1914-1918 PERRY

1916-1920 Perry were built in the late 1920s, extending the strip of older commercial buildings at the corner of 9th and Perry eastward. The 1914 Perry building initially housed the West Durham Electric Shoe shop. 1918 initially housed Hawley's barber shop.

By the 1940s, 1914 housed Cole and Crumpacker General Contractors, and 1916-18 housed Check Dry Cleaners. By the 1950s, 1916-1918 housed Stahl-Rider Durham air conditioners, with Modern Printing and Lithographic upstairs.


Aerial shot of Perry St., 1950s.
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

I'm sure there are other businesses that have made a home in these buildings. My own memory is of buying my very first CD at dearly departed Poindexter's, before they made a few moves up and down 9th Street. And of eating Francesca's ice cream along their benches on Perry St.


Perry St., 1980s.

Today, 1916-18 houses CCI photographics, and upstairs, the modern-day equivalent of Poindexter's (at least in my mind,) Chaz's Bull City Records.


1916-18 Perry, 04.05.09

1914 Perry St. houses Atelier N, a jewelry store.


1914 Perry, 04.05.09

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36.007776,-78.921741

1920 PERRY STREET

1920 Perry Street may have been the earliest non-mill-related masonry commercial structure built in West Durham, constructed prior to 1907. By the 1920s, the building housed the Andrews Furniture Store., and by the 1930s, the upstairs, accessed through a stair on the left side of the building, housed the United Textile Workers (AFL Local 257), and the Int'l Assoc of Machinists Lodge No. 721. By the 1950s, the downstairs housed Bell VE and Sons Air Conditioners.


Perry St., 1980.

As of 2009, the upstairs houses Cosmic Cantina, which has been producing burritos here since the late 1990s. The downstairs initially opened as the Cosmic Lounge, an accompaniment to the food upstairs with music, bar, etc. that closed after a year or two. There seem to have been several short-lived attempts to restart something similar on the first floor, but it currently remains shuttered.


1920 Perry St., 04.05.09

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36.007812,-78.921914

700-704 NINTH ST.

700-702 Ninth Street was among the earliest commercial masonry structures built in West Durham, located at the corner of Hillsboro (later Perry) and Ninth, where the streetcar turned from Ninth Street towards Broad. It was built between 1907 and 1913. In 1926, it housed Brewers Drug Store in 700 and the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (the A&P) in 702. By 1930, the building was expanded to the north with a similar-in-appearance additional bay, 704 Ninth St. The A&P moved into this section. 702 was soon occupied by Kam's Barber Shop and Nellene Beauty Shop.

By the late 1930s:
700: Brewers Drug Store, Textile Workers' Union Am Local No. 246 (2nd Floor)
702: Nellene Beauty Shop, Hall's Barber Shop
704: Ser-V-All Food Store

By the 1940-1950s
700: Brewers Drug Store,
702: Nellene Beauty Shop, Gus' Barber Shop
704: Lesco Homes district sales office, Home Builders and Realty Co., Swain Bros Stationers


(Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection)

By 1965

700: Ivy 's Florist
702: Nellene Beauty Shop, Bell's Barber Shop
704: Carolina Textile Products

By 1970

700: The Shoe Inn
702: Nellene Beauty Shop, Ninth St. Barber Shop
704: Textile Remnants Inc.



By 1985:

700: Campus Florist
702: A New Reflection Beauty Shop, Ninth St. Barber Shop
704: Bernard's Formal Wear.

By 1990:

700: Campus Florist
702: The Play House, King's Barber Shop,
704: Vacant


Today, after the unfortunate removal of the box cornice from 700-702, the buildings house Ninth Street Florist, The Playhouse, and Wavelengths Salon.


Looking northeast, 04.05.09


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36.00786,-78.922016

FIDELITY BANK - WEST DURHAM / BRUEGGER'S

(Courtesy Old West Durham Neighborhood Association)

The Fidelity Bank was one of Durham's earliest banks, organized by MA Angier, George Watts, Washington Duke, and Benjamin Duke in 1887. After stints in the Wright Building and Trust Building, the Fidelity became the anchor tenant in the Fred C. Geer Building in 1915, which would house their main offices and main branch. They would eventually own that building and rename it the Fidelity Bank building.

Unlike many other banks, Fidelity did not undertake an aggressive geographic expansion; under the Fidelity name, the bank peaked with 3 branches, all in Durham.

One of those branches, established in the early 1920s , was the West Durham branch. (The others were in East Durham and North Durham.) Designed by Durham architecture firm Rose and Rose, the neoclassical revival structure established an architectural presence on the south side of Perry Street. This corner had high visibility to trolley traffic, as the trolley made its right turn from 9th St. at Perry to get to Broad Street, where it would then turn left to head north towards Watts Hospital.


Fidelity Bank, on the corner of Perry and 9th, ~1950
(Courtesy The Herald-Sun)

Fidelity Bank became a part of Wachovia Bank in 1956. The branch banks became Wachovia branches at the same time. The bank was expanded to the south in the 1950s - I'm unsure when.

This remained a Wachoiva branch bank into the 1980s.


Wachovia branch bank at 9th and Perry, 1980, showing the south side addition.

In the early 1980s, Wachovia built a new branch across the street, at the former location of the Erwin Mills company store/West Durham post office. The building was renovated, with Bruegger's Bagels establishing one of their bagel shops in the original bank building during the early renaissance of 9th Street. The first tenant I remember (from the late 1980s) in the southern addition was Steve's Ice Cream.

Bruegger's remains, 20+ years on. The south addition has turned over multiple times, and is currently Tre Bella. Zola Gallery has an upstairs space on the second floor of the original bank building and south addition, with an entry off Perry St.


Former Fidelity Bank, NE, 04.05.09


Former Fidelity Bank, SE, 04.05.09

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36.007519,-78.922009

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

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