If you own an older house in Salem, the brick walk to your front door or the low stone wall along the back of the lot may be older than anyone now living on your street. Those pieces of masonry are small parts of a long local story: a wagon-road town that became a county seat, a college town, a railroad stop and finally a city. This guide puts that story first. It covers how Salem grew, what the historical record says about where its brick came from, how to read clues to the age of an old walk or wall, and how to repair old masonry without erasing its history.
We have tried to cite a source for every historical statement. Where the available sources do not confirm a detail, we identify the uncertainty in the text.
How Salem Grew: The Building Eras Behind Your Bricks
A wagon-road town (1800 to the 1830s)
The City of Salem's official history says investor James Simpson bought 31 acres in 1800 and platted a town on them. On June 4, 1802, he sold his first lot to Susannah Cole, and that sale is considered the founding of the town [1]. The Library of Virginia records that the General Assembly established Salem in 1806 [2]. The town was laid out along the Great Road, the main route for settlers heading west [1][3]. The National Register nomination for the Downtown Salem Historic District notes that this linear layout along the road “became and remains the downtown's primary organizing principle” [4].
According to the nomination, most antebellum buildings were frame or log. The most substantial early buildings, mostly on Main Street, “were usually crafted of carefully laid brickwork” [4]. The oldest surviving example inside the district is the Jacob Stevens house at 42 E. Main Street, known locally as the “Old Post House.” Local tradition dates it to 1812, but the nomination says architectural evidence points to the 1820s or 1830s [4]. That gap between tradition and evidence is a good reminder for any homeowner: a family story about a date is a starting point for research, not proof.
County seat, college and railroad (1838 to 1860s)
The town's official history credits a handful of developments with Salem's survival and growth: traffic on the Great Road, the Roanoke Navigation Company (established in 1816), Salem's selection as seat of the new Roanoke County in 1838, the move of the school soon renamed Roanoke College to Salem in 1847, and the arrival of the Virginia and Tennessee Railroad in 1852 [1]. DHR's summary says the college arrived “in the 1840s” [3].
Brick from this period survives in some of the town's landmark buildings. The Salem Presbyterian Church at 41 E. Main Street was dedicated on August 8, 1852. The nomination describes it as a Greek Revival sanctuary “with brick walls laid in five-course common bond (Flemish variant)” [4]. The Roanoke College main campus complex has its own state and national register listing [5].
The Boom (1880s to early 1890s)
In the 1880s a new railroad, soon called the Norfolk and Western, came into the valley. The city's history says it set off a “Great Land Boom” that drove up property values and more than doubled Salem's population in ten years, before fizzling in the national slump of the early 1890s [1]. The nomination says the business boom “accelerated throughout the 1880s and the early 1890s” and brought large parcels into development for houses, factories and industry [4].
This is also the first period with documented large-scale local brickmaking, discussed below. Downtown commercial buildings from this period and the decades after are known for decorative brick corbeling at cornices and parapets [4].
Town improvements (1900 to 1940s)
Early in the 20th century, the town council began requiring permits for new construction. Starting in 1904 it banned wood-clad walls and wood-shingle roofs on Main Street between Broad Street and Limestone Alley, and on College Avenue between Main and the campus, as protection against fire [4]. The city's history notes that adopting the council-manager form of government in 1922 led to more street paving and more public works [1]. The nomination describes residential brick from the early 20th century, including a brick “foursquare” on a poured concrete foundation and houses with stone foundations [4].
Postwar growth and cityhood (1950s to 1968)
Salem annexed South Salem in 1953 and an eastern tract in 1960. According to the city, that made it the largest town in Virginia, with more than 16,000 people [1]. The city's history gives December 31, 1967 as the date Salem became a city [1]. The Library of Virginia and Encyclopedia Virginia describe a court order of December 13, 1967 that took effect on January 1, 1968 [2][6]. The sources therefore use slightly different dates for cityhood; homeowners researching records from this transition should keep that distinction in mind. The nomination notes that many postwar downtown buildings are brick or concrete block, often with brick veneer [4].
Salem's Historic Districts and Notable Neighborhoods
Downtown Salem Historic District. The district covers about 25 acres, roughly along Main Street from Broad Street to College Avenue, and includes Simpson's original 1802 grid. It was listed on the Virginia Landmarks Register on March 20, 1996 and on the National Register on June 5, 1996 [3][7]. Its architectural styles include Greek Revival, Italianate and Queen Anne [7]. The nomination lists several landscape features: the courthouse yard with its 1910 Barre granite Civil War monument, Younger Park, established in the 1930s, with “a brick serpentine-walled garden area,” and Main Street sidewalks that were “paved with bricks” during the streetscape improvements of the 1990s [4]. In other words, some downtown brick paving is modern, not original. The sources reviewed for this guide do not establish whether any 19th-century sidewalk paving survives downtown.
