History of the Town Improvement
Society and the Wilson Warehouse
The Wilson Warehouse began its life as a combination warehouse, store and residence built in 1839 for John S. Wilson. Wilson’s company was the primary shipper and receiver of goods during the days of the James River and Kanawha Canal, which ran from Richmond to its western terminus in Buchanan. The warehouse was also a retail store serving the
Buchanan area.
In 1855 itinerant artist, Edward Beyer, painted this image of Buchanan. The Wilson Warehouse can be seen positioned back from the river. The painting was owned by the Wilson family and is now owned by the Town Improvement Society. To protect this valuable painting it is currently displayed within the Bank of Botetourt’s operations center on Main Street.
The Wilson Warehouse remained in the family for almost a century. In 1927 one of the family members renovated the large storeroom on the west side of the building and turned this room over to the Village Improvement Society, the earlier name of the Town Improvement Society.
In 1936, Oscar C. Huffman, president of Continental Can Company purchased the Wilson Warehouse. (Continental Can’s factory on Main Street, Buchanan, later became the Groendyk plant which is currently undergoing adaptive reuse.) After extensive renovations of the Wilson Warehouse, under the direction of architect, Stanhope Johnson of Lynchburg, Mr. Huffman presented the building to the Town Improvement Society. On April 30, 1938 members of the society and 300 guests gathered at the building for its dedication as the “Community House”. Since then, the Wilson Warehouse has been an important historic landmark and social center of the community.
The Wilson Warehouse as it looks today.
The historic brick structure features a center hall passage flanked by one large room on the west side and two equal-sized rooms on the east side behind which is a commercial kitchen to accommodate events. The building has two front doors because the left side was used for the Wilson’s business and the other was used as the Wilson’s private residence. The third floor retains the original elevator system used to hoist cargo to the upper levels for storage.
The second floor is divided into two residential spaces. All of the rooms retain their original woodwork, floors, fireplaces and mantels. Since 1938, to help with maintenance of this important landmark, the Buchanan Town Improvement Society has rented the Wilson Warehouse/ Community House for wedding receptions, anniversary parties, family reunions, public meetings and outdoor events. See our rental page for information.
At the front of the house is a charming parlor
with numerous local historical artifacts.
The original hoist mechanism remains to this day on the 3rd floor. It began operation in 1839 to raise goods to the upper level of the building for warehousing.
The large meeting room is available for events.
The private dining room, retains the beauty of when it served the Wilson family in the 19th century.