Orange Factory Road

Orange Factory

Orange Factory was established in 1852 (so named because it was the first factory in then-Orange County,) by John Douglas and William Lipscomb on the banks of the Little River. The Little River was one of the three rivers of now-North Durham County (the Eno, the Flat, and the Little) that drew settlement and the establishment of industry that utilized the water power that the rivers provided. Much of this settlement came east from Hillsborough, the county seat.

903 Orange Factory Road

Dr. Edwin Holt House

Notable for a two-tiered full-facade porch with an unusual sawn work balustrade on the upper level, the Dr. Edwin Holt House is a side-gable frame I-house with modest Greek Revival detailing. While the six-over-six windows with plain surrounds and boxed cornice with gable-end returns are typical of many Durham County residences of the mid- to late...

W.W. Ellis House

W. W. Ellis, boiler operator at Orange Factory boarded mill workers and raised a family of nine children in a very late Triple-A I-house. Building in 1924 when most of his neighbors preferred the Craftsman or Colonial Revival styles, Ellis chose the traditional house form but gave token recognition to current fashion through open eaves and shaped...