500 BLOCK MOREHEAD AVE. (NORTH)
512 Morehead Ave., 1895.
(Courtesy Duke Archives)
As the remainder of Morehead Hill developed in the 1880s and 1890s, multiple large houses were built on the larger lots along Morehead Ave. and Vickers Ave. The house of SF Tomlinson, above is one example; after 1872, Tomlinsom was one owner of Durham's original tobacco companies, the RF Morris tobacco company, located here. Tomlinson's name appears with all of the other usual suspects in endeavors like the Fidelity Bank and serving as an original school commissioner.
Four large Victorian frame houses lined the 500 block of Morehead St., along with Greystone, which I'll discuss in a separate post.
Looking east on Morehead from just east of Vickers Ave., 1910s
(Courtesy John Schelp)
Aerial of the block, 1959, showing the 4 houses on the north side of Morehead.
This houses were torn down - most by 1972; it appears that the lots were used for parking, probably overflow parking for Blue Cross Blue Shield. They now serve as overflow parking for Greystone next door.
Looking east on Morehead Ave., 01.01.08
Aerial of the same area as 1959 in 2007.
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2 comments:
This empty land has puzzled me for some time. Why were these grand houses torn down? Who owns this land? Why have new houses not been built on the lots? Talk about a waste of space -- at least make it a proper park if it is to remain natural. It just seems sorta desolate.
When I become an eccentric billionaire, I plan to buy all these lots and start an independent liberal arts college on the spot. J.J. Henderson will make a nice dorm building.
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