Miller Brothers Wholesale Hardware
Manufacturing was not the only type of business that took advantage of Richmond’s rail facilities. Wholesale houses sprang up in the vicinity of the Union Depot, and the largest ones even had their own rail spurs to offload material into their warehouses straight from railcars.
The Miller Brothers Block is now home to the Richmond Furniture Gallery. The original building was built in 1890 for the firm of Pogue, Miller & Company. It was a perfect location for a hardware wholesale business, and their enterprise grew rapidly.
Over the next 25 years, the building was expanded three times, and a company reorganization resulted in the new firm name of Miller Brothers. The company remained in business until the early 1970s, and then the structure remained vacant for many years.
In 2004, Roger Richert purchased it and opened the Richmond Furniture Gallery. He did not renovate the building; he restored it to its previous industrial appearance, and filled it with furniture. It is now an anchor of the revitalized Historic Depot District and hosts an annual Old-Fashioned Christmas Festival plus many other special events.
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