North Broad Street Historic District. This district was listed on the VLR on June 21, 2018 and on the NRHP on January 31, 2019. DHR says it “evokes the city's economic prosperity from the 1880s to around 1950.” Its houses range in date from 1867 to 2000, in styles from Second Empire and Queen Anne to Craftsman, Colonial Revival and Minimal Traditional [8]. Because it was close to downtown, DHR says, North Broad Street was often one of the first residential areas to get paved streets and sidewalks [8]. That makes it a good neighborhood for studying older walks.
Other listed places. DHR's register for Salem also includes the Academy Street School, the Evans House, Monterey, the McVitty House, the Preston House, the Old Roanoke County Courthouse, the Roanoke College Main Campus Complex and the Roanoke Veterans Administration Hospital Historic District, among others [5]. Published register listings are not necessarily a complete inventory of Salem neighborhoods with older masonry.
Local Brick and Stone Sources
Brick. Salem had a documented brick industry. In an 1891 contract described in a Supreme Court of Virginia case, G. W. Bethel & Co. agreed to make and burn 1,500,000 bricks for the Salem Improvement Company, and had made more than 800,000 of them before the dispute [9]. A 1909 postcard in the Roanoke Public Libraries' Virginia Room collection shows Pierpont's Brick Works, owned by Salem businessman George E. Pierpont [10]. A 1990 Roanoke Times article on the 100th anniversary of Old Virginia Brick traced the company back to Pierpont's works, begun “in boom times of the late 19th century.” It quoted former owner Henry Garden as saying five brick plants operated in Salem in the early days. The article also said the plant on West Main Street dug shale from a pit and had once fired with coal kilns [11]. Old Virginia Brick closed in April 2015 after 125 years in business [12]. The reviewed sources do not name and locate all of the other early brickyards or establish whether bricks in pre-1880s Salem buildings were made on site or nearby.
Stone. The Downtown nomination documents stone foundations on some houses and the imported Barre granite of the Confederate monument [4]. The original town grid included a street named Limestone, later Union [4]. We found no published source that names a local quarry supplying Salem's building or paving stone.
How to Recognize the Era of an Older Walk, Wall or Patio
No single clue dates a piece of masonry. Weigh several of them together, and treat the result as an estimate.
- Start with the house. A walk or wall is often, though not always, about as old as the house or a later remodeling. The DHR and NRHP files for your district often give construction dates for individual properties [4][8].
- Look at the bond. In walls, bonds are recorded in Salem's nominations, such as the “five-course common bond (Flemish variant)” at Salem Presbyterian Church [4]. Bond patterns help with comparison, but they are not a precise date.
- Look at the mortar. According to the National Park Service, mortars before the late 19th century were mostly lime and sand. Portland cement came into common use around the turn of the 20th century, and many 20th-century buildings were built with portland cement mortar from the start [13]. Soft, crumbly, light-colored mortar suggests lime. Hard, gray mortar suggests portland cement, which can mean either later construction or a later repair. The reviewed sources do not establish a precise local date for the change.
- Look at the base. A walk laid on sand or packed earth, with no concrete slab under it, is consistent with older practice. Poured concrete under or beside the brick points to later work. The nomination notes a poured concrete foundation on a 20th-century foursquare [4].
- Look at the bricks. Irregular sizes and colors may suggest older or hand-made brick, while very uniform brick may indicate later machine production. Neither clue establishes a date by itself.
- Check the photographs. Historic postcards and photos in collections such as the Virginia Room [10] or local museum collections can show when a walk or wall first appears.
Preservation-Minded Repair: Mortar, Salvaged Brick and Documentation
Soft lime mortar vs. portland cement
The most important rule in National Park Service Preservation Brief 2 is that repointing mortar must be softer and more vapor-permeable than the masonry units around it. It should also match the historic mortar in color, texture and tooling [13]. Hard portland cement mortar in soft old brick can trap moisture and make the brick spall and crack, so the brick fails before the joint does [13]. The Brief treats the mortar joint as sacrificial: it is meant to be replaced over time, and the brick is not [13]. For a lime-mortared wall or a mortared walk from the 19th century, that usually means a lime-rich mix. If you have the old mortar analyzed first, you can match it instead of guessing [13].
