commercial and public buildings such as the Courthouse were built in the Richardsonian Romanesque style. After the turn-of-the-century, new architectural styles prevailed, and buildings such as Star Bank (then Dickinson Trust Co.) and Hoppe Jewelers (Tivoli Theater) exhibited a Neo-Classical or Beaux Arts influence. Later architectural trends can be seen in the Art Deco building that S.S. Kresge Co. built at 801 East Main Street.

April 6, 1968 was a tragic day for Richmond, Indiana. A double explosion occurred at 1:47 P.M. EST in downtown Richmond, killing 41 people and injuring more than 150. The first explosion was due to a natural Gas leak from faulty transmission lines under the Marting Arms sporting goods store, located at 6th and Main Streets. A secondary explosion was caused by barrels of gunpowder stored in the basement of the building. Twenty buildings in and around the site were condemned as a direct result of the explosions.

The award-winning design for rebuilding the downtown closed off five blocks of Main Street and became the Promenade. This was a popular trend of modernizing that was influenced by the walking mall and shopping center designs. Another part of competing with emerging shopping centers had merchants ―updating their storefronts with metal or glass panels over the front of the buildings that masked the historic architecture.

Today, this trend has largely been reversed. The Promenade was removed in the mid—1990s and Main Street was returned to through traffic. People look at the outstanding collection of historic architecture in Richmond as a resource.

As you walk down Richmond’s Main Street, look up and see the evidence of this community’s rich history as it is displayed in the architecture of its Main Street. Now nominated for the National Register of Historic Places, the architectural richness has been nationally recognized.

► Start at the Wayne County Courthouse

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