North Gregson Street

Gregson Street is named for Amos Gregson, a Methodist minister appointed in 1886 to lead a mission church in the Duke tobacco factory. The mission, supported by the Duke Family, became Main Street Methodist Church, located at the corner of South Gregson Street and West Main Street.

Per History Beneath Our Feet:

"Gregson Street" made its earliest appearance on the 1902 Sanborn Insurance Map, running north and east from Jackson Street to Main. North of Main Street, what is now a segment of Gregson Street is identified on a 1901 plat as "Hated Street."

The plat covers the southern section of present-day Trinity Park, an area Brodie L. Duke had laid out for development by 1901. If the street names on the plat are read east to west they read "Washington Duke Hated Watts" - presumably reflecting some animosity between Brodie Duke and George W. Watts, the only non-family partner in the Dukes' tobacco firm.

No doubt, the family found Brodie's joke an embarrassment, and on the 1907 Sanborn Map, the name appears as "Brody" - presumably a misspelling of "Brodie" - although "Hated" appears as late as a 1922 plat of property between Green and Demarius streets in northern Trinity Park.

Eventually, Brody Street was joined to Gregson and the entire street took that name. The plat covers the southern section of present-day Trinity Park, an area Brodie L. Duke had laid out for development by 1901. If the street names on the plat are read east to west they read "Washington Duke Hated Watts" - presumably reflecting some animosity between Brodie Duke and George W. Watts, the only non-family partner in the Dukes' tobacco firm.

See also South Gregson Street.

Massey-Hall-Marshall House

1-1/2 Storey English Tudor Revival residence (circa 1928) at northeast corner of North Gregson and Demerius Streets

902-904 West Main

(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

1415 N. Gregson St.

(11.16.2017 - Durham County Tax Administration photo) In italics below from the 2004 filing for the Trinity Park National Register Historic District boundary increase that included this property: Rev. Marion T. Plyler House. Colonial Revival-style 2-story brick house with side-gabled roof and flanking flat-roofed wings with wooden roof balustrades...

1410 N. Gregson St. – J.D. & Drusilla Gibson House

(Courtesy of Lappegard Photography, March 2019) Featured in the 2019 Preservation Durham Home Tour (text in italics below from the tour booklet): During the years of the Great Depression, new home construction stopped. The only thing happening to capture national attention and shape popular architectural taste was the work at Colonial Williamsburg...

Northgate Mall

1959 aerial view of the area north of West Club Blvd - construction of the US 70 bypass/Duke St. interchange is visible in the upper right corner. The property upon which Northgate Mall sits today had a rural character prior to the construction of the US 70 bypass immediately to its north in 1958-1959. While a small cluster of businesses stood at...

1013 North Gregson Street

(Below in italics is from the National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.) This late 1920s brick Foursquare has a pyramidal roof which flares to wide eaves and a centered hip-roofed dormer. A full-facade hip-roofed front porch is carried by heavy brick columns and a brick balustrade trimmed by granite. A recent brick wall...

1007 North Gregson Street

(Below in italics is from the National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.) Late 1930s classically styled one-and-one-half-story brick house with side gables and three weatherboarded gable-front dormers. The three-bay, three-room-deep block is detailed with eight-over-eight windows, a center entry flanked by sidelights...

1001 North Gregson Street – Jacob Freedman House

(Below in italics is from the National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.) Clothier Jacob Freedman had this two-story frame Colonial Revival style house built in the late 1920s. Gambrel roof is overlaid with almost full-facade shed-roofed dormers. Other principal elements of this style include quarter-round attic vents, an...

911 North Gregson Street – Jesse Bishop House

(Below in italics is from the National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.) Jesse Bishop, vice-president of Miller-Bishop, had this two-story brick Colonial Revival pattern book house constructed in the late 1920s for his family. Characteristic of the style are the side gable roof, interior-end chimney, twelve-over-one...

907 North Gregson Street – William Berry House

(Below in italics is from the National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.) William Berry had this one-and-one-half-story brick Period House built in the late 1920s. The steeply pitched gabled roof with large shed-roofed dormers appears on several other houses in the neighborhood. A salient feature is an imposing chimney...