Looking north on Corcoran Street, 1924

Ever wonder why Corcoran St. stopped at East Chapel Hill St. until the 2006-2007 link with Foster St.? Because Willie Mangum's farm was in the way when the streets were laid out.

Looking north-northwest from Corcoran St. ~1890s.
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

By the early 20th century, Willie's farm had succumbed to development pressure, though.

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

The first three buildings in the 300 block of East Chapel Hill Street remain, outwardly, little changed from when they were first built in the 1910s. Although the shot above is really too blurry to make out much detail of the buildings on the northeast corner of Foster and E. Chapel Hill, this is their appearance in 1924, soon after the Washington Duke broke ground, looking northeast towards the Corcoran/East Chapel Hill/ Foster intersection.

Another partial view from later that year, looking northwest.
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

This clearer view of the buildings looking north up Corcoran shows that the easternmost building was a Holland Furniture building, built in 1914. 
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

Possibly a bit later shot shows a bit of the building, now Stockton-Hill Furniture.
(Courtesy Duke Archives, Wyat Dixon Collection)

By 1957, 307-309 housed Huntley's Furniture
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

And with a new logo in 1969

(Courtesy Durham County Library)

By the early 1980s, it had become Bargain Furniture.

04.10.83

 04.10.83

The buildings in 2007, fairly well preserved, looking north from the former Corcoran St., now a plaza.

I keep hoping something interesting will happen with the building-of-a-thousand-furniture-stores. It's been vacant for awhile - the owner is listed as "Empire Alliance Properties" which seems to be the same address as Empire Properties, Raleigh developers who have done many of the buildings in their downtown. Wade Penny sold the building to this group in August 2005 for $442,000. I was in there around that time, and again last summer for the big-blue-circle gig, and it doesn't appear that any active renovation is going on. They have a good track record in Raleigh, so hopefully that means good things for this property. (They also own the two empty buildings just to the east, on the other side of E. Chapel Hill St., which I'll be profiling next week.)

Update 3/15/07:
I don't know if I missed this before, but Empire is preselling retail(first floor) and ofice upper floors of this building with a target date of Q4 2007 for the first floor and Q1 2008 for the upper.

07.26.15 (G. Kueber)

The hotel/motelly goodness that inhabits the 3.71 acres of prime real estate at South Duke Street and the Freeway was likely built in the early 1970s, on land that had been cleared by urban renewal. 

Ramada Inn, 1973. (DCL)

The hotel/motelly goodness that inhabits the 3.71 acres of prime real estate at South Duke Street and the Freeway was likely built in the early 1970s, on land that had been cleared by urban renewal. 

The site where the building and its asphalt rest once supported numerous small houses - 515-703 South Duke Street, 514-712 Willard Street, and the 400 block of Yancey Street.

401 Yancey, looking southwest, 1965.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

403 Yancey, looking southwest, 1965.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

406 Yancey, looking northeast, 1965
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

These houses were cleared by the city as part of the urban renewal program. The urban renewal program is a good demonstration of how people can become convinced of how a 'simple' solution will solve a complex problem. Problem: your city's middle class/businesses/retail stores are moving to the suburbs, where huge swaths of land allowed the construction of malls and shiny new cul-de-sac subdivisions. Solution: demolish huge swaths of land in town, consolidate dozens of parcels into one parcel, sell off to developers, who would create the suburban landscape - in the city.

Yeah, it didn't work. Unfortunately, a significant reason why people moved to the suburbs was to geographically resegregate themselves racially and, first the first time at such a distance, economically. Didn't matter how bare the land was downtown - people weren't coming back anytime soon.

So it sold off to car dealerships, and when private developers failed to materialize to build residential units, the government tried in their stead - thus constructing Forest Hills Heights, and later by funding development, such as Rolling Hills.

In 1972, The 400 block of Yancey St. was shifted northward to make more room for a hotel (actually for all of the hotel's parking) next to the freeway, creating discontinuity between the 400 and 500 blocks of Yancey. By the time I knew of the hotel, it was a Ramada Inn, but I don't know if it started off that way.

Aerial photo of the blocks, 1959.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

Same area from satellite, summer 2007.

After simply becoming "Inn" for a few years, hosting a few nasty clubs and then sitting empty, the hotel was bought and significantly refurbished. The owner put quite a bit of money into it, and proudly took me on a tour several years ago. But I think he put a bit too much money into it, given that the building remained, and remains, inherently a piece of junk. I never saw anyone parked in the parking lot. He ended up selling it in late 2006 to good ol' Frank Wittenberg, of Duke Tower and formerly of Durham Centre fame. He mounted an abortive attempt to resurrect the building as condos, and it has sat shuttered for at least a year, owned by "DB DURHAM LLC" in Miami, FL.

Site of 406 Yancey, looking northwest, 02.10.08

600 Willard, looking southwest, 02.10.08

I really find this building ug-ly. I would shed no tears should it someday implode.

Purchased in 2015 by Graduate Hotels, which, amazingly enough, plans to hipster-ize this hulk.

