Charles W. and Eva J. Thompson House

Charles W. and Eva Jeffries Thompson were the first owners of 1217 Fayetteville. The property was built in 1918. It was listed as 1219 Fayetteville from the 1919-1923 city directories. It is first listed as 1217 Fayetteville in the 1924 city directory. 

 Charles was from Alamance County, and Eva was from Clarksville, Virginia. They got married in 1903 in Durham, North Carolina. Charles owned NC Barber Shop, and Eva did not have an occupation. Charles passed away in 1930. Eva continued to live in the home until 1960.

Eva’s sister, Alice Maynor, lived with her in the home for one year in 1938. Alice’s daughter, Dorothy Maynor, was a famous soprano singer. Dorothy attended the Hampton Institute, now Hampton University, at just 14 years old. She went on a European tour with the Hampton Choir, and when she returned, multiple professors urged her to focus on singing. She received a scholarship to attend Princeton after graduating from the Hampton Institute, where she continued to hone her talents with the Westminster Choir School. Harriet Curtis, Dean of Women at Hampton Institute, funded Dorothy’s move to New York to continue to study voice. She was, “A dynamic woman of many firsts, Maynor was also the first woman to conduct at the United Nations, the first African American to join the board of directors of New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and the first African American to sing at an American president’s inauguration.”

Maynor also founded the Harlem School of the Arts. Returning to her desire to teach music before she became famous, Maynor dedicated herself to it, running the whole school herself. Starting with a class of 20, the school expanded exponentially after she raised enough money to build a new facility. The school is still around and has approximately 3,000 students per year. Some notable alumni include Caleb McLaughlin, Zazie Beats, and Ray Chew.

While Dorothy did not live in 1217 Fayetteville, she was cited to have visited it while her mother was visiting Eva. She also owned the property. In Eva’s estate, she gave the property to Dorothy, along with the ability to keep renting the home as an income-producing property. Dorothy solely owned the property from 1941 to 1959. 

Dorothy and Eva sold the property to James Waverly and Juanita Page. James was the son of  James L.  Page, who owned Page and Son’s Grocery, located at 1304 Fayetteville. James and Juanita both worked at the store, and James eventually became the owner.  While they owned 1217 Fayetteville from 1959 to 2001, they only ever lived in the home for three years as tenants from 1945 to 1948. This means they likely bought the property to continue using it as an income-producing rental property.

The Pages had their first child, Richard Page, during the period they lived at 1217 Fayetteville. Unfortunately, Richard passed away soon after he was born.

The home was also a boarding house, and many individuals lived in the home throughout the years. A few bellmen at Loochmoor Hotel, Herbert McKay, and Fletcher Purcell lived in the home from the late 1930s to the early 1940s. Herbert and Fletcher were both arrested for “aiding and abetting in immorality.” Herbert had also gotten in trouble for reckless driving, hitting individuals on two different occasions. Herbert would go on to marry Lillian Alston. He remarried in 1964 to Thelma Harris, after Lillian had passed. He then worked for the Eckerd Drug Company and the Durham court system, from which he retired from both.

Two of the first tenants were Dr. Norman and Eugenia Cordice. Dr. Cordice was the brother of Dr. John Walter Vincent Cordice, who went on to become a physician at Lincoln Hospital. The Cordices were from Saint Vincent, an island in the West Indies. Dr. Norman Cordice came to the United States to attend Meharry Medical School, which he graduated from with honors in 1926. He practiced dentistry in both Massachusetts and North Carolina. 

(For more on Dr. John Walter Vincent Cordice, visit his page on OpenDurham.)

Eugenia Allbritton Cordice was from Terrell, Texas. She studied at multiple universities, including Prairie View A&M University, Meharry Medical College, Columbia University, and North Carolina Central University. She went on to become a registered nurse, working in numerous positions throughout her career. Her careers were as follows: public health nurse with the State of North Carolina; clinical instructor for nursing science at Winston-Salem State University; private nursing; staff nurse at Lincoln, Watts, and Duke Hospitals; and a nurse for the Scarborough Nursery School. While living at 1217 Fayetteville, she worked with the local Red Cross Chapter to host hygiene classes at the home.

The Cordices were also both very involved with the Holy Cross Catholic Church. Dr. Cordice was one of the co-founders of the church, and Eugenia was in the Altar Society and Legion of Mary Rosary Society. In 1976, they were awarded as the longest members of the parish, since 1939.

Emily Taylor Cogwell and her husband, William Cogwell, lived in the home for a few years in the early 1950s. Emily was from Creedmoor, NC, and came to Durham to work at the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company. She had previously attended Florida Normal and Industrial College. She started as a Register Clerk and was promoted to Filing Clerk. William was a carpenter. They were married in 1949 and had one son, William H. Cogwell III.

Sources:

The Carolina Times

The Herald-Sun

Press of Atlantic City