314-316 Morehead Ave

35.991623, -78.907538

314-316
Durham
NC
Cross Street
Year built
1890-1920
Year demolished
1967
Construction type
Neighborhood
Building Type
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The corner of Morehead and Willard - 316 Morehead, 1965.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)


314 Morehead, 1965
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

It isn't completely apparent from these photos that 314-316 Morehead were connected structures, but they were; the corner grocery with a residential wing was not atypical in early 20th century Durham; a few of these structures still exist in 2011, although none utilized in the 'live-work' fashion.

 


(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

The 300 and 400 blocks of Morehead contained a mix of smaller structures, corner groceries, and, as one moved westward, up the hill towards South Duke St., more stately housing.

As you can see in the above photo, Morehead originally ran immediately south of the multi-story Fowler Building at the American Tobacco complex.

The buildings were taken down by the city redevelopment authority as part of the urban renewal program.

The East West Expressway was run through this section of Morehead Avenue - in fact, it was where the big fun expressway project got its start.


"Expressway Started, Morehead Avenue - 05.08.67"
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Looking west-southwest down Morehead Avenue from near Mangum St., December 1967.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

The big swath of asphalt and concrete radically changed the landscape through this area, and clearly cordoned off the area around American Tobacco from the neighborhoods to the south and west.

Morehead was rerouted to become, essentially, a service road for the south side of the Freeway from South Duke to Fayetteville. A present day shot of the original path is hard to take, so you'll have to visually trace the line from the Duke St. intersection to the south end of American Tobacco (by Mellow Mushroom) to get a sense of the path.


Looking north-northeast, 03.16.08

Comments

Amazon really got an early start: selling Pepsis in Durham to selling books worldwide.... ;)

Bolton's Grocery is an interesting building... it's a converted house!

Joe - See the amazing history facts hidden in Durham's history? ;)

Anon - very much agreed, I love corner stores. I don't think it was converted though - I think it was probably built this way. If it had originally been a house, the entrance would likely have come off the long side, and there's no evidence of modification to that side.

GK

This store as we called it was Mr.Paul's as in Paul Bolton older guys sat around a potbelly stove in winter and we kids loved getting sugar babies 5cent
Charms 5cent and 2 for 1cent butter cookies, wow now I know why I have false teeth.

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