Shoe Store

207 West Main St., 1905 (Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection. Scanned by Digital Durham) Evidently built by Richard H. Wright in 1895, 207 West Main was the first home to the Citizens Bank, which evolved from the Morehead Bank. The bank was located here until 1908, when it moved to its own new building at 105 West Main St.

740 Ninth St., 08.29.63 (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper) 740 Ninth was the location of John Dailey's grocery store by 1926; by 1935 it is noted as Calvin Dailey's grocery store. By the early 1940s, Dailey had moved southward to 736-738 Ninth, and Louis Bonardi had moved his fruit and produce store to Dailey's former location at 740 Ninth.

Pic n' Pay, 03.02.62 (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Carolina Furniture Company on East Pettigrew St., 1902. (Copyright Sanborn Map Company) The block of East Pettigrew Street between Ramsey St. and Branch Place was the site of the wood-frame Carolina Furniture Company building. The Carolina Furniture Co. building had been constructed in the 1880s as the "Wortham Wooden Mills." This venture became...

Above, the south side of the 100 block of East Main St., looking southeast, 1924. 112-116 East Main is the three-story structure mid-block (Courtesy Duke Archives) The 100 block of East Main St. was, along with 100 West Main St., the earliest retail focus in Durham. Generally, in the development of Durham, early frame structures were supplanted by...

Looking northeast from the south side of the 100 block of East Main St., 1890s. (Courtesy Duke Archives) The first brick structures on the north side of the 100 block of East Main St. were built during late 1880s-early 1890s, including the midblock structures of 113-119 E. Main. 119 East Main notably included the Rawls Store, which later became the Rawls-Knight department store.

Looking northwest, 1905. (Courtesy Durham County Library) A 1905 view shows the growth of Yearby's drugstore at 123 East Main, which would become the first gasoline dealer in the city; pumps were generally set up at the edge of the sidewalk; I don't know where the tanks were contained. (Possibly in the under-sidewalk basements?) The Interior of Yearby's, ~1905.

Looking northeast from Church St. and East Main St., 1890s. 211 East Main is the brick structure on the right. (Courtesy Duke Archives) Commercial development of the north side of the 200 block of East Main St. proceeded eastward from the commercial core. The western half of the block was developed by commercial structures by the 1890s, two of which are visible above.