Yates Avenue ran between West Chapel Hill St. and West Pettigrew St. - one of the core north-south streets of the West End - a neighborhood whose early residential core seems to have been concentrated along the Burch Avenue east-west axis between Yates and Milton (later renamed Buchanan.)

The most prominent structure in the 500 block of Yates Ave. was the St. Paul's Lutheran Church - a congregation formed in 1923 that built a stone sanctuary in 1929 near West Chapel Hill St. The church was built by Northup & O'Brien Architects. 

Blueprints of Saint Paul's Lutheran Church,  June 1927  

(Courtesy NCSU Libraries' Digital Collections:Rare and Unique Materials)

Blueprints of Saint Paul's Lutheran Church,  June 1927                                                                                                                  

(Courtesy NCSU Libraries' Digital Collections:Rare and Unique Materials)

Looking southeast, 1948. The intersection in the foreground is Yates Avenue and Burch Avenue. The stone church visible towards the right edge of the frame is St. Paul's Lutheran, and that block is the 500 block of Yates. Other structures visible in the background include The Eloise, the YWCA, and part of Duke Memorial Methodist before its addition was constructed at Gregson and West Chapel HIll.
(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

This block and the core of the neighborhood were demolished in 1967 for the Durham Freeway. Although the Freeway did not extend north of Chapel Hill St. for a number of years after this, these structures were demolished for the exit ramp for westbound traffic. (I'm not sure what year the freeway was extended to Erwin Road, which is where it ended in the mid 1980s, and stayed until the mid 1990s when it was extended to 15-501.)

Looking southeast from the 500 block of Yates Ave. towards West Chapel Hill St., January 5, 1967. St. Paul's Lutheran is the only structure that hasn't been demolished. The NC Mutual Building is visible in the background, and the white house in the distance is 607 Vickers

This piece of landscape has been fairly well obliterated.

Looking northeast from West Chapel Hill St. at the approximate location of Yates Ave. The line of the street would have extended towards the billboard from West Chapel Hill. 02.02.08.

There is a tiny part of Yates Avenue which remains, actually, which I profiled awhile ago; it has been renamed Conyers, and still has one house on it (the billboard base sits in their yard.)

There is so much unused land in the doughnut hole of the West Chapel Hill St. exit ramp - it's an unbelievable shame that it's not turned into a park, or developed or similar. Several people have mentioned the chunk of rock in the center - it shows how many people notice the little details of their environment.

02.02.08

So what is this? Well, I don't think it started out at this location - it appears to sit on the top of the ground, rather than being embedded. Where did it come from? Good question - it's certainly tempting to think that it was associated with the church, but it doesn't really look like it's been there for 40 years. I've wondered whether it was buried - as a piece of foundation or similar (the masonry work is pretty rough) and unearthed during some construction. I don't know - but it's a good mystery if someone has some insight.

Bonnie Brae was the country house of Durham business magnate Richard H. Wright. From 1898 until 1916, Wright lived in the former EJ Parrish house at East Main and North Dillard Street, but built Bonnie Brae farm, a 9000 square foot colonial revival mansion, as a country estate for himself, his sisters, and his deceased brother's large family in 1916.

The house was built with a very wide, approximately 90 foot long center hall that extended the entire depth of the house. Federal-style woodwork was installed throughout the house as part of a ~1930 remodeling.

Wright was well known for the formation of the Wright and Co. tobacco company in 1875, his partnership with the Dukes in 1880 (and acrimonious divorce from the family by 1890,) formation of Durham's streetcar company - the Durham Traction Company, Lakewood Park, Durham Ballpark on North Driver St., the Wright Manufacturing Co., The Durham Consolidated Land and Improvement Company, which developed Walltown and Trinity Heights, and the Wright Refuge.

Looking north, ~1960. The Teer House and surrounding land are just north of the foreground development on the left, and Bonnie Brae is across Roxboro Road, to the right.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Wright died in 1929 - his extended family continued to live in the house for some time thereafter; his nephew Thomas D. Wright lived in Bonnie Brae through the 1950s. I'm not sure if it remained in the family after that point, but in 1988 developer Gary Hock purchased the house and the surrounding 78 acres.

Bonnie Brae from Roxboro Road, 01.06.87
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Bonnie Brae, 01.06.87
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Hock had been busy developing 350,000 square feet of office space around the Wright property prior to his purchase, and intended to continue the suburban proliferation upon the Wright stand. Duke University, owner of the Teer Property across the street, had evidently purchased additional land from Hock with the intent of moving the Wright house, and developing a substance abuse center. The planning commission re-zoned both properties contingent upon moving and saving the Wright house.

However, once the university received an estimate for the moving and renovation costs that totaled $1.2 million, they balked at the deal. Hock and Duke brought their case back to the city council to attempt to have the stipulation to save the house removed.

Hock, overflowing with affection for Durham's history, commented at the time "It isn't on the Historical Register; it's only 70 years old. "We'd like to save every old building that was big and nice looking, but it's just not practical. To have Duke bear the burden for a property that just is useless to satisfy the historical committee is just an unreasonable burden."

It appears that the planning commission and city council held their ground. The house was removed from the frontage on North Roxboro Road; the former homesite became a mecca for home renovation.

