260 Port Republic Rd

From the National Register nomination

Now a four-unit multiple dwelling, this two-story building of stuccoed frame construction on a parged masonry foundation has an asphalt-shingled front-gabled roof, two single-leaf front entries on each story, 2/2 double-hung aluminum sash, and four brick flues with corbelled caps. A modern two-level pressure-treated wood deck with outside staircases shelters the first-floor entries and provides access to the second-floor apartments. From its name Abraham Hall may originally have been affiliated with one of the many black benevolent societies that flourished during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. The building is said to have been erected by a Mr. Hobson, probably William P. Hobson who with several others purchased a lot on Port Republic Road in 1919. The building formerly contained a restaurant on the first floor and a dance hall/basketball court and auditorium on the second floor. The Jolly Boys, a musical and vaudeville troop, preformed in the building. Over the course of its history the building was also used for a music studio and doctors offices. By 1951 it had been converted into apartments. Occupied by Oscar Jordan in 1935. (Randolph and Bass, "Waynesboro Port Republic Road Historic District;" Clark et al, "Waynesboro's Black Community;" Augusta County Deed Book 202, p. 345; and Waynesboro... City Directory, 1950-51, 302.)