2002 Fayetteville Street

From Preservation Durham Historic Plaque Application

One-and-a-half story, side gabled Minimal Traditional, two bays wide and two deep, with two projecting front gabe wings. A screened porch with a flat roof, half-wall, and distinctive metal balustrade sits on the north side, a full-width shed roof dormer extends across the rear, and a small shed-roof wing at the rear has the back entrance. Windows are metal casements, it has been wrapped in aluminum siding, and a square interior chimney pierces the asphalt shingle roof. The brick foundation, front steps, and stairs down to the sidewalk are all original, with metal handrails that appear original. An aluminum awning over the entrance is likely a later addition.                    

2002 Fayetteville Street was the longtime residence of Marjorie Augusta Shepard, a lifetime Durhamite and the first librarian at North Carolina College (now North Carolina Central University), America’s first state-supported Black liberal arts college.

Marjorie, the eldest daughter of NCCU founder James E. Shepard, attended the National Religious Training School & Chautauqua (NCCU) in 1910, graduated from Fisk University in 1919, and studied at Columbia University. She worked at NCCU for four decades, first as faculty in the English and History departments, then later as a university librarian for 34 years. Additionally, Ms. Shepard served as postmistress at the NCCU post office.

Through her many positions, Marjorie supported early student life and scholarship at NCCU, which laid the foundation for library research at this significant Black institution. Marjorie was a charter member of the Alpha Zeta Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., a member of the Daughters of Dorcas Club, and a supporter of the Harriet Tubman YWCA. Outside of her education and civic life, Marjorie was a member of the L.B. Farrington District of White Rock Baptist Church. Ms. Shepard is also widely documented as hosting various Black families visiting Durham.

James and Annie Shepard bought the plot for 2002 Fayetteville Street for both Marjorie and her sister Annie Day Smith. Annie Smith and her husband, I.H. Smith, gave their half of the plot to Marjorie, making her the sole owner. Marjorie lived in the home for most of her adult life, up until a few years before her death, when she lived in Henderson with her niece, Carolyn S. Green, and her husband, Dr. James P. Green. The Greens owned the home following Ms. Shepard’s death. They then gave the home to their daughter, Carolyn Green Boone, who continues to own the home, continuing the family legacy of the home.

Sources: 

Carolina Times 

James E. Shepard Memorial Library, “Ms. Marjorie Augusta Shepard (1896-1992), daughter of the founders Dr. James E. and Annie Day Shepard is seen here beside the portrait of her mother. She is little known although she served as the first librarian at the school beginning in 1926 and served until 1960. She also taught in the early History and English Departments and served as postmistress of Shepard Station post office on campus.,” Facebook, n May 8, 2020, https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158175794003704&id=100066587364969&mibextid=wwXIfr&rdid=V8Ibcmtc1IL4jbF2#.

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Photograph taken by Heather Slane, National Historic Register Submission, December 2017

Located at the southwest corner of Fayetteville Street and Formosa Avenue, this one-and-a-half-story, side-gabled Period Cottage is two bays wide and double-pile. The house has aluminum siding, metal-framed casement windows, an interior brick chimney, and triangular louvered vents in the gables. The projecting, front-gabled entrance bay on the left (south) end of the façade has a four-light-over-four-panel door sheltered by an aluminum awning and flanked by two-light metal-framed casement windows. A front-gabled bay on the right (north) end of the façade has a twelve-light window with four-light transom on the first floor and a nine-light window with three-light transom in the gable. The left elevation features replacement windows on the main level with a metal nine-light window with three-light transom in the gable. The right elevation has a matching window in the gable and the main level is obscured by a flat-roofed porch with metal railing at the roofline supported by square posts and enclosed with screens over a vinyl-sided knee wall. A shed-roofed dormer extends across the rear elevation and there is a projecting shed-roofed porch on the rear elevation that has been enclosed with windows at the upper one-third of the wall and aluminum siding below. County tax records date the house to 1947 and the earliest known occupant is Marjorie Shepard, a librarian at North Carolina College (later North Carolina Central University) in 1950.

Marjorie Shepard was the eldest daughter of Dr. James E. Shepard, the founder of National Religious Training School and Chautauqua, later North Carolina College and eventually renamed North Carolina Central University.

According the county deed records, Dr. Shepard and his wife, Annie Day Shepard purchased a large parcel of land on Fayetteville Street on April 17, 1924.  On February 17, 1948, Annie Day Smith and her husband I.H. Smith, gave half of their interest to this particular lot to Marjorie Shepard. 

On October 24, 1949, Annie Day Shepard Smith and her husband, I.H. Smith, as in the deed records on April 17, 1924, Annie and Marjorie are the only heirs of James E. Shepard and Annie Day Shepard, both deceased by this date.  Dr. Shepard died in 1947.

Marjorie Shepard died in 1992.  The property was left to her niece, Carolyn Marie Smith Green,  since her sister, Annie Day Shepard Smith had died in 1977.  On April 5, 2005, James P. Green and his wife, Carolyn Shepard Green transferred the title to this property to their daughter, Carolyn Green Boone.  Ms. Boone is the current owner and occupant.