Former site of Bonnie Brae, 01.24.09.

The house was saved, at least in part (the porches appear to have been removed.) It was moved ~0.5 mi east, off of the strange neo-colonial Ben Franklin Blvd. and festooned with several additions. But while fairly anonymous, it's good that this lone remnant of the domiciles of the tobacco magnates of the late 19th and early 20th century remains standing.

Bonnie Brae at its new location, 10.26.08

Find the original location on a Google Map.

Find the current location on a Google Map.

36.044076,-78.899603

2011

The house at 1121 N. Roxboro was the "homeplace" of Jesse Johnson and his wife Martha. They purchased the land from FC Geer on September 15, 1899.

Johnson operated a grocery store at 1125 N. Roxboro during the early 20th century. The portion of the house visible in the above picture (the single-room deep, side-gabled portion) is original. On the 1913 Sanborn maps, there is a single story wing and ell which project west off the rear of this portion of the house.

By 1937, this single story wing and ell was replaced by a two-story, hipped-roof addition to the house. It appears that the house was by that time converted to a duplex (left and right, two-story.)

In 1949, the building was further subdivided into 4 apartments, and a 4-car garage was constructed at the rear of the property.

Mid-century CDs:

1939: Philip Friedman
1942; Troy Starnes
1948: Woodrow Mims, Leon Crabtree
1949: No entry
1950: 4 apts. Woodrow Mims, Leon K. Crabtree, Cary W. Fletcher, Charles J. Autry
 1952: 4 apts. (Helen Link, Charles Autry, Leon Crabtree, Vac.)

As of 2014, it is for sale, and has been pretty badly beat up inside. It is big (roughly 3600 sf) and sits on 0.4 acres.

As of early 2016, the property has been majorly and impressively renovated and is on the market for $750,000

(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

The ~1957 bird's eye view of the Golden Belt - Morning Glory mill village shows another of the distinct housing styles built in the village - the two story , single-pile, hall-and-parlor house, which lined a good portion of Worth and Franklin Sts. Although not specified, it seems likely that these houses were intended either for large families or for those employees higher on the corporate ladder. At construction, there were 12 of these houses, 8 on Worth Street, and 4 on Franklin.

All the company-owned houses in Morning Glory were sold to residents at prices below their appraised values in 1954. Although Morning Glory fared far better than Edgemont in the ensuing years, the houses were certainly showing signs of deterioration by the late 1960s

1101-1105 Worth Street, 07.17.69

(Courtesy Herald-Sun)

The easternmost house on Franklin St. (the northwest corner of N. Elm and Franklin) was torn down by the 1970s for expansion of the Golden Belt parking lot. 1101 and 1103 Franklin Street were torn down sometime in the 1980s and replaced by slab-on-grade duplexes with a lot of concrete driveway. 1107 Worth was torn down and replaced by a duplex during the same period. 1103 Worth was torn down by 1993, while 1101 Worth and 1105 Worth were torn down between 1993-1998.

With 5 examples of this style of house remaining by ~2005, the 1007-1011 Worth 3-in-a-row set were in fairly bad shape. 1105 Worth Street was (and is) owner occupied, and although significantly vinylized, it seems otherwise fairly intact. 1109 Worth, on the corner of Alston and Worth St., was (and is) owned by Vinston Braswell - not quite of the Fireball White stature, but close.

Habitat came into the neighborhood in 2006 (at around the same time Scientific Properties closed on Golden Belt) and purchased 5 houses, including the three at 1107-1011 Worth. At least in part because the neighborhood has been a National Register Historic District since the 1990s, they undertook a rehabilitation of several of the houses.

1007-1011 Worth St., gutted, 02.20.07

Rear, with their wings removed - 02.20.07

1011 Worth, interior, 02.20.07

I have never quite gotten a straight answer as to how much of these houses was actually saved vs. rebuilt on the same shell pattern. At least one, per Habitat, fell down in the above condition. You can see the quantity of new framing peeking out from under the house wrap above, 05.06.07.

The result were houses that at least strongly resembled the original. I've told everyone that will listen how thrilled I am with the design of these houses, because they accomplish something that Habitat (and most affordable housing businesses) has/have often failed to do - build attractive houses that are indistinguishable from market rate houses.

I think this is an incredibly key point, and one that the affordable housing industry, in their desire to amp up unit production, often glosses over or treats with disdain - i.e., "we can't be bothered with aesthetics - we're saving lives!"

But the typical affordable housing of the past - slab on grade, vinyl, tiny windows with fake muntins, undersized front porches built out of unpainted treated wood - was, to my eye, like a scarlet letter of class, loudly proclaiming to anyone who would drive by: "We live in low-income housing!"

Even if you've helped the individual (or family) immensely by providing them with low-cost housing that they own, this easy stigmatization is damaging, and also helps to obviate the possibility of creating mixed-income neighborhoods. Class discrimination is alive and well, and exercised every day when people pay a huge premium for the same size and quality of house/land in south-westerly Durham over what they would pay in easterly Durham. (As people do when making analogous location choices in in every other city on the planet.) It isn't irrational behavior on a broad, generalized scale - with concentrated neighborhood poverty comes social disorder, and unless people feel like they can make a difference (and want to,) they make location choices to avoid social disorder when they can afford to - whatever their racial/cultural background.

