Downtown Gastonia Historic District, Historic district in Gastonia, United States.

The Downtown Gastonia Historic District holds 77 contributing buildings and one contributing object in Gastonia's central business district, built between the 1890s and 1954. Its commercial, civic, institutional and multi-unit residential buildings include Colonial Revival and Classical Revival work, among them the 1935 U.S. Post Office, the 1922 Kirby Building and the 1930 former Gaston County Public Library.

The district emerged around 1890 and developed through the 1950s, with its buildings reflecting the town's evolution as a commercial center. The focus on banking institutions and large department stores demonstrated the economic prosperity of that era.

The district's name comes from its role as Gastonia's central business district, and its buildings record how that role changed. The Kress and Leibowitz department stores and the Ideal Moving Picture Theater, dating from around 1912, show where people shopped and watched films. The former Gaston County Public Library (1930) and the First Baptist Church (1922) mark civic and religious life within the same blocks.

The main streets of the district are Main Avenue, Broad Street, Second Avenue, and Chester Street, where most of the preserved buildings are concentrated. Walking through these streets provides a good overview of the architecture and layout of the historical center.

Four buildings in the district are listed separately on the National Register: the former Gaston County Courthouse, the First National Bank Building, the Third National Bank Building and the Robinson-Gardner Building. The district as a whole was added to the register in 2004, with 77 contributing buildings and one contributing object.