Romanesque Revival

Fuller School (1897-1937)

While I've previously profiled the first 'Graded School' constructed in Durham (i.e. public school,) private schools began in fits and starts - a log cabin school near the present intersection of Dillard and Main, classes in churches, etc. The first private school of substance in Durham began in 1852, on land donated by AJ Rigsbee at the current...

Durham Water Works / Reservoir

Under construction, 1917 W. M. Piatt and Company, (whose principal, William Piatt, I've referenced as the mid-20th century owner of Lochmoor) constructed the plant. Piatt had come to Winston-Salem from Pennsylvania before establishing his engineering firm in Durham in 1910. Durham Water Works, early 1920s. (Courtesy Durham County Library - North...

First Baptist Church (1878-1927)

(Courtesy Duke Archives)

First National Bank / Main And Corcoran - Se (original)

(Courtesy Duke Archives) First National Bank and its decendents were the longtime occupants of the southeast corner of Main and Corcoran Streets. This was the second First National Bank building, constructed in 1887 by Julian Carr, who was one of the most prominent figures in early Durham history (and three of my previous posts have featured his...

East Durham Graded School / Y.E. Smith School

---- East Durham Graded School, 1898 (Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection) The earliest schools in East Durham were two one-room schoolhouses - one, called the Cherry Grove School, was located near the present-day intersection of Liberty St. and North Driver St. The second was the Oak Grove School, located south of the railroad tracks...

West Durham Pentecostal Holiness Church

(Courtesy Old West Durham) Per the Old West Durham website a Pentecostal mission was established in West Durham in 1911. The group met in the home of CE Cates, located on Gin St. For the next nine years, the group used the SW Avery home on 15th St., "a hall" on 9th St., and AW Utley's home on 13th (Bolton) St. In 1920, a location at Oakland and...

Beth El Synagogue (holloway Street)

The Jewish community in Durham grew slowly during the 1870s with the arrival of families that opened mercantile establishments, but gained momentum during the 1880s with the advent of cigarette manufacture by the Blackwell and Duke tobacco companies. The cigarettes were initially hand-rolled, and many of the experienced rollers came to Durham from...

Durham County Courthouse (first)

After Durham County was established by vote of the state legislature in 1881, the first courthouse (and everything else related to the business of the new county) was located in rented space in Stokes Hall, on the northeast corner of Corcoran and West Main St.

Ej Parrish / Duke Power Building

In 1879 EJ Parrish (the first man to auction tobacco in Durham) built a tobacco warehouse on the southeast corner of Mangum St. and the eponymous Parrish St. (Courtesy Durham County Library) No records exist of the exact location of the warehouse, but I do know that it was on the "western portion of the site", which would imply that the above view...

The Imperial Tobacco Company

The Imperial Tobacco Company of Great Britain and Ireland was established by 18 individual British tobacco manufacturers who wanted to counter JB Duke's expansion of the American Tobacco Company into Europe. After Duke purchased a British tobacco factory and began undercutting the British manufacturers, the Imperial Tobacco Company announced plans...