Anyway, designing houses that at least mimic the intrinsic quality of the historic stock, and using new construction that follows good design guidelines (Hardiplank vs. vinyl, 1 x 4 casing around the windows with the siding butted to the casing and cornerboards, proportionate window sizes, full size front porches, parged block foundation vs. slab) makes the random person who comes into this neighborhood say "look at those nice houses" rather than immediately pigeonholing. This is huge progress towards building housing that helps the neighborhood as well as the individual.

1007-1011 Worth Street, 11.05.08

1007-1011 Worth Street, 11.10.08

Find this spot on a Google Map.

35.98962,-78.888588

Looking northwest.

Looking southwest from E. Pettigrew and Pine (S. Roxboro)
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

While we think of a relatively small number of early tobacco companies in Durham these days, there were many early companies, most of which fell by the wayside, one by one, as Blackwell and Duke became the predominant players. The Lyon Tobacco Company - "Pride of Durham" was one of those early companies.

The Lyon family conducted their business in Durham, but were farmers with a plantation near Durham. In 1867, Z.I. Lyon and his son J.E. Lyon began to grow tobacco. After a year apprenticeship with John Green (predecessor of Blackwell's) the Lyons began their business, utilizing the catchphrase "Pride of Durham". They built a factory at the southwest corner of Pine St. (now South Roxboro) and East Pettigrew Street. They were joined in the business by James Cheek and Frederick Geer. An early wooden factory burned in 1884, but was replaced by the brick structure pictured above, designed by WH Linthicum.

The "Handbook of Durham" notes that the first floor contained "packing and stamping departments" while the second and third floors "are for granulating and storage." The factory produced "granulated" smoking tobacco, cigars, and "cheroots" under the brands "Pride of Durham""Cut and Slash" and "Picked Leaf."

The Excelsior Hook and Ladder Co. (the African-American firefighters) in front of the Lyon Factory, 1880s
(Courtesy Durham Fire Department)

For unclear reasons, the Lyons sold the entire enterprise to EJ Parrish in 1887, who continued to operate the tobacco factory. However, the factory closed at some point. I surmise that this is likely to have happened in 1893, when EJ Parrish lost a great deal of money and property in the economic depression of 1893.

The building had at least one additional life as a tobacco house, though. Although the Durham market had consolidated dramatically by the early 20th century, a bold interloper, in the form of the Khedivial Tobacco Company of New York, made a play at the behemoth American Tobacco. A former Durhamite, WL Walker, leased the former Lyon Factory and began to manufacture "Walker's Durham" tobacco, while the antitrust suit was pending against Duke / American Tobacco. This evidently infuriated Duke, who threatened a lawsuit. Walker added fuel to the fire by hiring away several employees of American Tobacco. However, a fire in 1910 shuttered the operation.

I'm surmising that this left the building usable for stables.

Looking south from E. Pettigrew, 1910s
(Courtesy Duke Archives)

Man and his horse in front of the city stables, probably early 1920s
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection - Wyatt Dixon Collection)

But perhaps little else.

Below, looking east down Pettigrew, 1920s. The west side of the old Lyon Factory is visible beyond the trees and houses. The Venable building is beyond it. As a side note, all of the housing is Hayti, and the three steeples of White Rock, Pine St. Presbyterian, and St. Joseph's.

(Courtesy Duke Archives)

Below, a view of the area, ~late 1920s. The Lyon Factory building is noted by the green dot. The pink dot is Pine St. (S. Roxboro) and the light blue dot is the Venable Warehouse.

(Courtesy Duke Archives)

The building was torn down during the late 1920s or early 1930s and replaced by the Southern Railway freight depot and office. The office building was located on the corner of Pine and E. Pettirew.

Above, the view ~1940. A long shed and office building have replaced the structures.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

Below, a view of the office building from Pine St. (S. Roxboro) in 1966.

Looking northwest.

It appears that, although this building was appraised by the Redevelopment Authority in the 1960s, it survived into the early 1990s

Looking west, 1993.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

Looking northwest, 1993.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

Just before demolition, 1993
(Courtesy Robby Delius)

However, it was torn down by the county to make way for the jail. What makes this particularly dumb is that the railway building footprint appears to be taken up by some pretty unusable green space. Much like the plans for the 500 block of East Main St., these projects often afford the opportunity to clear buildings that could be saved if the city/county so desired.

Looking southwest, 2007.

The Norfolk Southern Railway depot in 1966. It was located within the wye tracks of the Norfolk & Western connecting Duke Belt Line at Seaboard Air Line Railroad's Durham Yard.

Norfolk Southern (NS) reached Durham via a 40 mile branch route off it's Norfolk-Raleigh-Charlotte mainline at Duncan, NC. At South Durham, NS maintained a small yard and facilities known as Keene Yard. From Keene Yard a spur line ran 3 miles Northwest to American Tobacco Co. NS exclusively served American Tobacco although the cigarette manufacture's plant was located adjacent to the Southern Railway's (SR) and Seaboard Air Line Railroad's (SAL) tracks in downtown Durham.