The Brief also cautions against cutting out old joints with power saws, because the blade can damage the edges of the brick. Old mortar should be raked out carefully, usually to a depth of about two to two-and-a-half times the joint width [13].
Salvaged brick
Reusing original or period brick from your own property is the best way to keep a repair consistent. If you have to buy brick, compare its size, color, texture and hardness with what you have. Old soft brick and modern hard brick weather differently, so compatibility should be checked with a preservation professional. For help blending new units with an older patio, see our guide to matching new pavers to older brick patios.
Document before you change anything
Before you lift a single brick, photograph the area from several angles with a ruler in the frame. Sketch the pattern and note the bond, the joint width, the mortar color and what the bricks sit on. Save a few loose bricks and mortar samples. That record protects the history even if the walk has to be rebuilt, and it can be valuable to local historians. A local historical organization may be interested in notable finds, such as stamped or marked bricks; ask before assuming it can accept or document them.
When to Check Historic-District or Design-Review Rules
National Register and Virginia Landmarks Register listings are mostly honorary. In general, they do not restrict what a private owner may do with private funds. Locally adopted historic zoning is what typically carries design review [14]. We did not find a published local historic-zoning overlay or certificate-of-appropriateness process for Salem. The city does offer a “Petition for Inclusion in Salem Historic Registry” form through Planning and Zoning [15]. The published material reviewed for this guide did not establish whether that registry carries design-review requirements. Before starting work, call the City of Salem's Community Development office at 540-375-3032, especially for work near a public sidewalk or right-of-way, which may need an encroachment permit [15]. Projects using state or federal historic tax credits or public funds must follow the Secretary of the Interior's Standards [14].
Keeping Salem's Story Underfoot
The bricks in an old Salem walk may have come from a boom-era kiln on West Main Street, or they may have arrived much later. Either way, they are part of the town's record. If you need to restore an older walk or set of steps, our walkways and steps page explains how we approach that work, and you can learn more about us on our homepage. We recommend starting where this guide does, with the history.
Sources
- City of Salem, “History.” https://www.salemva.gov/534/History
- Library of Virginia, “Maps and Formation Information for Cities of Radford through Winchester.” https://www.lva.virginia.gov/WHATWEHAVE/local/county_formation/locality_maps_bioCitiesRW.htm
- Virginia Department of Historic Resources, “Downtown Salem Historic District (129-0075).” https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/129-0075/
- Leslie A. Giles, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Downtown Salem Historic District (VDHR 129-0075), 1995/1996. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/129-0075_Downtown_Salem_HD_1996_Final_Nomination.pdf
- Virginia Department of Historic Resources, “Salem (Ind. City)” register listings. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/location/salem-ind-city/
- Encyclopedia Virginia, “Cities of Virginia.” https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/cities-of-virginia/
- National Park Service, NPGallery, Downtown Salem Historic District, NRIS 96000591. https://npgallery.nps.gov/AssetDetail/NRIS/96000591
- Virginia Department of Historic Resources, “North Broad Street Historic District (129-5050).” https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/129-5050/
- Bethel & Co. v. Salem Improvement Co., Supreme Court of Virginia, 1896. A full reporter citation was not confirmed for this guide.
- Roanoke Public Libraries, Virginia Room Digital Collection, “SR149 Pierponts Brick Works” (1909 postcard). https://www.virginiaroom.org/digital/document/sr149
- “Salem Brick Company Celebrates 100 Years,” Roanoke Times, May 1990 (Virginia Tech archive). https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1990/rt9005/900524/05250466.htm
- WSLS / Associated Press, “Defunct Old Virginia Brick's properties to be auctioned,” June 15, 2015. https://www.wsls.com/news/2015/06/15/defunct-old-virginia-bricks-properties-to-be-auctioned/
- Robert C. Mack and John P. Speweik, Preservation Brief 2: Repointing Mortar Joints in Historic Masonry Buildings, National Park Service, 1998. https://www.nps.gov/orgs/1739/upload/preservation-brief-02-repointing.pdf
- Virginia Department of Historic Resources, register program and historic-zoning guidance. https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/
- City of Salem, Planning & Zoning and Community Development forms (Salem Historic Registry petition; encroachment permit). https://salemva.gov/209/Planning-Zoning; https://salemva.gov/236/Forms-OLD
Published October 14, 2026. Historical details should be checked against current archival and city records when they affect a property decision.