We published a separate story featuring the oldest (and still active) restaurants in the Charlottesville area, so we are not including them in this list. Please find that story here: Oldest CVille Restaurants
IMPORTANT NOTE: If any businesses are missing from this list, please let us know. If you have historical photos you would like to see featured here, please email them to Contact[at]VMVbrands[.]com.
1. UVA Hospital – Founded 1828
1215 Lee St, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Photo: UVA
When Thomas Jefferson completed his designs for the University of Virginia, the only provision made for a medical building was the Anatomical Hall. Completed in late 1827 or early 1828, this building contained a theater for anatomical and medical demonstrations given for university students.
2. McGuireWoods LLP – Founded 1834
323 2nd St SE, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Google
As the location of McGuireWoods’ original office, the firm treasures its Charlottesville roots and the area they’ve served for 190 years.
3. Riverview Cemetery Co – Founded 1892
1701 Chesapeake St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Riverview Cemetery Co
The Riverview Cemetery Company was incorporated by a group of local businessmen on December 29, 1892 with a mission to establish a cemetery “near and convenient” to the City of Charlottesville and properly ornamented with “trees, shrubbery or flowers.”
4. Better Living Building Supply – Founded 1893
3450 Berkmar Dr, Charlottesville, VA 22901
Website | Facebook | Photo: Better Living Building Supply FB
In 1893, Better Living, Inc. founder, L.W. Graves, began operations of the company and it was simply called Charlottesville Lumber.
5. Martin Hardware Co – Founded 1893
941 Preston Ave, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Facebook | Photo: Martin Hardware Co
Martin Hardware has been around for more than 124 years! Almost sixty years ago, they moved to their present location at 941 Preston Avenue.
6. Hill & Wood Funeral Service – Founded 1907
201 1st St N, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Hill & Wood Funeral Service FB
Founded in 1907, as the Irving, Way, Hill Company. The original building was located at the east end of what is now the Downtown Mall at Water and Main Streets. The business later moved to East Main Street. In 1936, the business was moved to its present location at First and Market Streets.
7. Standard Produce Company, Inc. – Founded 1912
140 Garrett St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Photo: Standard Produce Company
Nestled close to the beautiful mountains of VA in Charlottesville, Standard Produce Company has been servicing repeat and satisfied customers since 1910.
8. Snow’s Garden Center – Founded 1912
1875 Avon Street Ext, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Snow’s Garden Center
Snow’s Garden and Landscaping Center has been serving the gardening and landscaping needs of the Charlottesville area and across Central Virginia since 1912 when Leroy H. Snow and his new wife Maggie came to Charlottesville from Upstate New York with their newborn son.
9. Blue Ridge Swim Club – Founded 1913
1275 Owensville Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22901
Website | Facebook | Photo: Blue Ridge Swim Club
The Pool at Blue Ridge Swim Club is a historic treasure. Built in 1913 by R. Warner Wood, the Pool was the centerpiece of Blue Ridge Camp, established nearby in 1909.
10. Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce – Founded 1913
209 5th St NE, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Google
According to the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives, a Chamber of Commerce is “an organization of businesses seeking to further their collective interests, while advancing their community, region, state or nation.” In early 1913, a group of local businesspeople sought to do just that. Gathering on Main Street in downtown Charlottesville, they created the Charlottesville Chamber of Commerce, growing out of a previous unincorporated chamber group.
11. W.F. Paulett & Son – Founded 1914
127 Irish Rd, Scottsville, VA 24590
Facebook | Photo: W.F. Paulett & Son FB
W.F. Paulett & Son was started in 1914 by W.F. Paulett, a local contractor that purchased a couple of loads of building materials and flooring. He offered it for sale to the public. His son, Forrest E. Paulett, came into the business in 1919 and added a saw mill, which provided lumber to be sold.
