Downtown Reidsville was originally the first industrial area in the City as the tobacco industry grew up around the railroad after the Civil War. Soon, shops, saloons, churches and public buildings were built, and downtown Reidsville became the focal point of the community. Today, we define “downtown” Reidsville as a 6+ block area from Morehead Street on the north to Williams Street on the south, from Main Street on the west to Southwest Market Street on the east. The main street going north and south through downtown is Scales Street and, for 100 years, the circle with the Confederate Monument was at the crest of the hill on the northern point of downtown.
Within our downtown, you will find retail stores, offices, restaurants, public buildings and a movie theatre. Like most downtowns, small businesses struggle, and Reidsville is in the final stages of a second generation revitalization program. The first revitalization in the early 1990s created parking areas and installed trees and decorative lighting. The second revitalization was the remodeling of several parking areas, the removal of abandoned buildings and creation of green space just north of the circle, the conversion of a small abandoned gas station adjacent to the circle into a popular hog dog and ice cream stand, the redevelopment of an alleyway into a pedestrian walkway complete with a waterfall, the addition of aesthetic improvements to sidewalks and intersections and the creation of a Farmer’s Market/amphitheater called Market Square. We have used unifying elements such as decorative block and timbers throughout the downtown. While businesses still struggle, we now have crowds of people on weekends for our car cruise-ins, movies and public performances in Market Square, and energy has returned to downtown.
The attachments are presented to give the viewer an idea of the relationship the circle has to the rest of downtown as well as the types of architectural elements that are in close proximity to the circle, which is approximately 24 feet wide with a five-foot band around it.
For more information, take a look at our web site at: www.ci.reidsville.nc.us. Click on the “Document Center” and then go to “Call For Artists.”