BLACKNALL MEMORIAL PRESBYTERIAN

Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian, 1924

The Blacknall family, both Richard, Jr., who, with his father, Dr. Richard Blacknall, had organized Blacknall's Drugstore and his brother James, who was the first sheriff of Durham County, started the Presbyterian congregation in West Durham in 1892 as a mission, based from First Presbyterian downtown. The elder Blacknall had been instrumental in the formation of First Presbyterian after he moved to Durham in 1860; after his family settled in West Durham, they pursued the establishment of a congregation there as well.

West Durham Presbyterian Church was constructed on 13th Street, then called Presbyterian Street, in 1905. In 1916, the church renamed itself Blacknall Memorial Church in honor of Richard Sr., who had died in 1881, and Richard (Dick) Jr., who died in 1900.

A new sanctuary was built at the corner of Perry and 8th Streets in 1923. During the period of streetcars serving West Durham, the streetcar would travel from 9th to Broad Streets via Perry (Hillsboro, at that time) before making a left onto Broad to serve Watts Hospital/Club Blvd.


Aerial view of the intersection of Perry and 8th (Iredell Sts.), ~1950.

An educational building was added to the structure in 1964. The church planned to demolish its original sanctuary in 1970 to build a new church; however, per the historic inventory: "plans were halted when a study demonstrated that a new building would not be as sturdy [or] accommodate as many people." Someone actually did a cost-benefit study before proceeding with demolition in Durham?? My kudos.

Funds were instead allocated towards renovation of the existing sanctuary.

The church has been added onto several times since - in 1990, and in 2008. It remains an active congregation.


Blacknall Memorial, 04.04.09.

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36.00785,-78.921233

ST. JOSEPH'S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

St. Joseph's, 1920s.
(From "From Paternalism to Protest" by Tiffany Franke.)

St. Joseph's Episcopal Church was established as the outgrowth of an Episcopal mission in West Durham established in 1894 -which would become the second Episcopal parish in Durham, the first being associated with St. Philip's downtown.

William Erwin taught Sunday School for the Episcopal mission for many years on the second floor of the company store after the establishment of the parish, eventually adding Friday night services to the repertoire. Along with his brothers and sisters, he donated funds for the construction of St. Joseph's Episcopal Church at 8th and West Main St. in 1908. The Gothic Revival building was constructed of cut granite, and Erwin and his brothers and sisters dedicated the church to their parents, Joseph and Elvira Erwin.


(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

The congregation remains active today. Per the church website:

"After 50 years as a parish (or self-supporting congregation), St. Joseph’s became a mission again in 2006, when the church split over issues of human sexuality. With the support of Bishop Michael Curry, St. Joseph’s called a new vicar, Rhonda Lee, in Advent of that year. Since 2006, the church has been resurrected as a small congregation that is growing in Spirit and in numbers, where laypersons play a vital role in the life of the church. [...] In May 2008, the church celebrated its centennial and launched its second hundred years..."


St. Joseph's Episcopal, 06.27.09

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36.006704,-78.921334

WEST DURHAM MILL VILLAGE (EAST) / SOUTHERN FIRE INSURANCE CO.

Aerial showing the mill village houses north of Perry St., between Broad and 8th (Iredell), 1940s.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Mill houses associated with the Erwin Cotton Mills were constructed in a centrifugal pattern around the mill from the 1890s-1910s. I've profiled those extending west from the mill on 13th, 14th, and 15th streets here. Several rows of houses extended east from the mill as well; as the commercial district developed along 9th and Perry Streets, a section of these houses was separated from the mill by the business district. These extended from 8th St. (Iredell) to Broad St. at the Trinity College campus.

As Erwin Mills began to divest themselves of houses in the 1940s, these likely presented a greater value to the private market, due to their location near Broad and Main, than many of the other mill houses. It appears that the Southern Fire Insurance Company thought so, at least, as they purchased 5 or more of these houses by 1951 to construct their new office building. They had previously been located in the Geer Building downtown.


Rendering of the new office building as seen from Broad and Perry, ~1950.


Looking southwest from Broad St. at the building under construction, 02.22.51
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Completed office building, looking west-northwest from Broad St., 1951.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Completed office building, looking northwest from Broad and Perry Sts., 1951.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

I'm not sure when the Southern Fire Insurance Co. went out of business here. By the early 1990s, the building belonged to Duke, and housed their human resources, which it still houses today.


Looking northwest from Broad and Perry, 4.12.09

This building and those to the north are the subject of the longstanding rumor/plan that Whole Foods will demolish the lot of them and build a new SuperSustainableWholeFoods on the site. We'll see - I don't know if the macroeconomic climate has made Ye Olde A&P seem any more appropriately sized.

