Herald-Sun Buildings

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(From "Images of America: Durham" by Steve Massengill)

The Durham Morning Herald grew out of the remains of the Durham Globe and the Durham Recorder in 1894. The first building was constructed on Market Street on a lot purchased from John Sprunt Hill. This shot is taken looking west from Market St.

Below, R.H. Cowan, J.H. King, and E.T. Rollins, Sr. pose in front of the offices of the Morning Herald. The Rollins family would later become sole owners of the paper.

(Courtesy Wyatt Dixon Collection, Duke Archives)

In 1920, the Morning Herald was ready to expand and purchased the insurance building next door.

(Courtesy Duke Archives)

In 1929, the Herald acquired the Durham Sun, which had formerly been located in East Main St. (that building still stands at 306 E. Main). In 1930, the company tore down the above bulidings to build a new Herald-Sun building.

(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

By the 1940s, the Herald-Sun again needed to expand and purchased the buildings to the east of the alley.

(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

The corner of East Chapel Hill and Market St., 1950s. Looking southwest.
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

Tight shot of a part of the addition, 1950s.
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

By the 1950s, the paper was ready to expand again - first, with a new addition to the west on East Chapel Hill St.

Above, a rendering of the addition.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

And - needing still more room, the Herald decided to add a fourth floor to their larger building on Market St. in 1963. Below, a before/in-process picture.

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

09.17.63

And with a completed fourth floor addition, below.

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

In 1977, the Belk Leggett buildings to the west of the Herald-Sun were demolished. Some of this area became parking for the Herald-Sun - I don't know who actually demolished the buildings.

By 1986, the paper was ready to expand once again, and built a large addition on some of the space where Belk-Leggett had been - it allowed loading of trucks in the middle of the 'triangle' of East Chapel Hill, West Main, and Market. However, the paper only used the addition for another 4 years, as they moved out to the Bypass on Labor Day, 1990. The former newspaper buildlings became the 'Bull City Business Center'.

The North Carolina Lambda Youth Network worked out of one of the offices in the 115 Market St building. The North Carolina Lambed Youth Network was formed in July of 1996, as a youth-led leadership organization for LGBT+ youth. The program hosted a variety of events workshops, including ones for LGBT+ youth of color, a multigenerational working group advocating safer schooling for LGBT+ youth, and more. 

What does Lambda mean?

The Encyclopedia of Homosexuality edited by Wayne R. Dynes (Garland Press: New York, 1990) defines Lambda as:

"In the early 1970s, in the wake of the Stonewall Rebellion, New York City's Gay Activists Alliance selected the Greek letter lambda, which member Tom Doerr suggested from its scientific use to designate kinetic potential, as its emblem. (Curiously, in some ancient Greek graffiti the capital lambda appears with the meaning fellate, representing the first letter of either lambazein or laikazein.) Because of its militant associations, the lambda symbol has spread throughout the world. It sometimes appears in the form of an amulet hung round the neck as a subtle sign of recognition which can pass among unknowing heterosexuals as a mere ornament. Such emblems may reflect a tendency among homosexuals toward tribalization as a distinct segment of society, one conceived as a quasi-ethnic group."

More Man Than You'll Ever Be by Joseph P. Goodwin (Indiana University Press:Bloomington, 1989), on page 26 defines Lamba as: 

The lowercase Greek letter lambda carries several meanings. First of all, it represents scales, and thus balance. The Greeks considered balance to be the constant adjustment necessary to keep opposing forces from overcoming each other. The hook at the bottom of the right leg of the lambda represents the action required to reach and maintain a balance. To the Spartans, the lambda meant unity. They felt that society should never infringe on anyone's individuality and freedom. The Romans adopted the letter to represent "the light of knowledge shed into the darkness of ignorance." Finally, in physics the symbol designates and energy change. Thus the lambda, with all its meanings, is an especially apt symbol for the gay liberation movement, which energetically seeks a balance in society and which strives through enlightenment to secure equal rights for homosexual people.

View of the Market St. buildings, looking west, 2007.

Looking southeast from East Chapel Hill St., 2007

View of the whole former Herald-Sun complex from the corner of East Chapel Hill and Market, looking southwest, 2007.

(Photo copyright Gary Kueber)

05.12.13

(Photo and lensfinger copyright Gary Kueber)