Page 262 - Family History

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Businesses, Churches, and Schools

A rundown of old businesses begins with the boarding houses, and if I miss one or
two, kin will have to forgive me, for before autos came in strong in the late 20s,
everybody took boarders. They were a bit of Washington, and for Washington,

Round Hill was a bit of America.
West Loudoun Street

Beginning at the boardwalk on the west end of town, and on the north side of the
pike, was the Lodge House - boarding houses generally took the last name of the
operator - run by Henrietta Lodge. Now if you look closely at the end of the
present sidewalk - and at the ends of all the present sidewalks - you'll see Walter

Howell, our sheriff friend, carved in the walk with the date, 1909. Walter also
macadamized the streets - which brought him a nifty $12,000 contract in 1913.

Street names came in early in Round Hill. The town named them, and ordered six
street signs to boot, in November 1901. Most of the names - with new signs - are
still there. But, Governor Woodrow Wilson would never forgive you; Wilson
Street has been renamed South Main Street. Oldtimers, however, called Wilson
Street New Cut Road, for the cut through Simpson's Creek dated from about

1890.

The Methodist Church dates from 1889, and in back, where its parsonage stands,
stood the first Round Hill public school, a two-roomer built about 1877. Along
about 1895 it was enlarged to three rooms, and being frame it went the way of
nearly all frame two and three-roomers, burning about 1909.

After the three-roomer, school was held in several vacant rooms about town for a
year or two, while Wilmer Baker was busy constructing the eight-roomer that
opened in 1911 and also served as Round Hill High School until 1940. Wilmer's
handsome building stood on the site of the present school.

The Baptist Church dates from 1905, and before that, dating from the late 1880s
at least, was Niels Poulsen's sawmill; his specialty, spokes for vehicles. His raw

material came from that vast tract of daytime blackness that was known as
Dillon's Woods; it stretched from Purcellville to the Blue Ridge.

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