In order to conduct interchange business with Durham's other rail carriers, NS trains would operate over the Durham & Southern Railway's (D&S) mainline through a trackage rights agreement. This was done over another spur running Northeast from Keene Yard to the D&S then over the D&S tracks into Durham. The D&S tracks crossed the Southern Railway tracks and connected with the Seaboard Air Line's Durham-Henderson, NC line which ran parallel to the Southern's through the city. This location is known as D&S Jct and from there NS and D&S trains operated into the SAL Durham Yard. NS maintained a freight depot that was located within the Norfolk & Western Railway's wye near the SAL yard.

Ironically, the NS depot was nowhere near the railroad's own tracks or facilities in Durham. Norfolk Southern was bought by Southern Railway in 1974. The depot most likely did not survive too much longer afterward since Southern already had facilites at it's East Durham Yard. The location of where NS depot stood is now Fayetteville Street. Southern abandoned much of the old NS tracks in the mid-1980's and the right-of-way is now the American Tobacco Trail.

Link to depot photo: http://www.pwrr.org/nstation/durham.html

The NS depot is seen in the center left in this 1950s aerial. The Seaboard Air Line yard is to the right. The Southern mainline is running parallel to the Seaboard yard and E. Pettigrew.st

Below, late 1960s/1970 view, with the depot demolished. Fayetteville Street has been carried over the freeway, but does not cross the railroad tracks in this view.

Below, the new crossing being created in 1971 for Fayetteville Street.

RF Morris Tobacco Factory at the NC railroad tracks ~300 feet west of present-day Corcoran St., 1890
(Courtesy Digital Durham.

The history of Robert Morris and his endeavors in the tobacco trade are an interesting, if patchwork, story about the earliest days of Durham. Per Jean Anderson:

"Morris first appeared on Orange County scene .... in Hillsborough, where he owned a variety store in 1847. The same year, he was granted a license to retail liquor at the Hillsborough House, the old Faddis' Tavern of the 18th century. In 1848 he was licensed to 'hawk and peddle' goods in Orange County. In 1850, then 36 years old, he was the hotel keeper of the Hillsborough House. He bought his first property for 10 dollars at a sheriff sale in 1851: 200 acres of William Copley's land near the Pin Hook area. Sometime in the early 1850s, recognizing the opportunity for his services in Durham, he moved to the tract of land that Andrew Turner had owned and took his chances running a hotel there."

Boyd reports that in 1858, Morris moved to Durham and open the town's first hotel.

"In 1858, Robert F. Morris moved 'to the hamlet and with his sons opened a factory in a small house that stood somewhere on the land now occupied by the Bull Factory. These were the pioneer tobacconists of Durham. Soon they took a partner, [Wesley] A. Wright of Virginia, and the firm name of Morris and Wright appeared. Mr. Wright invented a name for the product - 'Best Flavored Spanish Smoking Tobacco' .... In 1861, [Wright] withdrew from the enterprise, manufactured tobacco independently for a time on the farm of John Barbee, just east of Durham and in 1861 joined the Confederate Army. Dr. Richard Blacknall then became Morris' partner. About 1862 Morris and Blacknall sold out to John Ruffin Green, who had recently moved to Durham from Person County."

It appears that it is more likely that RF Morris' son, Thomas B. Morris, was the active partner with Wesley Wright - at least per later litigation over the use of the "Genuine Durham" trademark. Green, of course, would go on to partner with WT Blackwell, and that company would become Blackwell's Bull Durham. Morris grew at least a portion of the tobacco himself; in 1860, Morris grew 12,000 lbs. of tobacco. That same year, he donated an acre of land where the (the original) First Baptist Church stood.

By the 1860s, it appears that Morris owned land and buildings that had belonged to Bartlett Durham - the fact that he owned a hotel with an annex called "Pandora's Box" on the same site as Durham's home suggests that he may have turned the house into a hotel.

1865 map of Durham drawn in 1923 (Courtesy Digital Durham) - I've reproduced the legend numbers pertinent to Morris below as they appear on the map:

"7: One acre tract with log cabin given to George Bradshaw and his wife by RF Morris (Negroes)"
"15: Tobacco factory of RF Morris & Son (frame)"
"17: RF Morris Home and Hotel (frame)"
"18: Double, log kitchen to hotel. (logs)"
"21: Annex to hotel. Known as "Pandora's Box" 4 rooms & attic (Logs)"
"26: Dwelling occupied by JW Cox, owned by RF Morris"
"27: Small frame house used by RF Morris as an office."
"37: Frame feed house in RF Morris horse lot"
"38: Barn & stable of RF Morris"
"39: Blacksmith Shop on RF Morris' land"

Upon returning from the Civil War, Morris had established a new tobacco factory, as noted above, on the north side of the railroad tracks - either in 1865 or 1867. The tobacco business and Durham would grow rapidly from that point onward.

