Stebbins Store and Tie Lot
Corner of Railroad Avenue and Thompson StreetIn 1883, Charles Stebbins established Stebbins Store at the corner of Railroad Avenue and Thompson Street. The corner quickly became known as Stebbins Corner. The deep awning covered the sidewalk in front of his store on Railroad Avenue and became a meeting place for many locals. Along the Thompson Street side of the building was a “tie lot” (a 19th century parking lot) where farmers could park their horses and wagons as they shopped in downtown Ashland.This corner has seen several businesses since Stebbins store closed. Today, Ashland Coffee and Tea and the New Found Gathering Place & Eatery call this corner home.
Clinton Winston, Blacksmith
117 Hanover Ave.There were four or five thriving blacksmith shops in the early days of Ashland. C.C. Taylor had a shop by 1860, and J.C. Dickenson operated a shop from 1872 to 1891. Clinton Winston, a former slave, established his blacksmith shop after the Civil War. In 1887, he built a shop on Hanover Avenue. The Town had purchased the property across the street in 1894. Winston’s building anchored several buildings on Hanover Avenue which faced onto the new Town Lot, now Town Hall. To west of Clinton’s blacksmith shop, set back off the road, James and Apollos Luck established their livery stable.Winston was born in 1856 and was the first African-American to own a home and a business within the Ashland town limits. In addition to his principal business as a blacksmith, he was also an undertaker. Customers entered the Winston’s blacksmith shop through the double door in the middle of the building. On the second floor was the undertaker’s facility and Alice Trotter’s beauty salon. On the right side of the shop was the Winston family home and beside it was the home of Winston’s son Johnny. Johnny Winston took over the business, and by 1940, he was the only blacksmith left in town. He continued to use his father’s original brick fireplace, forge and anvil. The shop was torn down in 1958.
S.A. & J.N. Luck Stable
203 Duncan St.By 1907, James N. Luck and his older brother, S. Apollos Luck Jr., had established the S.A. & J.N. Luck Stable. The livery stable was located at Hanover Avenue and Duncan Street where the Ashland Volunteer Rescue Squad is today. At the time, Duncan Street had not been cut through to Hanover Avenue. The livery was set back from Hanover Avenue just west of Clinton Winston’s blacksmith shop. It appears on the 1921 Sanborn Insurance map, but by the 1929 issue of the map, the property was being used for another business.James N. Luck was born in Caroline County in 1886 and moved to Ashland as a youngster. He married in 1909 and had three children. His youngest child, Liz, kept a pony at their house on College Avenue and rode it all around town.Noticing an increase in the number of cars on the road, Luck established a second business, Luck Motor Company, a Chevrolet franchise, in 1916.
Ashland Train Station and Visitors Center
BUILT: 1923ARCHITECTURAL STYLE: Dutch Colonial112 N. Railroad Ave.Railroad transportation was still new in 1836 when the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac (RF&P) Railroad Company completed a single track from Richmond to a sawmill 20 miles north in rural Hanover County. The railroad bought 482 acres beside the track and by 1846, they had developed a resort on part of the property. In 1854, the RF&P started dividing other portions of the land for residential use. They enticed Richmonders to build permanent or vacation homes here by offering the head of household a free or discounted train ticket on the Ashland Accommodation Train which ran between Ashland and Richmond several times a day.From the 1850s to 1923, the train stations and freight depots were located across the street where the Randolph-Macon College parking lot is now. The railroad “wye” was behind the station and depot. A y-shaped track configuration, it allowed the Ashland Accommodation Train to turn around and head back to Richmond. During the Civil War, the station was burned and rebuilt several times.The RF&P built the existing train station on the west side of the tracks in 1923. W. Duncan Lee, a prominent Richmond architect, designed the Dutch Colonial style building. Local builder Aubrey Hunt constructed the station. Its divided floor plan, a historical reminder of the segregated South, had separate ticket windows and waiting areas for whites and blacks. The station was closed in 1967. The RF&P donated the station to the Town in 1985 for use as a visitor’s center.
Luck Motor Company
Orignally at 202 England St.James Luck established his Chevrolet dealership on England Street in 1916. In 1930, Luck moved to a new location at College Avenue and U.S. Route 1 where Hardee’s is now. Then in 1972, Luck Chevrolet moved south on Route 1 to the corner of Ashcake Road.James Luck told the story of selling his first car, delivering it to Richmond, then catching the train home to deposit the check before Chevrolet Motors could cash his check. In 1916, a Chevrolet 490 cost $490, $5 less than Ford Model T. By 1940, the cost of new Chevrolet was $745. During WWII, gas was rationed and vehicle sales came to a halt. To make a living, Luck Motors sold refrigerators. They were also an Esso dealer until the 1960s.Having grown up around cars, Ferrell Luck joined his father as a partner in 1932 and succeeded him as owner when James Luck died in 1954. Joe Stiles, James Luck’s son-in-law, joined the business as a salesman in 1952. Stiles became owner of the dealership when Ferrell Luck retired in 1962. Since then, the third and fourth generation of the Luck family have come into the business. Ferrell Luck’s son, Jack, joined the dealership in 1968 and then Jack’s son, Ross, in 1990. Joe Stiles’ son, Eddie, came onboard in 1976 and Eddie’s daughter, Anne, in 2014. Today, Luck Chevrolet is the oldest continuously family-owned Cheverolet dealerships on the East Coast.
Rawlings Motor Company and Loving Motor Company
203 England St.The Rawlings Motor Company open a new Ford dealership on England Street in 1920s. Burley P. Loving purchased the dealership in 1940. In 1951, Loving established the Loving Tractor and Implement Co. in a new building across the street at 202 England St. Marion Hazelgrove purchased the tractor business from his uncle in 1967. The tractor business was sold in 1996 and this building houses several different companies now.
Ashland Trolley Station
Corner of England and Maple StreetsThe first electric rail passenger system in the U.S. began in 1887 in Richmond. In 1907, Richmond and New York investors created the Richmond and Chesapeake Bay Railway Company (R&CB Co.) which extended the trolley service to Ashland. The company began, not as a commuter rail system, but as way to take freight business away from the port of Baltimore by connecting the Northern Neck and Middle Peninsula counties to Richmond’s port by way of Ashland.Initially the R&CB Co. was denied a charter, because the Richmond Fredericksburg & Potomac’s charter included a statute that prohibited any other railroads from being constructed anywhere between Richmond and Washington. However a charter was granted after a Virginia Supreme Court decision. The R&CB Co. only built the 14.8-mile section from Richmond to Ashland, at a cost of $994,000. Trolley service officially began on October 28, 1907.The R&CB Co. discontinued service in 1917 because of poor profits. Local investors, including the Midyette and Jones families, bought the line in 1919, remodeled it and ran it as the Richmond-Ashland Railway Company. Facing financial challenges, the company discontinued service in March 1938. Virginia Electric and Power Company purchased the railroad’s right of way to run electric transmission lines.The Ashland Trolley Station was at the southwest corner of Maple and England Streets, facing onto Maple Street. The trolley line followed Maple Street south through Elmont and entered Richmond along Brook Road. The line terminated at Laurel and Broad Streets in a building that was recently repurposed by VCU’s School of the Arts. The Ashland station was demolished in 1938 to make space for a new (the third, but not last) post office building.
Where Next?
Thanks for taking a short walk through Ashland's transportation history. From here, you can explore Ashland on any of the other tours.
