Tobacco Auction Warehouse

Big 4 Warehouse - Morgan And Rigsbee

Looking northwest from Rigsbee Ave. and Morgan. (Courtesy Library of Congress) The north side of Morgan St. east of Foster St. was the southern extent of the early 20th century tobacco warehouse district, which extended northward along Rigsbee Ave. Above, looking north-northwest, 1924. Rigsbee and East Chapel Hill St. are in the foreground, and...

Reams Warehouse

The first tobacco auction warehouse in Durham- run by Henry Reams, with auctions by EJ Parrish

Ej Parrish Warehouse (first)

In 1879 EJ Parrish (the first man to auction tobacco in Durham) built a tobacco warehouse on the southeast corner of Mangum St. and the eponymous Parrish St. (Courtesy Durham County Library) No records exist of the exact location of the warehouse, but I do know that it was on the "western portion of the site", which would imply that the above view is from Mangum St. The Conestoga wagons were used to haul the tobacco to the warehouse for auction.

Banner Warehouse (morgan Street)

Banner Warehouse, 1910 The Banner warehouse was established on West Main Street in the 1880s, moving to Watkins (Morgan) Street in 1903. From the 1910 Durham Illustrated: Since the establishment of the first tobacco sales warehouse in 1871, this industry has grown every year more important. In 1903, JA Warren and Maynard Mangum established their...

Liberty Warehouse (no. 3)

The last-built and last-standing (as of 2011) of Durham's once large set of tobacco auction warehouses, the Liberty stopped auctioning tobacco in 1984, but was used as storage and cheap office space for several decades afterwards. In May 2011, a large section of roof collapsed in a rainstorm, rendering the southern portion of the warehoues unusable. In 2012, Greenfire announced plans to demolish the southern portion of the building (retaining the primary facade Rigsbee Ave. portion) to replace it with apartments.

Mangum Warehouse

Mangum Warehouse, looking west from Broadway St., 1940. (Courtesy Library of Congress) The Mangum Warehouses (No.1 and No.2) were built between 1937 and 1940 on sloping terrain to the north of the earlier tobacco warehouses. The Rigsbee Ave. frontage was, prior to construction of the warehouse, residential. Warehouse district, 1959.

Liberty Warehouse No 1 / Star Warehouse No. 2

Looking east from Rigsbee Ave. and Seminary St., 1940 (Courtesy Library of Congress) The original Liberty Warehouse was located at the northeast corner of Rigsbee Avenue and Seminary St. The warehouse was constructed in the early 1930s, and operated by Satterfield and Stone. Looking north up Rigsbee Ave. from Seminary St., 1940. The Roycroft...

Roycroft Warehouse

Sale day, 1940. Looking northwest from Rigsbee Ave. and Seminary St. (Courtesy The Herald-Sun Newspaper)

Planters Warehouse

The interior of the Planters Warehouse, 1905. The Planters Warehouse was one of the earliest brick tobacco warehouses in Durham, built in 1876. As the tobacco trade grew in and around Durham, the need for an active tobacco market in Durham - where farmers would come with their crop and auction to the highest bidder - became increasingly necessary...

Star Brick Warehouse

Although our new ubiquitous 'wayfinding' (to use the earnest planning lingo) signs proclaim the area of the Liggett redevelopment as the "Warehouse District", the real warehouse district in Durham stretched along both sides of Rigsbee Ave., north of Morgan St. The view in 1924, looking northwest. The two very large brick warehouses straddle Rigsbee...