We will concentrate on the one block where Christ Episcopal Church sits and is bound by Church, Roanoke, Penn and Jackson Streets. This block is one of the original Sixteen Squares of Blacksburg, which William Black (town founder) established in 1798. Over time we will provide historical information about this block, but for now we will concentrate on researching Katrina's neighbors, between 1920 to 1968.
View of the Christ Church Block before 1913 and pre-Katrina
Christ Episcopal Church was built by 1874 and consecrated by 1887. It was built on land give by John Lybrook and at the corner of Church and Jackson Streets. For more information go to the church's website.
As the community of Blacksburg grew, so did Christ Church. Katrina was involved in the church when the bell tower was added in 1934 and when the parish house was built in 1942. On the wall in the mail room is a bronze memorial to her father, Samuel T. Rhodes. In the 1964 vestry minutes is a mention that she gave the small Hamaker cottage and strip of land that is the access easement to the cottage as a memorial to her father and the plaque was placed on the nursery wall.
The next two photos were taken from the top of Preston & Olin building that was located at the end of Main Street. The building burned in 1913 so this image was taken before then, probably about 1900. This is the neighborhood that Katrina would have enjoyed when she arrived sometime after the second decade. Christ Episcopal Church, AME Church, the Pedigo house, and the house of William Black, the developer and namesake for our town, are labeled. Thanks to Ed Marsh for identifying the Black house. Katrina’s house can’t be seen in this photo but it would have been to the right of the Pedigo house. The Morgan/Castleman house was probably not built at this time. The second photo shows the Lybrook house and Lybrook Row boarding house along Church St, between Jackson and Roanoke Streets.
When Katrina Moved to Blacksburg
This is the 1921 Sanborn Fire Map which has been digitally stitched together and houses color coded. When Katrina bought her house (204 E. Roanoke St) the following structures were present:
Original Christ Church (dark blue), built 1874. She attended services and was part of the church community.
John Lybrook's rambling boarding house (green).
William M. Lybrook boarding house, known as Lybrook Row tenement, and store that faced Roanoke Street (orange).
Dorothy J. Morgan's house (left of Katrina and now owned by the church, Castleman House)
Charles L. Pedigo (purple, right of Katrina, owned by AME church)
Effinger house on the corner of Penn and Jackson
Site's garret over a garage opposite the AME church.
Note: We marked the William Black's house in this Sanborn map. William Black had moved to Ohio in the early 1800's and died on in Pike, Clark County, Ohio. During Katrina's time we have yet to identify who was the current occupant.
Christ Episcopal Church
As the community of Blacksburg grew, so did Christ Church. Katrina was involved in the church when the bell tower was added in 1934 and when the parish house was built in 1942. On the wall in the mail room is a bronze memorial to her father, Samuel T. Rhodes. In the 1964 vestry minutes is a mention that she gave the small Hamaker cottage and strip of land that is the access easement to the cottage as a memorial to her father and the plaque was placed on the nursery wall.
Pedigo House
If you stand on Roanoke Street facing the McGhee House, the house to the right is now owned by the AME Church. It was built at the turn of the last century, about 1900, by Dr. Charles Lewis and Elizabeth Byrd Evans Pedigo.
Charles (1872-1949) was the son of a "wagon maker," Joseph Pedigo, who was listed in the 1870 Blacksburg census. His occupation was listed as "druggist" in the 1910 census. After searching the early newspaper archives, I discovered that he was the druggist at the Ellett Drug Company at the corner of Main and College Ave, now Sharkey's.
Charles and Elizabeth (1871-1951) married in 1904 and raised their three daughters in this house. The oldest, Nellie Lee, was born in 1906, Elizabeth Jane arrived two years later, followed by Alice Anna in 1912. The two oldest daughters lived in this house though the 1940's while they worked as stenographers in the Agronomy Department at VPI. Elizabeth Jane married late in life, 1954, to William Hall Walton, a construction inspector. Alice married a VPI graduate in 1934, Peter Cervarich, Jr. and moved to Richmond. Nellie Lee graduated from State Teacher's' College, Radford in 1929. Elizabeth Jane was an accomplished organist and often played in Burrus Hall and at the Baptist Church. Through their mother, they were related to many early families of Blacksburg including: the Stangers, Argabrite, Byrds and Gardners.
Katrina moved into her home by the 1930 US census, so she certainly new the Pedigo family. According to the 1940 census, the Pedigo house was valued at $2,200 while Katrina's house value was $10,000. To explain this difference look at the Sanborn Fire Map of 1921. The McGhee house is robin's egg blue. The Pedigo house is purple, to the right of the McGhee house. The footprint of Katrina's house is nearly twice as large compared to the Pedigo's. Note that our church is at the top left corner of the block (deep blue-green), looking very small without any of the extra expansions that were added after this map was drawn.
Ellett Drug Store, early 1900
Because photography was expensive at the time, we wonder if these were Charles Pedigo’s daughters and wife?
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