408 Carr St.

 Looking west c.1880s, 408 Carr in the foreground just left and across the street from the back of Reams Warehouse.

In the 1897 city directory, when maps indicate this house was numbered 204, the residents were listed as Mr. J. J. and Mrs. Ella R. Lumbley.

 (Sanborn Map Company, May 1898, Fragment of Sheet 7, available online at Library of Congress)

Numeration changes seemed to have stabilized by the 1910s, but there was still significant turnover in the people calling this house home. From at least 1909-1913 a carpenter named Albert F. Carden is listed.

 
A view of the house (one back from the tracks, somewhat obfuscated by trees) from the north side of the tracks, looking southwest, 1920s.  The Hill Warehouse at the left of this photo replaced the Reams Warehouse in the earlier shot. (Fragment of panoramic photo taken for a 1926 Chamber of Commerce booklet, scanned by Digital Durham.)

Looking northeast at the northwest corner of Jackson and Carr, 1920s - the south side of 408 Carr is visible at the far left. From this angle you really get a sense of how close this location was to the heart of rapidly developing Durham - note the dense buildup along Main Street including the distinctive Trust Building and the First National Bank Building partially obscured by smoke.  The presence of the Trinity Methodist steeple above the factory's Old Bull Building indicates the photo must predate the church's destruction in a 1923 fire. (Courtesy Duke Archives, part of a panorama for a 1926 Chamber of Commerce booklet scanned by Digital Durham)

A salesman named George P. Mimms and his wife Inez are given as residents in city directories between at least 1925-1930. A widow and seamstress by the name of Mary E. Snipes was listed as the inhabitant from at least 1940-1945.

The Durham Sun ran a news article on July 21, 1949, entitled "Carr St. Landmark Torn Down."  Accompanying pictures show the dismantling of what had once been 408 Carr, and the piece creates some confusion about the speculation that this block included the industrial magnate Julian S. Carr's first Durham residence, either in this modest house or the larger one just north at the corner of Pettigrew facing the tracks.

408 Carr being torn down, looking southwest. (Courtesy Herald-Sun)

408 Carr being torn down, looking southwest. (Courtesy Herald-Sun)

City directories for 1948 and 1949 give the last residents of 408 Carr Street as Alvis B. and Beatrice R. Crabtree.  Alvis Crabtree worked at Durham Baking Company on West Geer Street (now Motorco).

Neither house has been definitively linked to Carr, and both were razed for a parking lot, as shown in this 1950 Sanborn map excerpt.

 (ProQuest Sanborn Maps accessible to Durham County Library patrons via NCLive.org)

 Looking northeast, 1965. (Courtesy Durham County Library)

This gravel lot was eventually paved.

Looking southeast, 1981.

In its latest iteration, the city took this lot and closed off Carr St. to build a parking deck for American Tobacco.

Looking southwest, November 2007.