In October 2005, a new bypass that circumnavigated the eastern edge of Lynchburg and Madison Heights (Amherst County) was completed and Fifth Street (the U.S. 29 Business) was re-designated as State Route 163.

On its northwestern end, Federal Street transitions into Hollins Mill Road, a winding route that crosses Blackwater Creek and terminates at its intersection with Bedford Avenue.

Typically, the half-acre lots were already in private hands (i.e. sold by John Lynch to other individuals) by the time they were incorporated into the town, and the future streets and alleys were accounted for in the deed.

A double-leaf entry door with a fanlight similar to that found at the Kentucky Hotel occupies the central bay on the first floor, and is sheltered by a small, hipped-roof porch, which is a late 20th-century addition.

The two-story, double-pile (the rear chimney has been removed below the roofline) building is of timber frame construction, and is covered by a side gable roof of standing-seam metal with a simple boxed cornice.

The facade is fenestrated by 6/9 double-hung sash on both the first and second levels, and as late as the 1980s, contained a second floor entry door as well (now replaced by a window) and a small two-story porch (this may not have been an original feature).

The house at 514 Polk Street began as a two-bay building, and the right bay was added soon after to create the present widely-spaced three-bay façade, which is laid in Flemish bond.

The three-bay, two-part commercial block building has a storefront that wraps around the corner onto Harrison Street, and is topped by a corbeled brick cornice with a moulded tin cap.

The three-story, three-bay, two-part commercial block building at 709 Fifth Street (118-5318-0028) features brick quoining on the upper two stories, which are visually separated by a series of three stuccoed diamond panels.

Built in 1951 for Hoskins Pontiac, the building at 1018 Fifth Street (118-5318-0050) features a polygonal façade that is dominated by an angular metal canopy, yellow brick laid in a running bond, and polished aluminum doorframes.

A service area along the Polk Street elevation is fenestrated by a short row of steel hopper windows topped by large vertical panels of thick green corrugated glass.

The second option, which is what was chosen, covered the entire façade of the historic building with a blank canvas of running bond brick, and joined to it a one-story addition with a striking, recessed angular entry.

Covered by a hipped roof with vented dormer, the building's primary entrance features a single-leaf entry door flanked by sidelights and topped by a semi-elliptical fanlight.

[3] In January 1805, the Virginia General Assembly adopted an act that incorporated the town of Lynchburg, thus allowing the mayor and common councilmen to become a "body corporate" which was authorized to erect public works and buildings.

Seventh Alley headed up the long incline from the James River, crested what is now known as Court House Hill, and proceeded in a southwesterly direction, ultimately connecting with the New London Road (later designated as the Lynchburg & Salem Turnpike, or Fort Avenue).

Not surprisingly, the popularity of the route as a transportation corridor also led to the construction of several taverns along Fifth Street in the second decade of the 19th century, which marked Lynchburg's first building boom (which was tempered only by the financial panic of 1819).

In 1818, merchant Benjamin Perkins acquired the lot at the southeast corner of Fifth and Harrison Streets and promptly sold it to Archibald Robertson, surviving partner of Brown Robertson & Co. Scottish-born merchant William Brown, who died in the Richmond Theatre Fire of 1811, had numerous mercantile connections throughout Virginia, including at Otter Bridge in Bedford County, Milton in Albemarle County, and Manchester opposite Richmond.

Padgett apparently defaulted on the note, and an October 1847 Lynchburg Virginian advertisement announced the public sale of his property, including "all ready made clothing now in his store on Cocke Street."

Except for the school and the Gist, Bruce, and Halsey tobacco facilities, the "lower" end of Fifth Street (the 200-400 blocks) was primarily residential in nature during the last quarter of the nineteenth century.

Other purpose-built automobile-oriented commercial buildings in the district include filling stations at 1100 Fifth (118-5318-0051) and 801 Fifth (118-5318-0032), the Hoskins Pontiac Company showroom at 1101 Fifth (118-5318-0052), and the garages at 619 Fifth (118-5318-0020), 420 Monroe (118-5318-0056), and 507 Harrison Street (118-5318-0022).

Rather, several successful black business leaders, along with newly formed fraternal and social organizations, made significant investments in the corridor by constructing a number of large commercial buildings in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The African American population in Lynchburg was on the decline by the late 19th century, largely due to the reduction of employees needed in the various tobacco warehouses and factories in the city, which were major employers of blacks.

Thus, to some extent, the black community began to mitigate the effects of segregation in the industrial workplace with their own business opportunities, many of which operated on Fifth Street (or Fifth Avenue, as it was sometimes called during this period).

Amy Jordan, a teacher at a "colored college" (Virginia Theological Seminary) was the chairman of the Committee of Management, and Grace Booker, a native of Columbus, Ohio, was Executive Secretary of the branch.

The Phyllis Wheatley Branch apparently raised the necessary funds to acquire the property, and hired prominent Lynchburg architect Pendleton S. Clark to plan modifications to the building's interior.

Dr. Augustus Nathaniel Lushington (1869-1939) was born on Trinidad in the West Indies and is believed to be one of the first African Americans in the country to receive a degree in veterinary medicine, which he earned at the University of Pennsylvania in 1897.

When Brown died in 1946, he donated his entire estate to Lynchburg General Hospital, including the brick duplex at 411-413 Polk Street (118-5318-0043) that he had constructed as rental property only six years earlier.

(National Association for the Advancement of Colored People) sponsored the Legacy Project to provide educational exhibits and programs on the history and culture of African Americans in the area.

On June 25, 2000 a celebratory dedication and grand opening was held, and the Legacy Museum of African American History hosts a number of changing exhibits about black culture in the region.

LNDF was instrumental in expanding the boundaries of the Court House Hill-Downtown Historic District (118-5163), rehabilitating a number of homes in the 500-700 blocks of Madison and Harrison Streets, and served as the developer for Centra Health's P.A.C.E.