Harrisonburg Downtown Historic District
20 W Water St
A building, 1890s
FrameContributes to the historic character of the district
From the National Register nomination
One-story frame building with false-front shed roof, metal siding, front picture windows, and high side windows. On the west side is masonite and weatherboard siding, and a lower rear wing may have board-and-batten siding. As a 19th century frame non-domestic building in the downtown, 20 W. Water St. is a rarity in today's Harrisonburg. The 1897 Sanborn map identifies the building as "cigar fac. & tob. w.ho." As a cigar factory the building may be the sole representative of Harrisonburg's historic tobacco industry. By 1902 a saloon was located here and beginning in the mid-1910s the building was demoted to storage use. There is a tradition that Hugh O'Donnell kept a saloon in the building during Prohibition (if so, presumably clandestine). The rear addition appears to have been made in the 1920s. From the 1940s through the 1980s the building housed a restaurant (the Sanitary Lunch counter in 1955). Now Downtown Wine & Gourmet. Note: The building is incorrectly identified as 20 W. Market St. in 1982 survey.
People
- Hugh O'Donnell lived here (tradition that he kept a saloon here during Prohibition)