Site Statement

I started this site in reaction to the ongoing demolition of historic structures in the city of Durham. I worked from within the HIstoric Preservation Society of Durham for 5 years to try to save many neighborhood and downtown structures - some successfully, some not. I am no longer affiliated with this Preservation Durham, nor does this blog speak for anyone other than myself. I believe that city/county/state policy is very weak in providing avenues for protection of property, and that the city has become particularly aggresssive in destroying such property to 'reduce blight'. There are more creative alternatives.

Given the frequently misguided land use/transportation boondoggles we experience in Durham, I thought I would start highlighting some of the real land use/transportation problems in downtown Durham and formerly-contiguous neighborhoods, rather than the non-problems that are more typically addressed. I periodically highlight some of our copious hangover from Urban Renewal and associated transportation 'improvement' projects, as well as how the ongoing abuse of private property downtown and adjacent neighborhoods by slumlords and speculators affects us all, both in our quality of life and our own property values.

However, I intend this site to be a mixture of education and diatribe. I hope that some of the more purely historical posts will appeal even to people who disagree with my opinions on Durham politics and development. My goals for this site have evolved to include the development of an accessible historical/architectural/landscape reference. It has traditionally been too difficult for the person with a casual interest to easily figure out what-was-where-when.

A note on sources. It is very difficult to effectively reference sources for written output within a post unless it is a direct quote, which is why, I assume, the print media does not do so. Some of the historical knowledge is an amalgam of ~10 years of absorbing information about Durham history and does not have a specific source.

Sources

Bull Durham: Business Bonanza, BWC Roberts and Snow E. Roberts (2002)

Duke University Manuscript Collection:
Chamber of Commerce
Digital Durham
Parnell Papers
Wyatt Dixon Papers

Durham: A Pictorial History, by Joel Kostyu (1978)

Durham County, Jean Bradley Anderson (1990)

Durham County Library
Aerial Survey (1959)
Historic Photographic Archives
John Schelp Postcard Collection
Ralph Rogers Collection
Urban Renewal Appraisals

The Durham Architectural and Historic Inventory. Published by the City of Durham (1982)

Durham, NC: A Center of Education and Industry (1926)

Durham, NC: A City of Negro Enterprise, Booker T. Washington (1911)

Durham, NC: Thirty Years Ago an Insignificant Village With a Population of Some Five Hundred (1905)

Hand-book of Durham, North Carolina : a brief and accurate description of a prosperous and growing southern manufacturing town (1895)

The Herald-Sun Newspaper, Durham, NC
Photo Archives

Images of America: Durham, North Carolina by Stephen Massengill (1997)

Milestones along the color line. A souvenir of Durham, North Carolina showing the progress of race (1922)

Our Separate Ways: Women and The Black Freedom Movement in Durham, North Carolina, Christina Greene (2005)

Proud Shoes, Pauli Murray (1956)

The Story of Durham: City of the New South, William Boyd (1925)

University of North Carolina Archives

Upbuilding of black Durham: the success of the Negroes and their value to a tolerant and helpful southern city, W.E.B. DuBois (1912)

What are Negroes doing in Durham?, Clement Richardson (1913)


I did not take the vast majority of the photos on this site. I reference the source of all photographs that come from a specific book/library/collection. You should not reproduce these pictures unless you contact the collection; I have signed usage agreements with several. Other sources include the Duke Urban Landscape Project and scans from the above referenced books. I am indebted to the original photographers, particularly Ralph Rogers, who did a phenomenal job of capturing buildings during the 1960s and 1970s, and Wyatt Dixon.

I try to follow similar guidelines to those that a newspaper columnist would follow. I consider statements of judgement (i.e. "Housing and Community Development seem to be tearing down things as fast as they can fuel the Bobcats") to be my opinion. If I quote anyone, I reference the source - or I heard it myself at a community/city meeting.

If you feel there is a factual error in a post, please feel free to contact me via feedback/comment links, and I will double-check the post and correct the error if confirmed.

Thank you for visiting!