12. J.F. Bell Funeral Home – Founded 1917
108 6th St NW, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Facebook | Photo: J.F. Bell Funeral Home FB
John Ferris Bell moved from Chicago to organize the J.F. Bell Funeral Home which continues today as the oldest family-run funeral home in central Virginia and the area’s oldest existing business owned by people of color.
13. New Dominion Bookshop – Founded 1924
404 E Main St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: New Dominion Bookshop FB
Though the early days are unrecorded, New Dominion Bookshop opened its doors to Charlottesville in 1924, making it the oldest independent bookseller in Virginia today.
14. Charlottesville Area Association of Realtors – Founded 1925
550 Hillsdale Dr, Charlottesville, VA 22901
Website | Facebook | Photo: Google
Widely recognized as the leading voice for real estate in Central Virginia since 1925.
15. Hantzmon Wiebel LLP – Founded 1928
701 E Water St Ste 300, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Hantzmon Wiebel FB
Working for an accounting firm in Washington, DC, R. G. Hantzmon was assigned to its Charlottesville office in 1928. In 1936, Hantzmon took over the office as a sole proprietor, and the firm became known as R. G. Hantzmon, Certified Public Accountant. The firm hired Reuel A. Wiebel, Jr. as a staff accountant in 1941.
16. WA Hartman Memorials – Founded 1934
1301 Market St E, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: WA Hartman Memorials FB
In operation since 1934, WA Hartman Memorials have earned a reputation for providing high-quality granite, marble, and bronze memorial monuments and grave markers.
17. Barrett Early Learning Center – Founded 1935
410 Ridge St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Barrett Early Learning Center
Barrett Early Learning Center, the oldest childcare center in the Commonwealth, opened in 1935 as the Janie Porter Barrett Nursery School under FDR’s Works Progress Administration program (WPA) for “colored” woman working in WPA service centers. When WPA ended in 1941 along with its funding, African American leaders in the Starr Hill community rallied to keep the Barrett Day Nursery open recognizing the invaluable role it played for working women with low paying jobs and few employment opportunities.
18. Lee Construction Group – Founded 1939
2811 Hydraulic Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22901
Website | Facebook | Photo: Lee Construction Group
The Lee Construction Group, Inc. traces its roots back to back to 1939, evolving from a highly skilled father and son team, Bob and Bobby Lee, who built and restored fine and historic homes across Central Virginia under the name R. E. Lee & Son, Inc.
19. Allied Concrete – Founded 1945
1000 Harris St, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Photo: Allied Concrete
Allied Concrete was founded in 1945 as Allied Supply Company by Wilson McNeely, a 1943 graduate of the School of Architecture at The University of Virginia.
20. Tuel Jewelers – Founded 1945
319 E Main St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Photo: Christian Romero on Google
Tuel Jewelers in Charlottesville, VA, was established in 1945 as a watch repair shop taking in mostly Railroad Watch Repair and Certification.
21. Crozet Hardware Co Inc – Founded 1949
5783 The Square, Crozet, VA 22932
Facebook | Photo: Crozet Hardware Co Inc FB
Norman Gillum opened Crozet Hardware in 1949 in a building that has since been demolished.
22. S.L. Williamson Co, Inc – Founded 1949
1230 River Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22901
Website | Facebook | Photo: S.L. Williamson Co, Inc
S.L. Williamson Co., Inc. is a third-generation asphalt paving and road construction company based in Charlottesville, Virginia and founded in 1949.
23. WINA – Founded 1949
Website | Facebook | Photo: Google
WINA was granted its license to broadcast on October 10, 1949; the station signed on soon afterwards as a 1,000-watt daytimer on 1280 kHz with a full service format.
24. Bailey Printing Inc – Founded 1950
914 Harris St, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Facebook | Photo: Bailey Printing Inc
Bailey Printing opened for business in 1950 as Architectural blueprint providers for the local architects. The founder, Robert Bishop Bailey (Bob), founded the company in 1960 and opened a storefront to expand his business.
