Deshazor's Beauty College / 809 Fayetteville St.

35.98549, -78.897607

809
Fayetteville Street
Durham
NC
Year built
late 1920s or early 1930s
Year demolished
1968-1972
Construction type
Masonry
Neighborhood
Hayti
Use
Retail
Offices
Beauty College
Building Type
Commercial
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809 Fayetteville, 1962.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

It appears that the building at 809 Fayetteville St. was built in the late 1920s or early 1930s by the Royal Knights of King David. The RKKD had previously been located at 702-704 Fayetteville St. The building had first floor retail bays and multiple offices upstairs, occupied by various professionals.

The building became most well known for its occupancy by DeShazor's Beauty College, owned and operated by 'Madam' Jacqueline DeShazor. Ms. DeShazor originally came to Durham from Brooklyn, NY, and appears to have opened her beauty college by 1936. The business was quite successful, and she purchased the building in 1945 for $42,000.



From "Negro Durham Marches On" - 1949.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

DeShazor's was persevering in the late 1960s as the surrounding area was being torn down.
DeShazor's_color_SE.jpeg
Looking southeast, late 1960s.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)


View of a few remnants of Hayti from the North Carolina Mutual Building on W. Chapel Hill St., circa 1970. 809 Fayetteville can be seen to the right, behind the wing extending to the right of St. Joseph's AME.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Sometime between 1968 and 1972, the building was destroyed.


809 Fayetteville
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)


809 Fayetteville.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

DeShazor's appears to have moved downtown after urban renewal, located at 108 East Main St. in the 1980s, and later somewhere on Parrish St.

I believe the original location of DeShazor's was converted initially to part of 'Tin City' - the derisive name given to the temporary relocation sheds set up by the Relocation Authority (charged during urban renewal with relocating businesses displaced by urban renewal.) By the 1980s, most of Tin City was gone (one building remains) and the area was redeveloped as housing.


Site of 809 Fayetteville, 10.05.08

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35.985400 -78.897600

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Comments

Submitted by Jessica T. (not verified) on Mon, 11/10/2008 - 1:19pm

I speculate (rather dangerously) that the the Royal Knights of King David purchased Geer Cemetery from Jesse Geer in 1877. I wonder why the decendants of those enslaved or working at the Cameron Plantation were not as well off as the descendants of those formerly enslaved by Julian Shakespeare Carr. I wonder how the passing of a post civil war generation and the great migration played into these phenomena, including the disaster of Urban Renewal and road building.

Submitted by Andrew Edmonds. (not verified) on Thu, 1/19/2012 - 10:07am

Any idea what the "Sarmijac Trickology Clinic" located in the right-side storefront was all about?

Submitted by Shirlrona Johnson (not verified) on Mon, 1/20/2014 - 12:08pm

Sarmijac was a product that DeShazors's manufactured. The recipe is a family recipe and was used as a dry shampoo technique. A good analogy would be that instead of washing your clothes in the washing machine with water you could alternatively take your clothes to be dry-cleaned. Sarmijac is like dry-cleaning hair.

Submitted by Durhamite (not verified) on Mon, 1/20/2014 - 9:37pm

Regarding the 2008 post: Although Julian S. Carr favored the Confederacy and its views on slavery, I am unaware of his personal ownership of slaves; perhaps there were slaves in his Chapel Hill father's inventory. He is more typically referred to as an industrialist and philanthropist.

Submitted by rlittle on Fri, 3/17/2023 - 12:33pm

The gold seal on my mother's Diploma from DeShazor's Beauty System, Inc., reads "Established 1935 Brooklyn NY" and I assume that's the date of incorporation. The print on the Diploma says "Founded 1930." It is dated 1942 and is signed by Jacqueline DeShazor, Sadie Thomas and Eva Bishop.

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