"In 1865 there was only one factory [in Durham]; in 1869 there were four, and in 1872 there were 12. Of these, the oldest, next to the enterprise established by JR Green, was that of RF Morris and Son, who in 1867 resumed the manufacture of smoking tobacco in a factory on Peabody St. just west of Corcoran. The brand established was called 'Eureka' and it bore the legend 'Best Spanish Flavored.' In a few years the manufacture of snuff was added, and such is the origin of the famous 'Ladies Choice Scotch Snuff.'.....The town of Durham was formally establishing itself, too, and was beginning to respond to the new prosperity that demand for its tobacco was bringing. The town as it was then is very quickly described. The nucleus was still Robert Morris' clutch of frame buildings, hotel, and annex, double log kitchen, blacksmith shop, office, barn stable, and feed house on the tract now bounded by the railroad, Corcoran, Main and Mangum Sts..... Morris' tobacco business (reorganized in 1865) and Green's were providing the vital spark which kindled the recovery to come..."

In 1868, Morris was elected an Orange County Commissioner; in 1869 a Town Commissioner. In 1869, Morris paid the largest property tax assessment in Durham, $40.62. It is noted by Anderson that Morris owned significant tracts of Hayti, and sold many of the initial tracts to African-Americans after the Civil War. He is also mentioned as owner of the Maplewood Cemetery tract - his heirs sold it to Dempsey Henderson in 1873.

In 1872, after the death of Robert Morris, RF Morris and Sons was sold to WH Willard and SF Tomlinson who continued the business. In 1884, Hiram Paul had wrote these flowery phrases about Morris and his company:

"Mr. Morris entertained the idea that Durham was one day to be a large and flourishing town ; and, incited by this idea, he invested largely in real estate in the future Chicago of the South. In consequence of his real estate investments, he cramped his tobacco business, which was rapidly growing. There was nothing selfish in his nature, but he felt a great pride in seeing Durham grow and prosper. He was generous to all.

Mr. Morris did not live long enough to see his pre-conceived ideas of Durham's greatness fulfilled, as it has been within the past seven or eight years that she has made her greatest progress and developed into a young city and a great tobacco mart.

The R. F. Morris & Son Manufacturing Co., of which W. H. Willard is president, and S. F. Tomlinson, Secretary and Treasurer, are the successors of R. F. Morris & Son, and under their supervision the " Eureka Durham " has sustained its high reputation as a smoker, helping to give the smoking tobaccos of Durham a world-wide reputation.

Their brands continue to grow in favor and their business is annually on the increase. Besides the celebrated 'Eureka Durham' they manufacture the 'Bear' and 'Gold Leaf Durham' the latter being of a beautiful golden color and made from the very finest tobacco grown in North Carolina, and only in a certain locality of the State. This tobacco, like the ' Vuelta Abass,' is of extra fine quality and has a flavor peculiar to itself, which no other tobacco has.

This firm manufactures also a superior article of Scotch Snuff, equal to any brand on the market. The name of their brand is '' Ladies' Choice Scotch Snuff.' It is made from the very best North Carolina sun cured tobacco, being entirely free from adulterations and injurious drugs or chemicals. This is a comparatively new enterprise, but a growing one. This firm is one of the leading manufactures of the town."

1888 Sanborn Map showing the frame RF Morris tobacco factory
(Courtesy Digital Durham)

In the early 1890s the company built a distinctive masonry structure facing south towards the railroad tracks.

RF Morris Tobacco Factory, 1895, from the Handbook of Durham
(Courtesy Digital Durham)

As described in the Handbook of Durham:

"The factory is a three-story brick, with large two story frame building connected by a passage way from the second story of one to the second story of the other. Both of these structures are situated on Peabody St., immediately in the rear of the 'Southern' passenger depot. This concern manufactures a number of popular brands of smoking tobacco and snuff, among which is the celebrated 'Eureka Durham,' one of the finest brands of granulated tobacco known to the trade. As snuff manufacturers, they have no superior competitors, and find ready sales for all the goods they can put up.

The three floors of the brick building are employed as various departments for granulating, packing and stamping, while their frame building is used as departments for snuff grinding and storage of the natural leaf.

WH WIllard, the president, is connected with various manufacturing and banking institutions throughout the state, either as an officer or director. Is president of the Morehead Banking Company of this place. Mr. SF Tomlinson, the secretary and treasurer, has the management of these works, and has succeeded in creating a business that is well known to the trade"

Looking northwest from Corcoran St., 1900. The original frame structure is in the right foreground, and the newer masonry structure in the background. The Southern Railway passenger depot is to the left.
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection - Wyatt Dixon Collection)

Looking west-northwest from Corcoran St. at the Southern Passenger Depot, with the RF Morris tobacco company in the background.
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection - Wyatt Dixon Collection)

1902 Sanborn Map
(Courtesy Digital Durham.

Tomlinson and Willard continued to business until 1903, when they sold it to the American Tobacco Company. Sometime between 1903 and 1906, the factory was torn down, and the Seaboard Airline RR built a freight depot in its place. The SAL freight depot was long, low brick structure extending along the northern side of the railroad tracks in the vicinity of the current surface parking lot behind structures in the 200 and 300 blocks of West Main St.