25. Browns Lock & Safe – Founded 1950
210 W Market St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Browns Lock & Safe FB
Stewart K. Brown, Jr. founded Browns Lock & Safe in 1950. The business has been located at 210 West Market Street in Charlottesville, Virginia since the early 1970s.
26. Eljo’s Traditional Clothes – Founded 1950
1067 Millmont St, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Facebook | Photo: Eljo’s Traditional Clothes FB
Eljo’s was founded on the historic University of Virginia “Corner” in 1950 by two brothers: Elliott and Joseph Hyman of Baltimore, Maryland. Ell and Joe graduated from the University in the late 1940’s and opened their store, named “Eljo’s University Of Virginia”, at 1509 University Avenue in August 1950.
27. Charlottesville Glass & Mirror – Founded 1954
1428 E High St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Charlottesville Glass & Mirror
Established in 1954 by John Corle, Charlottesville Glass and Mirror was the first glass company in Charlottesville.
28. UVA Community Credit Union – Founded 1954
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Website | Facebook | Photo: UVA Community Credit Union
On May 1, 1954, a group of 40 University of Virginia Hospital administrators and staff held their first meeting to organize what would become the University of Virginia Community Credit Union.
29. Beck Cohen – Founded 1955
215 Avon St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Beck Cohen
Beck Cohen was founded in Charlottesville in 1955, and they’ve been providing heating and cooling services in the area ever since.
30. Cosner Bros – Founded 1957
1538 E High St, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Photo: Google
Established 1957.
31. Charlottesville Sanitary Supply Corporation – Founded 1964
1327 E High St, Charlottesville, VA 22901
Website | Facebook | Photo: Charlottesville Sanitary Supply Corporation FB
Charlottesville Sanitary Supply Corporation has been keeping Charlottesville homes and pools clean since 1964.
32. Intrastate Service Company – Founded 1969
4512 Three Chopt Rd, Troy, VA 22974
Website | Facebook | Photo: Intrastate
Intrastate Pest Control was founded in 1969 by Robert “Bob” Wells and has served the Charlottesville community for three generations. It continues today as Intrastate Service Company
33. Fitzgerald’s Tire Co – Founded 1973
408 Monticello Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Facebook | Photo: Fitzgerald’s Tire Co FB
Fitzgerald’s Tires is a tire shop locally owned and operated that has served the area since 1973.
34. Crutchfield – Founded 1974
1 Crutchfield Park, Charlottesville, VA 22911
Website | Facebook | Photo: Crutchfield
Bill Crutchfield founded the company in 1974, based out of his mother’s basement, and created the first car audio mail order catalog.
35. Daedalus Books – Founded 1974
123 Heather Heyer Way, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Photo: Google
Daedalus is a 3 story maze of a used book store established by Sandy McAdams in 1974.
36. Shenanigans Toy Store – Founded 1974
601 W Main St, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Facebook | Photo: Shenanigans Toy Store FB
37. Heartwood Books – Founded 1975
5 Elliewood Ave, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Facebook | Photo: Heartwood Books FB
Heartwood Books opened on the Corner in 1975.
38. St. Anne’s-Belfield – Founded 1975
2132 Ivy Rd, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Facebook | Photo: St. Anne’s-Belfield FB
In 1975, after a five-year trial period, St. Anne’s and Belfield officially merged. Their combined legacy of high academic standards and enduring tradition continue to enrich the lives of students today.
39. Blue Ridge Graphics – Founded 1979
550 Meade Ave, Charlottesville, VA 22902
Website | Facebook | Photo: Google
Blue Ridge Graphics is a family-owned and operated business founded in 1979 in Charlottesville.
40. Ragged Mountain Running Shop – Founded 1982
3 Elliewood Ave, Charlottesville, VA 22903
Website | Facebook | Photo: Ragged Mountain Running Shop
In January, 1982, Cynthia and Mark opened the Ragged Mountain Running Shop in a tiny 500 square foot space upstairs in an old house at the end of tree lined Elliewood Avenue, with the goal of providing the best service to runners of all abilities.
Judah Witkower
