Downtown Durham

Above, the south side of the 100 block of East Main St., looking southeast, 1924. (Courtesy Duke Archives)

Above, the south side of the 100 block of East Main St., looking southeast, 1924. (Courtesy Duke Archives)

Above, the south side of the 100 block of East Main St., looking southeast, 1924. (Courtesy Duke Archives)

Longtime home to the City Sandwich Shop, 124 East Main had a major facade change in 1947

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...

Looking north on Church, 1984. (Courtesy Durham County Library) (Courtesy Duke Archives)

The First Presbyterian Church began when Dr. Richard Blacknall moved from 'Red Mountain' (Rougemont) to Durham in 1860 and persuaded Revs. James and Charles Phillips to come from Chapel Hill to hold sermons in the Trinity Methodist or First Baptist churches. His wife organized Sunday school classes in the First Baptist Church as well. The...

Rogers Drugstore, 1968 --- Looking northeast from the corner of Parrish St. and N. Mangum St., 1890s (Courtesy Duke Archives) (Courtesy Duke Archives) After his first warehouse on the south side of the 100 block of E. Parrish St. burned in the 1880s, EJ Parrish built a second warehouse that eventually extended most of the length of the block...

339-341 W. Main was built in the 1920s as part of a row of structures replacing earlier frame establishments and industrial uses, such as Seeman's Carriage Works. The area between Corcoran and L & M rapidly took on a retail focus during this era, as the 'core' of downtown to the east focused more on the office and government sectors. (Courtesy Duke...

343-345 West Main, 1950s (Courtesy Herald-Sun) 343-345 West Main is a well-decorated portion of a row of buildings along W. Main Street at Five Points, built during the 1920s. The earliest and best view I could find of the whole row is from the 1920s. (Courtesy Duke Archives) By 1937, 343 housed the White Way Lunch, with the American Beauty Shoppe...