(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection - Wyatt Dixon Collection)

This was the site of the city's first major attempt to deal with its parking problem in 1957 - by demolishing the freight depot and converting all of the space between the railroad tracks and the backs of the buildings on West Main St. into surface parking.

Partly demolished SAL Freight Depot, looking southwest from around Corcoran.
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection - Wyatt Dixon Collection)

Fully Demolished depot and 100 block of South Corcoran.
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection - Wyatt Dixon Collection)

Early use of the parking lot, looking southwest, 06.25.57
Courtesy of The Herald-Sun Newspaper

Early use of the parking lot, looking west, 06.25.57
Courtesy of The Herald-Sun Newspaper

The lot was soon paved and striped. Businesses on West Main St. began to convert their rear entrances into primary entrances to face the parking lot.

Looking west from the Silk Hosiery Mill, 1957.
Courtesy of The Herald-Sun Newspaper

Looking east from near West Chapel Hill St., 10.12.57
Courtesy of The Herald-Sun Newspaper

Looking north from Corcoran and the railroad tracks.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

By the early 1960s, Durham decided to build its first parking garage at the east end of this parking lot, abutting Corcoran St. Buildings at the east end of the lot were demolished to create an entry to the parking lot and garage from the east. A pedestrian 'mall' and entryway to the garage were created where there was once a short street

Building the pedestrian mall entrance, 10.29.64
Courtesy of The Herald-Sun Newspaper

Parking garage under construction, 10.29.64
Courtesy of The Herald-Sun Newspaper

Looking north from Corcoran and the railroad tracks.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

The completed product, looking northwest from the railroad tracks.
(Courtesy Durham County Library)

In 1969-1970, a roadway was created from the parking lot entry running along the north side of the railroad tracks, south of the parking deck, and connecting east with Roxboro and Ramseur St. - the Loop.

As for the parking deck, it hasn't changed much.

Looking northwest from Corcoran and Ramseur, 2007.
(Photo by Gary Kueber)

The approximate site of the RF Morris Tobacco Factory, 06.13.10
(Photo by Gary Kueber)

Original 1854 NC railroad survey, showing the future location of Durham's Station
(Courtesy David Southern/Steve Rankin)

As most folks are aware, Durham's raison d'etre came with the North Carolina railroad in 1854, and the desire to establish a train depot between Hillsborough and Raleigh. I've written previously about Mr. Pratt's high price / fear for his horses (arguably making him the first in a very long line of recalcitrant Durham-area landowners with an overly optimistic view of the value of their land/suspect improvements theron) that led the NCRR to seek out Dr. Bartlett Durham for land upon which to locate their depot.

Blount's map of Durham in 1865 - #10 is the railroad depot
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection. Scanned by Digital Durham)

Durham's early passenger service has always been a bit of a mystery to me. The Southern Depot, located north of the railroad tracks and just west of Corcoran St., clearly provided passenger service by the 1890s, and it appears that the Seaboard Station, located at Dillard St., did the same. (Both prior to the establishment of Union Station in 1905.) But I can only assume that passenger and freight were handled out of the same Durham Station Depot in the early decades; Hiram Paul describes only one passenger service station in his 1884 history, and he describes it thusly, reproduced with its original cringe-worthy elements of antiquity intact:

"Railroad facilities are hardly adequate, only one train a day each way being allowed by the liberal policy of the Richmond and Danville system. The depot is a reproach, there being no reception room for either ladies or gentlemen, and the apartment used as such, and adjoining the ticket office, being so filthy an[d] offensive that ladies never apply for tickets, except in cases of absolute necessity. It is about 12x14 feet, and is used almost continuously by negro section hands as a kitchen and sleeping quarters. The walls are black with soot and grease, and the floor is caked with grease and dirt. It is just to add, that the managers are perhaps not aware of the real condition of things. It is to be hoped, however, that the importance of the city will arouse this mammoth monopoly from its complacent lethargy, and that decent facilities at least will soon been afforded."

By 1905, passenger service was provided out of Union Station. Several other freight depots would be constructed along the main line and the belt line; the original depot site became the site of the Southern and D&S Freight Depot by the 1890s, and would remain such through the 1920s.

Bird's Eye view showing the freight depot on the original Durham Station site, 1920s.
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection)

Bird's Eye view showing the freight depot on the original Durham Station site, 1924.
(Courtesy Duke Rare Book and Manuscript Collection)

Note how this depot sits to the north of the front facade of the Bull Building at American Tobacco - abutting the railroad tracks and sitting on top of present-day West Pettigrew St.

Between 1924 and 1937, the depot buildings between Vivian and the railroad tracks were demolished. Pettigrew Street was opened between Blackwell and McMannen (Mangum) Sts, and a new series of freight depots were constructed fronting Pettigrew St. A new, block long freight depot was built between McMannen and Pine St. (its eastern terminus a handsome neoclassical office building that was unnecessarily demolished for vacant land when our Ivory Tower of Incarceration was built in 1993.) Between McMannen and Blackwell, an auto unloading platform was built. Both were constructed by the Southern Railway Company.

