Pleas M. Sawyer House #1

Pleas M. Sawyer, an IRS agent, and his wife Edna O'Neal Garland Sawyer purchased lot 4 of Markham Place (plat book 5a, page 27) in 1922 (book 63 / page129).  They had this bungalow constructed, and it was first listed in the 1923 Durham City Directory as 915 Green Street.  It was the only house on the south side of the 900 block of Green Street at this time.  (Only one house was on the north side of this block at this time, 918, owned by R. L. Deas.)  In 1924, the Sawyers purchased the eastern portion of lot 3 (the property just to the west of lot 4; book 69/page 381).  The house first appears as 919 Green Street in the 1925 Durham City Directory.  The Sawyers further expanded their property holdings on the south side of the 900 block of Green Street in 1926, purchasing the western portion of lot 3 (book 74/page 72), and lots 5, 6, and the western portion of lot 7 (book 74/pages 71 and 73).  They had the houses 909, 911, 913, 915, and 917 constructed in 1926, and these were first listed in the Durham City Directory in 1927.