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36.007865,-78.920291

ERWIN BALLFIELD / A&P / PHILLIPS 66 / WHOLE FOODS / MAD HATTER / ETC.

Bird's Eye view looking west the Erwin Field at Broad and West Main Streets, ~1940.
(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

One of the early community assets created by the Erwin Cotton Mills and its principal, William Erwin, was the Erwin field, which hosted the Erwin Auditorium baseball team.


Looking east from 8th (Iredell) and West Main Sts., May 1938, showing a partial view of the batting cage.
(Courtesy Duke Forest Collection)


Looking northeast from 8th (Iredell) and West Main Sts., May 1938, showing a view of the batting cage.
(Courtesy Duke Forest Collection)

Below, images of the baseball team from the mid 20th century at the field.


(Courtesy Old West Durham Neighborhood Assoc.)


(Courtesy Old West Durham Neighborhood Assoc.)

In 1953, Erwin Mills converted the former Monkey Bottom lowlands to the south into a new Erwin Field; the field at West Main and Broad Streets was soon converted into a commercial development - a new A&P supermarket set back from Broad Street with what was, at the time, a massive surface parking lot in front, and a Phillips 66 gas station at the corner of Broad and West Main Sts.

Tops Drive-In was added to the south end of the A&P sometime in the 1950s. Per information sent to me by Bob Chapman:

"Tops was [one branch of] an 18 restaurant chain with all other branches in northern Va and the DC area including one on Wisconsin Av. in Bethesda. Their signature sandwiches were the Sir Loiner, the Jim Dandy, the Maverick and a tasty 'Hawaiian' ham sandwich with pineapple and secret sauce. Great onion rings and hot fudge sundaes. Juke box. In the early 70s the chain merged into Gino's (named after Gino Marchetti of the Baltimore Colts) They sold inedible hamburgers and KFC until they went under, then the location morphed again into a KFC store."


Tops Menu.
(Courtesy Sherry Handfinger)

He notes that there was an establishment in the basement below Tops, named the "Student Prince Hofbrau Haus."


Looking southwest from Perry and Broad Sts., 08.27.58
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)


Looking south on Broad Street from near Perry St., 08.27.58. The gas station is visible in the background.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

In the 1950s and 1960s, high school and college students would make a drive-in circuit that, in this little area, included Top's and the Blue Light.

The character of this corner changed considerably with the connection of Broad Street and Swift Avenue in 1964; neither crossed the tracks prior to that point, and Swift Avenue met the tracks at a point farther east than where Broad St. did


Looking south on Broad Street near its intersection with West Main St., 02.12.64.


Looking northwest from where Swift Avenue met West Pettigrew St., 02.12.64.

Below, the Phillips 66 station and "Ginos" looking west, after the connection of Broad and Swift, 03.10.70



By the time I got to Durham in 1988, I remember the gas station, which I believe was closed, the KFC, and the Hofbrau - although I never went in the latter. The A&P had one of those 1970s-era A&P signs on the facade, and it was definitely on the decline. By 1993, it had become a Sav-A-Center.

Sometime in the mid-90s, when I left Durham, before I came back in 1997, Wellspring grocery moved from their location at 9th and Hillsborough (which was later, until recently, George's Garage) to the Sav-A-Center, which involved a significant renovation of the entire building. It appears that the strip was expanded at that time as well.


Former A&P/Sav-A-Center under renovation, mid-1990s.

The former Phillips 66 gas station was also renovated to become a restaurant - Owen's Broad Street Diner, run by the 501 Diner folks in Chapel Hill. Ben and Jerry's took over the southeast corner, around where Top's was, and a pizza place moved in to the west of them - can't remember the name, but they had some insane list of toppings that included rattlesnake, jellybeans - you name it.

Since then, Wellspring has become Whole Foods, the pizza place became Cinelli's, the bike store that is now The Bicycle Chain moved in at the north end of the complex, and a local video store, Avid Video, moved in next to Ben and Jerry's. The Broad Street Diner closed (which depressed me - I always enjoyed it) and was replaced by the Mad Hatter, which moved from its prior location in Erwin Square. (They renovated the station extensively - enclosing the south 'triangle' awning.)

Primarily because of Whole Foods, this 1950s-era shopping center remains very busy, and a hub for commercial activity for a wide geographic area of Durham.


Looking southwest, 04.12.09

The former batting cage and Phillips 66 station, now the Mad Hatter Bake Shop:


Looking north, 07.19.09

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36.006885,-78.920524