ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, October 24, 1996 TAG: 9610240029
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: What's On Your Mind?
SOURCE: RAY REED
Q: What is the oldest existing building in Historic Gainsboro?
R.A., Roanoke
A: The oldest buildings probably are houses built in the 1880s, said Leslie Giles, an architectural historian who has researched Gainsboro.
Buildings are not the reason Gainsboro is a historic district, though; its people are.
Gainsboro is recognized for its historic status as a neighborhood where blacks owned several homes as early as 1890.
The oldest building in the area is just across Orange Avenue from Gainsboro, in Washington Park. A small brick house there predates the Civil War, and most of Roanoke as well. It is boarded up and not in use.
Many houses in the original Gainsboro were built as speculative real estate projects by the Roanoke Land and Improvement Co., a development arm of the Norfolk & Western Railway, Giles said.
Several of those houses survive.
Their first owners probably were middle-management railroad employees who lived in the area between Orange Avenue and the railroad.
John Kern of the state Historic Resources Department in Roanoke said many houses on First Street were owned by blacks by 1890.
The department's research focused on black ownership of homes rather than construction dates.
By 1900, blacks owned many homes in the area from Hotel Roanoke west to Fifth Street, and by 1920, the area was mostly under black ownership.
Viaduct paving delay
Q: What is the city of Roanoke's apparent aversion to resurfacing Williamson Road from Wells Avenue south to Campbell Avenue? It's long been in a state of disrepair.
O.C., Roanoke
A: That stretch of Williamson consists mostly of the old viaduct, and it's scheduled for major repairs after the new Second Street bridge opens next spring.
Plans call for the remaining portion of the Jefferson Street leg of the viaduct to be torn down. A third lane will be added for southbound traffic turning right onto Salem Avenue.
Work will begin after Second Street is open and available as a detour into downtown.
Radar zones
Q: I've noticed Roanoke police setting up radar on Grandin Road Extension on the side of the road that's toward Roanoke County's boundary. Is that legal?
R.M., Roanoke
A: It is. All of the roadway was given to Roanoke by annexation, and the city maintains a right of way 25 feet from the road's center line.
That should give the police cruisers enough room to park on the shoulder.
If not, state law gives city police jurisdiction to operate within a one-mile perimeter in surrounding counties when necessary, and gives counties a reciprocal operating fringe inside city limits, a police department spokesman said.
Got a question about something that might affect other people, too? Something you've come across and wondered about? Call us at 981-3118. Or, e-mail RayR@Roanoke.Infi.Net. Maybe we can find the answer.
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