Vaudeville

A row of 2-story commercial structures were built at the northern peak of the 'triangle' formed by the acute angle of the intersection of Fayetteville and Whitted Sts. These seem to have housed barber shops at 701 and 703 Fayetteville; 705 Fayetteville was the Electric Theater, a vaudeville and movie theater opened in 1913 by FK Watkins, the 'Movie King'. 1913 Sanborn map of the 700 block of Fayetteville (the 600 block in this map, renumbered by the 1920s.)

----- Looking northeast from Church St. and East Main St., 1890s. (Courtesy Duke Archives) Commercial development of the north side of the 200 block of East Main St. proceeded eastward from the commercial core. The western half of the block was developed by commercial structures by the 1890s, two of which are visible above. The eastern half of the...

Just after the turn of the century, the City decided to replace the scattered offices of the city along Main St. as well as the old city market that was supplanted by Union Station with a new, impressive municipal building known as the Academy of Music, which would be located between East Chapel Hill St., Corcoran, Market, and Parrish Sts. The site cost $16,000. The city commissioned architects Hook and Sawyer of Charlotte, who also executed the Southern Conservatory of Music and Fire Station #2, to design the structure.