The Crewe Commercial Historic District captures the commercial core of the western Nottoway County town of Crewe. Also included within the district is the former Norfolk and Western Railway Company railroad yard, which defines the southwestern border of the district. The remainder of the district’s boundary is defined by the residential portions of the town. Crewe was planned and laid out by the engineers of the N&W in 1888 and the commercial core was largely complete in less than a decade. An 1899 fire resulted in the primary corridor shifting from Virginia Avenue to Carolina Avenue. The commercial district was created to directly support the efforts of the railroad through its new  divisional headquarters and railyard, as well as to support the several hundred newly arrived railroad workers and their families.