Service Station

A residential area up until the 1920s, the Rigsbee / Mangum / East Chapel Hill triangle quickly infilled with commercial auto-related businesses by the late 1920s. Looking north at the intersection of N. Mangum St. and Rigsbee Ave. and SE Rochelle's motorcycle club, ~1910. (Courtesy Durham County Library) Above, an aerial view of the E. Chapel Hill...

(Courtesy Durham County Library) The typical Gulf station of the 1930s, 814 West Main, the northeast corner of West Main and North Gregson, is only partially visible above, obscured by the awning at 900 West Main Street. A blurry, but more complete view is below, from 1948, looking northwest. 814 West Main St., 1948 (Courtesy Duke RBMC, Wyatt Dixon...

The southwest corner of South Duke and West Main Streets was the location chosen for the Southern Conservatory of Music was built in 1898 - in large part, if not entirely due to the residence of the school's primary patron across the street. Per the great-granddaughter of the founder, Gilmore Ward Bryant, Washington Duke invited 'GW' to Durham to...

The east side of the 300 block of Roxboro consisted of apartment houses - as did much of the first few blocks of Roxboro north of Main St. With the seemingly-ubiquitous-during-the-60s corner service station close at hand. 302 Holloway - the southeast corner of N. Roxobro and Holloway., 1963. The houses on the north side of Holloway are in the background. These buildings were torn down using urban renewal funds during the late 1960s.

The northwest corner of Oakwood and Holloway was vacant until the 1920s-1930s, at which point it became a gas station. It would become one of 4 gas stations on Holloway between Oakwood and Roxboro, an Esso station across the street from the Pure Oil station on the southeast corner of N. Dillard and Holloway

Looking south from Holloway and N. Dillard, 1956. (Courtesy Wayne Henderson) The odd story, perhaps emblematic of the preservation ethic in Durham, is that Mrs. Sally G Brown, who lived in this house into the early 1950s ordered in her will that the house be demolished immediately upon her death. And it was, in 1952. The land was developed into a...

---- Bird's Eye view looking west the Erwin Field at Broad and West Main Streets, ~1940. (Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection) One of the early community assets created by the Erwin Cotton Mills and its principal, William Erwin, was the Erwin field, which hosted the Erwin Auditorium baseball team. Looking east from 8th...

The previous two posts have examined the history and land use of the northeast and southeast corners of East Main St. and Dillard St. Today's post examines the southwest corner of this intersection, the site of the current health department. (Looking south) Here is the satellite view from Google of this corner, with most of the relevant past and...

Looking south at the Central Filling Station, late 1920s. (From "Images of America: Durham" by Stephen Massengill) JR Day house, looking southeast from Roxboro and East Main Streets, 1895 The James R Day house took up most of the southern 300 block of East Main St. As labeled on the Sanborn map below, it was even noted as "Central Hotel." I haven't...

looking east-northeast, 1952.