Rivertown: A Brief History
The town of Rivertown was animportant stop for settlers heading across the AppalachianMountains into the "western territorities." Much of the olderpart of the downtown was built from the 1840s to the 1890s, andthe railway station and Rivertown Hotel were important duringthis period. The town also served as home for many of thearea's lumber barons. As a result, some of the early mansionshad ornate woodworking throughout their interiors. The mostoutstanding example is the Biltmore mansion, built by thefamily of the town's founder, Amos Biltmore.Rivertown has a populationof about 15,000 residents. The "birds-eye" sketch of Rivertownshows only the older section of its downtown and a little ofits surrounding residential area. A later commercial districthas been built to the immediate south (below the area shown inthe sketch) and a newer shopping center was recently built onthe northwestern outskirts of Rivertown.
This older part of the downtown has buildings in variousstates of repair. The First National Bank Building has beenkept up well, and the bank and its Manager, Norman Tyler, has been astabilizing influence on this district. The railway station no longerhas passengersusing it, since there is no longer passenger service, and has beenconverted to an antique shop, but stillhas unused areas in the large space. The only public transportation arethe Greyhound buses which pull into the Bus Depot. The Rivertown Hotelhas a coffee shop on the ground floor, and has a few by-day rooms on the2nd floor. The rest of the building is unused and needs rehabilitationwork.Miiler Manor, behind the Hotel, has been split up into smallapartments and rooms for single- or double-occupancy low-incometenants. The other building in bad disrepair is the oldDiscount Shoes building, now vacant. Other buildings have beenmaintained well, especially the Law Offices building, SmithHardware and what is now Rogers Auto Supply, although some havevacant upper floors. The Feldt Toys building was built new inthe 1970s.
