W.A. Sherman building on Wall (later named Chapman) Street in Orange, Virginia, March 29, 1971 before demolition by Harwell Construction Company. The building on the far left is the former National Bank & Trust Company.
The building was believed to be the first all-cinderblock building in Orange was built by Butler Jackson in 1919. Friends said he was almost finished with the building when he fell from a scaffold and severely injured his leg. The building along with Ford Hardware fronting on Main Street was being demolished to create a parking lot for the bank.
E.W. Scott moved his Chevrolet dealership to this building on May 1, 1941. He bought the building from M.R. and E.B. Ford who had previously bought it from W.W. Ware. After Scott Chevrolet moved further down Wall Street, W. A. Sherman Company occupied the site.
When W. A. Sherman moved to Church Street in 1965, Green Publishers (Orange County Review) bought the building and later sold it to National Bank & Trust in 1970.
The building was the location for Welford Sherman’s TV reception tower that caught the attention of Fred Allman in about 1946 and led to the start of WJMA in September 1949. photo by Duff Green, courtesy of the Orange County Review