Downtown Durham

As with many of the structures on Main St., 317 West Main began by providing space to multiple small retail establishments. 317 West main, 1940s. (Wyatt Dixon Collection) By the 1960s, many of stores on Main St. had grown to take over several of the spaces. (Courtesy Robby Delius) Rose's has taken over the eastern 3 storefronts, while another...

The building at 327-329 West Main St. was built during the 1920s with the C.D. Kenny company (which sold Teas, Coffees, and Sugars) as one tenant and the Federated Clothing Store as the other. I've previously posted on another location of the CD Kenny company, 301 West Main St. In keeping with the concentration of retail stores near Five Points...

Looking west from West Main St., 1963. The Durham Drug Company and the Royal Clothing store were both longtime tenants of the building at 332 West Main St., a brick commercial building built in the 1920s, immediately to the east of the Piedmont Building. The earliest known retailer in the building was A.E. Lloyd and Co., a hardware store. The...

The second part of the Hall-Wynne building (the two connected at the back, along Manning Place) was also built between 1907 and 1913. This building was the stable building for the funeral home. Looking north-ish, 1910. The picture is a bit odd as they have 'edited' out the background (which it appears consisted of small frame structures from the pieces the printer couldn't edit out.)

The first public high school in the city, this building was altered significantly to become Durham's City Hall in the 1920s, and then again to become a home for the Durham Arts Council in the 1980s.

This small but actively inhabited masonry brick building has had everything from Auto loans to Magic Touch Massage to Irish Bar through its pair of front doors.

The 'wide end' of the western Five Points was residential property until the early-mid 1920s 1913 Sanborn map showing the western triangle of Five Points and the large residential structure at its western end. By 1925, the large house had been torn down, and the land was set for auction. Looking southeast from Great Jones St. and West Main St., 09...

------ (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...