Virginia Department of Historic Resources Virginia Department of Historic Resources
For additional information, read the Nomination Form PDF
VLR Listing Date 04/17/1979
NRHP Listing Date 06/19/1979
NRHP Reference Number 79003086
The Strasburg Stone and Earthenware Manufacturing Company built this two-story structure in 1891 as a factory intended to put the Shenandoah Valley’s long tradition of pottery making on a high-volume industrial basis. The project was part of the brief economic boom experienced in the northern Shenandoah County town of Strasburg in the 1890s with the construction of a new railway line in the eastern part of the Valley. The company quickly failed because of competition from other regions and other wares. In 1913 the building was converted into a railroad depot. The building is now the Strasburg Museum, which maintains it as an example of industrial architecture, a relic of the Valley’s short-lived venture into specialized industrial development. The Strasburg Stone and Earthenware Manufacturing Company building further represents a failed attempt to convert a handicraft industry into one of mass production.
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Abbreviations:
VLR: Virginia Landmarks Register
NPS: National Park Service
NRHP: National Register of Historic Places
NHL: National Historic Landmark
Updated: June 17, 2021
