The former mayor, Joseph Williams, brought a vision when he was elected in 1998: To revitalize Mount Jackson’s downtown Main Street.
The town hired the Community Design Assistance Center of Virginia Tech to make recommendations. Surveys and workshops integrated public input as well. Virginia Tech recommended a new town hall on the vacant plot in the center of town, in addition to planting trees and highlighting the town’s historic resources.
Today, those recommendations are realized in part by the William and Ken Byrd Holtzman Visitors Center and Town Hall, which stands at 5901 Main Street. The building, which resembles an old train station, houses the police department, library, museum, and the town’s administrative offices. The central hallway is a Certified Visitors Center, and the basement features a large meeting room and annex of the museum. Outside, green space surrounds a gazebo and benches where musicians sometimes gather.
The center was made possible by Transportation Enhancement TEA grants and community matching funds from the Mount Jackson Community Library, the Mount Jackson Museum, William Paxton, Gordon Bowman, and William B. Holtzman.