518 Morehead Avenue / John F. Wily House

1903 (Colonial Southern Homes by Barrett, Charles W.) Retrieved from https://archive.org/details/colonialsouthern00barr)

As Morehead Hill developed in the 1880s and 1890s, multiple large houses were built on the larger lots along Morehead Ave. and Vickers Ave. The houses of SF Tomlinson, John Wily, et al occupied this block, which was the 800 block of Morehead until after ~1920.

518 Morehead was built for John F. Wily, a Virginian who came to Durham to work as a cashier at Fidelity Bank. By 1903-4, he was residing at his Morehead Avenue home.  By 1915-16, he was vice-president of Fidelity, and by 1924 he was also vice president of Pearl Cotton Mills and secretary of Sneed-Markham-Taylor Co.  By 1925, Wily was president of Fidelity Bank.  J. F. Wily and his wife Elizabeth "Lizzie" Morehead Wily remained in the house until their respective deaths in 1938. Their son Eugene M. Wily continued to reside at 518 Morehead from 1939 to 1961, while their son John Wily, Jr., moved to Dover Road in Hope Valley in 1939. 

518 Morehead Avenue, the John F. WIly House
(Courtesy John Schelp)

advertised for sale in The Durham Sun, March 20, 1944, p. 15

 

Aerial of the block, 1959

These houses were torn down - most by 1972; it appears that the lots were used for parking, probably overflow parking for Blue Cross Blue Shield. They now serve as overflow parking for Greystone next door.

Advertised for public auction, Durham Morning Herald, July 22, 1961

 

Looking east on Morehead Ave., 01.01.08

 

Aerial of the same area as 1959 in 2007.