Market Street

301 West Main St. - Sparger Building

301 West Main was the home of the C.D. Kenny Company, a local tea, coffee, and sugar store, soon after the turn of the century. The C.D. Kenny company subsequently moved to 327 W. Main St. 301 West Main, 1910s. (Courtesy Durham County Library) A facade change occurred sometime during the 1920s, and the building became the first location of Sears...

Trust Building

The 200 block of West Main St. was first the site of one of Durham's earliest major warehouses before it was home to Durham's first skyscraper; the Banner 'Drive In' warehouse was built on the site during the 1880s. Banner Warehouse, ~1884, looking north from south of West Main Street. (Courtesy Duke RBMC - Wyatt Dixon Collection) The Banner...

Temple Building

(Courtesy Duke Archives) The Temple building was constructed in 1909 by John Sprunt Hill out of materials left over from the construction of Watts Hospital on Club Blvd. (His uncle, George W. Watts, was the primary benefactor of the hospital.)

Rbt. Morris Tobacco Co / Sal Freight Dep.

RF Morris Tobacco Factory at the NC railroad tracks ~300 feet west of present-day Corcoran St., 1890 (Courtesy Digital Durham. The history of Robert Morris and his endeavors in the tobacco trade are an interesting, if patchwork, story about the earliest days of Durham. Per Jean Anderson: "Morris first appeared on Orange County scene .... in...

121 Market Street

121 Market Street was built in the early 1920s on previously vacant land. Above, the original Morning Herald building, with the Durham Life Insurance Company to its north. 121 Market and 136-138 E. Chapel Hill were built to the north (right) of the insurance building. (From "Images of America: Durham" by Steve Massengill) The Durham Morning Herald...

Herald-Sun Buildings

The survivor among Durham's early newspapers, the Market Street location was the first location of the Durham Morning Herald, and then the Durham Sun. The newspaper steadily expanded its presence to the west through the 1980s until it left downtown in 1990 for the greyer pastures of the 15-501 bypass.

Jordan Building

The Jordan Building, at 213 West Main St., is one of the oldest buildings remaining in downtown, built sometime between 1898 and 1902. In the above shot, taken around the turn of the century, one can see the small frame structures on either side that the new commercial structures such as the Jordan building replaced. Soon, this filled in with other...