Lynchburg History
Church and Ninth Streets
Monument Terrace, completed in 1925, links Church Street with Court Street via 132 steps and 10 landings. The bronze statue, The Listening Post, created by Charles Keck, commemorates Lynchburg’s World War I dead. Several other memorials have been installed since then on the steps and landings. The Confederate statue at the top of Monument Terrace has a time capsule in its base that holds Confederate currency, replica flags, photographs of local veterans, and hair from Traveller (Gen. Robert E. Lee’s horse).
Several notable churches, including First Baptist and Westminster Presbyterian, both demolished, once stood on Church Street. The building to the right of Monument Terrace was former1y the office of Lynchburg’s newspaper, The News and Advance. The building was designed by Richard Allen and completed in 1931as one of the city’s premier examples of Art Deco architecture. Carter Glass owned the News and Advance from 1888 until his death in 1946. He served as Secretary of the Treasury and in the House of Representatives for sixteen years. During his twenty-six years as a U.S. Senator, he coauthored legislation that helped create the Federal Reserve.
The eighteen-story Allied Arts Building on your right, Lynchburg’s tallest building until 1972, is another fine example of Art Deco architecture and was completed in 1931. Architects Stanhope Johnson and Ray Brannan designed it. The base is covered with greenstone, a type of stone quarried in commercial quantities only in Lynchburg.
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Lynchburg is a city rich in the history of Virginia and the nation. As with any city, some of our sites and buildings that reflect that history have changed over the centuries since Lynchburg’s origins in the 1750s. You can see for yourself the city’s historic places and how they have changed or remained intact. Just let the map guide you to the many historical markers that are located downtown. Enjoy learning about Lynchburg!
The Lynchburg History marker program is a partnership of the City of Lynchburg Museum System, Dept. of Communication & Marketing and Dept. of Parks & Recreation, discoverlynchburg, Lynchburg Historical Foundation, and Lynch’s Landing
Marker is at the intersection of Ninth Street and Church Street, on the left when traveling south on Ninth Street.
Courtesy hmdb.org
