Varnado, D.A. and Son Store - Franklinton, LA - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

Nice small museum now housed in the store. The building itself and area is very nice and peaceful. Right across from courthouse (rear). All the shelving and counters are still present in store. Museum was free when I went, there was a display of Washington Parish war veterans artifacts from civil war to Iraqui Freedom. A great place to visit, and it was easy to locate and enjoy!
Brief historical note from the Register application, located here, states
The Varnado Store operated under three different owners from its construction until the 1920s, when it was purchased by the Varnado family. They remained in business for approximately sixty years, keeping the store open until 1986. The building now serves as a museum for the Washington Area Museum Foundation, which has already accomplished much toward its restoration.

The Varnado Store is locally significant in the area of architecture because it is a rare and well preserved historic commercial building with period shopfront and interior. Franklinton is an old community which has experienced distinct periods of growth. The first began in 1819 with the creation of Washington Parish and the temporary designation of a rural spot five miles from Franklinton’s current location as parish seat. That same year, John W. Bickham donated to the parish government 30 acres of land at what would become Franklinton’s permanent location. A year later, the Louisiana legislature designated the location as the parish seat and in 1821 gave the community its name. However, it appears that parish officials did not relocate the courthouse until a July 4, 1826 election made the town’s designation as Washington Parish’s seat permanent. A post office was established in 1829, and a brick courthouse had been completed by 1830. The town received a charter in 1861 but apparently its municipal government remained largely inactive. Another charter was issued in 1888. At that time the town’s corporate limits encompassed one square mile of land with the courthouse at its center. From this time forward, city fathers actively governed the town. Significant growth occurred when the railroad arrived in 1907. A promotional booklet published c. 1908 shows the town’s original street grid partly surrounded by a new grid of lots and squares more than three times the size of the old. And, from a population of 236 in 1900, the community had grown to 814 inhabitants (an increase of over 300%) by 1910. However, this phenomenal growth did not continue, and today Franklinton is a small parish seat/commercial center serving a largely agricultural countryside. Despite its age and previous prosperity, Franklinton has very few historic buildings of architectural significance. Because Washington Parish has not been officially surveyed, the National Register staff conducted a walking survey of the central business district where period commercial buildings would historically have been located. This survey found the CBD to contain several modern buildings, a few parking lots where historic buildings once stood, and a series of undistinguished vernacular structures dating from c. 1900 to the mid-1940s. Virtually all of the latter have been severely changed, featuring alterations such as modernized shopfronts and panels of modern materials (especially metal) covering historic fabric. The Varnado Store, a Romanesque Revival bank, and a 1949 commercial structure (late but still within the historic period) are the only buildings which still convey their historic character, and of these, the Varnado Store is the only one with an original, intact shopfront. It is also exceedingly rare in the ever-changing world of commerce to find an intact c. 1900 interior.

Street address: 936 Pearl St. Franklinton, LA USA 70438 County / Borough / Parish: Washington Year listed: 2001 Historic (Areas of) Significance: Architecture/Engineering Periods of significance: 1900-1924, 1925-1949 Historic function: Commerce/Trade. Sub - Department Store Current function: Recreation And Culture. Sub - Museum Privately owned?: yes Season start / Season finish: From: 11/21/2012 To: 11/21/2012 Hours of operation: From: 10:00 AM To: 4:00 AM Primary Web Site: [Web Link] Secondary Website 1: [Web Link] Secondary Website 2: Not listed National Historic Landmark Link: Not listed

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Date Logged Log User Rating   11/21/2012 shankydoll visited it 07/17/2010 jub308nladymedic visited it

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