202-208 N Liberty St

From the National Register nomination

Moderne one and two-story American-bond brick building built in two principal phases in 1936-37 and 1948. The two-story northwest section has façade piers with concrete caps, glass block windows on the first story, and industrial metal-frame windows on the second story. The one-story southwest section, an auto showroom added in 1948, has a channeled brick parapet above continuous plate glass display windows. The windows are shaded by a suspended metal-slat awning with a concave profile. The one-story rear section has wood and glass panel garage doors, large industrial metal-frame windows, and a cinder block garage addition made before 1960. In 1936-37 Dan Hartman built a one-story truck terminal and restaurant here, which survive as (respectively) the shop-garage and parts department of the present building. Hartman's building was originally known as the Harrisonburg Motor Express Terminal, and his restaurant (also remembered as an ice cream parlor) was Dan's Grill. A 1938 photograph shows the building with its original angled southwest corner, Art Deco gas pumps, and decorative sign in the form of a six-wheeler truck. In 1945 Hartman rented out the building for use as an auto dealership that handled Packards initially and later, in 1947, Buicks. In 1948 Hartman added the showroom at the southwest corner. James Thompson Buick occupied the building in 1955. Dwight and Dan Hartman and Charlie Bumbaugh purchased the business in 1957. In the 1980s the business was known as Bumbaugh Buick. (Suter and Lyon, Images of America: Harrisonburg, 105)