Editing Independence, Virginia (section)

==History==
The [[Brookside Farm and Mill]] and the original [[Grayson County Courthouse (Virginia)|Grayson County Courthouse]] are listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>

The Courthouse features a [[Richardsonian Romanesque|Richardsonian]] style by noted architect [[Frank Pierce Milburn]] following his designs Wise County, Virginia, and Forsyth County, North Carolina, and the Southern Railway Station in Knoxville, Tennessee.<ref name="vault"/> The design features corbeled brackets and a Flemish gable between octagonal corner towers with roof element. A horizontal course and a cornice wrap the building to a central portico. Some brick from an 1863 courthouse previously occupying the site was re-used as fill inside the walls,<ref name="vault"/> with remaining brick arriving from Maysville, Kentucky, rail-shipped to [[Fries, Virginia]], and delivered by ox drawn wagon to Independence. Office furniture was purchased from Richmond.<ref name="vault"/> To safely store county documents &mdash;  birth, marriage, property, and death records &mdash; the building included a state-mandated fireproof vault.<ref name="vault">{{cite web
 |title        = Historic 1908 Courthouse Foundation
 |publisher    = historic1908courthouse.or
 |author       = 
 |date         = 
 |url          = http://historic1908courthouse.org/history/}}</ref>

The county constructed a new courthouse in the 1970s,<ref name="vault"/> and the 1908 building was nearly razed after left vacant in 1981, badly in disrepair.<ref name="vault"/> Rescued by citizens groups &mdash; Grayson County Historical Society and a grass-roots group, People and the Courthouse (PATCH) &mdash; and restored. A local businessman, Dan Doyle Baldwin (1933-1994, CEO of [[Nautilus, Inc.|Nautilus Fitness]]) purchased and restored the building, in turn donating it on July 4, 1986 to Grayson County and forming the  ''Historic 1908 Courthouse Foundation.''<ref name="vault"/> The courthouse now serves as the Grayson County Art & Cultural Center. ''The Grayson Crossroads Museum'' is now located on the first floor in what was the Clerk's Vault Room and the building accommodates special events and community activities.<ref name="court1">{{cite web
 |title        = HISTORIC 1908 GRAYSON COUNTY COURTHOUSE
 |publisher    = sah-archipedia.org
 |author       = 
 |date         = 
 |url          = https://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/VA-02-GY2}}</ref> Open to the public, the Baldwin Auditorium occupies the former courtroom. The 1908 Courthouse is now featured prominently on the Grayson County logo. A [[carrara marble]] Confederate Monument, titled “Parade Rest”, was dedicated in 1911, remaining in place as of 2022.

From the 1970s<ref name="Baldwin">{{cite web
 |title        = EX-MANAGER MAKES BID FOR NAUTILUS
 |publisher    = Roanoke Times
 |author       = GEORGE KEGLEY
 |date         = June 21, 1990
 |url          = https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1990/rt9006/900621/06210141.htm}}</ref> to the 1990s, Independence was home to the [[Nautilus, Inc.|Nautilus Fitness]] manufacturing plant and warehouse at a 56 acre site 709 Powerhouse Road, reaching a peak of 600 employees in 1984.<ref name="Baldwin"/> One of Grayson County's major industries,<ref name="naut">{{cite web
 |title        = Blast Destroys Plant
 |publisher    = Roanoke Times
 |author       = PAUL DELLINGER and STEPHEN FOSTE
 |date         = March 15, 1993
 |url          = https://scholar.lib.vt.edu/VA-news/ROA-Times/issues/1993/rt0393/930315/03150040.htm}}</ref> Nautilus was sold to Bowflex in 1997. The plant remains, currently owned by Medfit Systems.