Commercial

434 West main, only partly visible as Duke Sport Shop Billiards, on the far left. -- The northwest corner of Five Points contained a series of commerical structures, similar to Main St., that fronted on Five Points and turned the corner at Morris Street. A view from the 1920s, looking northwest. (Courtesy Durham County Library) A 1920s view from a...

---------- Today, we move downtown to 'big' Five Points. Although Durham Station was established at the foot of Corcoran Street, at the railroad tracks, Five Points became an important hub of retail activity by the 1910s-1920s Looking west on West Main St., 1905. New mercantile, masonry structures replaced the earlier industry structures during the...

The Union Missionary Baptist church has destroyed an important piece of African-American history by destroying the former Royal Ice Cream Parlor, the site of very early sit-ins, even before Greensboro. Back in the 1950s, this building was the Royal Ice Cream parlor, a segregated business. From a timeline sent to me:

Under construction, ~1970 1969 (Special Grand Opening section of the Herald-Sun) 1969 (Special Grand Opening section of the Herald-Sun) 1976 (Courtesy Jim Elkins) Elkins Chrysler Dealership, October 1983 (Courtesy Jim Elkins) Minivans! (Courtesy Jim Elkins)

1980 (Duke Chanticleer) A longtime favorite, particularly with Duke students, Parker's seems to have closed sometime in the 1990s, but I'm unsure when. As of 2008-2011, the building houses JC's kitchen, where "the food is anointed, and you won't be disappointed." (Yes, that JC.) 06.25.13 (Photo by Gary Kueber) 06.25.13. One of the better signs in...