401 Pine / South Roxboro - Wm. Amey Funeral Home

401 Pine Street, 1922.
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection / Digital Durham)

The house at 401 Pine St. was built by Sidney T. James, who owned and operated the Bull City Drug Store on Fayetteville St. In 1933, though, William A. Amey and Emanuel G. Spaulding (CC Spaulding's younger brother) had established the Carolina Funeral Home in the house.

(From "Images of America: Durham" by Steve Massengill)

EG Spaulding moved away to New York, and Amey changed the name of the business to the William Amey Funeral Home. Amey was a "Mason and an Elk, Treasurer of the Mt. Vernon Credit Union, member of the Durham Business and Professional Chain, Odd Fellows, NAACP, and trustee of Mt. Vernon Baptist Church." His wife Essie ran a florist business out of the same building.

William Amey Funeral Home, 1949 (Still frame from "Negro Durham Marches On")
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

William Amey Funeral Home, 1949 (Still frame from "Negro Durham Marches On")
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

Below, the relevant clip from "Negro Durham Marches On" - 1949


(Courtesy Durham County Library)

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

By 1951, William Amey, Jr. had joined his father in the business.

Partial view of the Amey Funeral home, looking northeast, circa 1970.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

In 1971, Amey moved the funeral home to 2919 Fayetteville St. and operated the business there until his death in 1981. The building at 401 S. Roxboro was demolished by the city of Durham using urban renewal funds in the early 1970s.

Looking northeast at the former site of the William Amey Funeral Home. the intersection of Poplar and S. Roxboro would have been at the driveway to the left. This portion of Dillard St., ahead and to the right, was created after urban renewal.


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