December 1941, as Oregon State arrives to play in Rose Bowl at Duke post-Pearl Harbor. The depot can be seen on the left side of the photo. (Courtesy Duke Yearlook.)

The auto platform became a bit of a curious anachronism - built in recognition of the new exploding popularity of the automobile, and the number of cars that would need to be freighted into Durham to meet that need - but without the foresight that truck transport would quickly supplant train transport to bring these vehicles to Durham. This building is rarely referenced, but a 1953 newspaper article notes that the auto unloading platform was "[then] seldom used" and that the enclosed portion of the building had been rented out for storage for some time. (However, if anyone was curious why this platform was designed the way it was - long and skinny, with a sloping grade down to street level, you can picture the idea of cars being driven off of it.)

Likely from the 1930s or 40s onward, this building was used as a warehouse structure.

It's not really specific to the building, but the corner in front of the platform (at McMannen and Pettigrew) was sometimes referred to as "buzzard's roost" by the African-American community - a spot for day laborers to get work. Billy Barnes termed it as such in his 1966 photo, below. Interestingly, this term was also sometimes used by the community for the segregated balcony at the Carolina Theater.

Looking south from McMannen and the railroad tracks. The Austin-Heaton flour mill is in the background.
(Billy Barnes Collection, North Carolina Collection, UNC)

1974, Courtesy Norman Williams Collection

After the demolition of Union Station in 1968, the Southern freight depot in 1993, what I believe to have been the remnants of the Seaboard Airline station in 2007, the auto platform remained the last early 20th century vestige of the train industry in downtown Durham - interestingly, at the train industry's first location in Durham.

Auto platform, 02.10.08

Auto platform, 03.23.08

I don't know much about the details worked out between Capitol Broadcasting, the city, and the NCRR that allowed the auto platform to be demolished - the railroad, as is clear from the trackage visible in the historic pictures owns/owned the land southward to and including Vivian St. Regardless, the depot was demolished in September 2008.

09.11.08

I admit that I felt rather ambivalent about the demolition; it was always a fairly ugly building, in my opinion, and I appreciated the desire to open up the vista to the DPAC. I felt less ambivalent when they started to remove the roof and I saw the steel truss structure underneath - I thought the naked steel truss structure and platform - devoid of roof and concrete block, actually would have made for a very cool public space, with enough transparency to show the buildings beyond, but enough architectural character and structure to make for a neat gathering spot and tie-in to our railroad history.

Not to be. So the land is green space, which I can say is at least more attractive than the concrete block, piles of storage and padlocked chainlink that fronted West Pettigrew St. for so long, and asphalt space, our thirst for which remains ever unquenched.

Durham Station / Freight Station / Auto Platform site, 04.11.10

Long term, the plan from Capitol at one point involved new construction on this site; my guess would be that that would be on the far back burner at this point, but I'm not privy to their plans - since Diamond View III, the planned next step for Capitol, seems to be moving forward, the question as to what comes after DVIII is in the air.

A personal hope would be that some organization gathers adequate funds to make a Durham Museum a part of the site with Capitol - or perhaps something more train-specific. It remains a shame that the core of Durham - Dr. Durham's house and the first train depot, split by the NC RR, are vacant parking lot/grassy space, with no sense or acknowledgement of the importance that land played in the genesis of the city.
 

The first tobacco auction warehouse in Durham- run by Henry Reams, with auctions by EJ Parrish

Looking southwest at the corner of present-day West Pettigrew and Blackwell Sts., sometime between 1874 and 1879.
(From "Bull City Business Bonanza" by Ben and Snow Roberts)

The Reams Warehouse was likely the location of the first tobacco auction in Durham in 1871.

A wider view - a lot of details differ here, and I wonder if a bit of artistic license was involved.
(Courtesy Duke Manuscript Collection - Wyatt Dixon Collection)

Looking southwest at the corner of present-day West Pettigrew and Blackwell Sts., sometime between 1874 and 1879.
(From "Bull City Business Bonanza" by Ben and Snow Roberts)

1979 (Courtesy State Historic Preservation Office)

1200 block of Taylor St., N side, 1979. (Courtesy State Historic Preservation Office)

1981. (Courtesy State Historic Preservation Office)

1981. (Courtesy State Historic Preservation Office)

(Below in italics is from the 1984 National Register listing; not verified for accuracy by this author.)

Two-story, one-room deep house with gable-end roof and one-story rear ell. Intact except for loss of simple spandrels at porch posts. Built c. 1900.

Demolished - date unknown; lot long-vacant in 2007

01.04.08

New housing built on lot by Habitat, 2011.

04.19.12

The Hall-Wynne funeral home business was established in 1903 by JS Hall - upon joining with GV Wynne in 1909, they built , which connected with their stables on East Chapel Hill St..

In 1926, they moved from the center of downtown to the 1100 block of West Main Street, building a sizable brick Colonial Revival building. In 1946, they built a detached chapel just to the east of the structure.

The funeral home remains in operation as of 2011.