The story below is from our July/August 2019 issue. For the full issue Subscribe today, view our FREE interactive digital edition or download our FREE iOS app!
Photo above: Julianne Rainone / Archival image courtesy of the Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries
This street is still as busy as it was nearly 100 years ago, though with a bit of a facelift since its early 1900s beginning.
Salem’s College Avenue was a bustling thoroughfare in the early 1900s, and it remains that way today, with a different look and purpose.
This photo, revealing a short block of College Avenue leading to Main Street, takes us back to a time when a church, Salem Town Hall, and a courthouse lined the street. Roanoke College, a private liberals arts institution, now owns the buildings on this entire block.
College Lutheran Church, formed by a group from Roanoke College, is the first building on the left side of College Avenue in this photo. The church’s congregation worshipped here for 64 years before the church relocated to its current spot, a stone structure at 210 College Ave., according to the Salem Museum & Historical Society. Farmers’ National Bank eventually moved in, and now the building is home to Roanoke College’s history department.
Just behind the church was Salem Town Hall, built in 1870. It served not only as offices and council chambers but it hosted high school graduations, silent films, club meetings, college dances, traveling entertainers, civic celebrations, theatrical presentations, concerts and more. It was truly the center of Salem’s civic life. The building was razed in 1967, after the community outgrew the space, according to the Salem Museum & Historical Society. Now, Roanoke College owns the site, currently a parking lot.
Across the street was the Roanoke County Courthouse, built in 1910. Salem was the county seat at the time. The courthouse eventually relocated, and Roanoke College purchased the building in 1988, renaming it West Hall. The former courthouse is home to the college’s Departments of Business Administration and Economics, Religion/Philosophy, History and Public Affairs.
A few years ago, the college decided to spruce up its portion of College Avenue. Several buildings received an exterior facelift, with new paint and window awnings. Also, Fruitions, a smoothie and food shop, moved from Main Street to a larger location on College Avenue.
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