Ninth Street

802 Ninth Street

802 Ninth St., 09.12.09 Looking west from ~Iredell, ~1950. (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper) The east side of the 800 block of Ninth St. was residential through much of the 20th century. A frame structure at the north end of the block housed the West Durham Wet Wash Laundry, which became the White Star Laundry, during the 1920s - before that...

816 Ninth Street - Biscuit King

816 Ninth St., 09.12.09 Looking west from ~Iredell, ~1950. (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper) The east side of the 800 block of Ninth St. was residential through much of the 20th century. A frame structure at the north end of the block housed the West Durham Wet Wash Laundry, which became the White Star Laundry, during the 1920s - before that...

West Durham Methodist Episcopal Church

Per the Old West Durham website, Reuben Hibberd, a local florist and lay preacher, began holding cottage prayer meetings and "Sunday Sings" in West Durham homes in 1893. Hibberd would often bring a small portable organ with him. As interest increased in Hibberd's meetings, the Sunday School was moved to a grandstand in the nearby Erwin Ballfield. During an 1894 revival in the grandstand, the West Durham Methodist Church was chartered.

Scarboro's Food Store / Wellspring Grocery / Magnolia Grill

Ninth St., looking northeast, ~1980. Floyd Wright opened a grocery on this corner between 1926 and 1930. By the late 1930s, this grocery had been taken over by long-time County Commissioner Dewey Scarboro, who lived next door at 1006 Ninth St. Per the Old West Durham website, Scarboro's Food Store was a favorite stop for children from EK Powe...

Wesleyan Church

Wesleyan Church, likely 1930s. (Courtesy Mac Bare and John Schelp) The Wesleyan Methodist Church, later the First Wesleyan Church, was organized in the summer of 1907 by Wesleyan minister Rev. Shuber Williams after a tent revival held on Broad Street. Williams held services in different homes in West Durham before, on January 10, 1908, thirty charter members organized the West Durham Wesleyan Church in the home of JE Conway, who lived on Hillsborough Road near Ninth Street.

West Durham Graded School No. 2 / E.K. Powe School / Elementary School

It's a bit murky as to whether a school existed at Ninth and West Knox (C) Streets prior to 1912. Per Jean Anderson, the West Durham Graded School on Swift Avenue was formed from the consolidation of Northside School and Piney Grove School. Piney Grove was located on Swift Avenue, however, she notes only that Northside was located "north of the railroad tracks."

904 Ninth St.

Looking west-northwest, ~1950. The two buildings of the Ice Coal plant and the laundry are located at the right edge, across from the EK Powe field. (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

803-815 Ninth

The west side of the 800 block of Ninth St. remained undeveloped until the late 1940s. At that point, a multi-storefront structure was built, followed by two detached structures. From the 1950 city directory: 803 Walsh’s Drive In Restaurant 805 Sears Launderette Piedmont Coffee Service Inc Carolina School of Watch Making 807 Vendapak Co 809 Carolina Baseball League 811 Sears Wholesale Co Inc confrs 813-15 Royal Sandwich & Food Company

2010 Hillsborough Road

Looking northwest from W. Markham and Ninth, ~1950 (Courtesy Barry Norman) The West Gulf Sales and Service Station was built in the late 1940s on what had previously been vacant land. Looking northwest from Hillsborough Road near Ninth, 02.20.51. (Courtesy Herald-Sun) I'm not sure when the service station shut down. It was converted to a...

776 Ninth St.

776 Ninth St., 02.20.51 (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper) Built in the early 1940s, the masonry structure at 776 Ninth St. initially housed the Durham Transportation Corporation bus service. By 1946, the building housed the Yellow Cab Company and Hastings Bus Lines. By the 1950s, Avis Rent-A-Car shared the building with the Yellow Cab Company. By...