413 Ashton Place

413 Ashton.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

(Courtesy Duke Archives)

Jackson Street initially ran parallel to West Chapel Hill St. before making a turn in its final block to meet West Pettigrew on a perpendicular. The continuation of the street along the parallel to West Pettigrew Street was called Dandy Street.

By the early 20th century, this confusing arrangement had been rectified, and Jackson Street extended along the former Dandy Street path. The orphaned one block section of Jackson Street that had extended to West Pettigrew was renamed Ashton Place.

An aerial looking east, showing Ashton Place extending from the 'kink' in Jackson, 1948.
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

An aerial looking north showing Ashton Pl, 1948.
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

By the 1960s, West Pettigrew and part of Ashton had begun to change to a more commercial flavor, leaving this block somewhat transitional.

The east side of Ashton:

413 Ashton.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

409 Ashton
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

407 Ashton
(Courtesy Durham County Library)
The remainder of the block (western side) remained residential until the houses were torn down by urban renewal in 1967.

The Downtowner under construction, looking east (and down) from the Mutual building, February 1967, with Ashton Place just to the far side.
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

Soon after the completion of the Downtowner, Ashton Place was converted to a cul-de-sac (you can almost feel the frisson running up the spine of the 1960s planner when they drew that one on a page) and no longer connected with West Pettigrew.

A shot of The Downtowner - on fire, actually - but showing the cul-de-sac-ed Ashton Place in the background, with the evidently undemolished 413 Ashton Place.
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

413 Ashton survived into the 1990s before demolition. The entire street has now disappeared, and I don't know if it will return - perhaps as a bus entry and exit? (Update, 2011: it will not return.)

A view up the east side of the former Ashton Place, 02.10.08.

A view up the west side of the former Ashton Place, 02.10.08.

Speaking of which, how are all of these buses going to navigate this area anyway? Are they all going to be dumping out on Pettigrew? Or going up Jackson to Duke Street? It's really an odd place to put a bus station, if you ask me - the road connectvity is not exactly stellar.