Built in 1896 after Washington Duke's gift of $100,000 to establish equal education for women at Trinity, the Mary Duke Building was the first dormitory to house women. However, the dorm was finished so quickly it provided more beds than there were female students. President John C. Kilgo quietly picked suitable senior men to share the facility. A professor's wife wrote her daughter, 'Dr. Kilgo has put boys in the Woman's Building so you see it has come down to a mixed boarding house already. If my girl was there I would take her away.'

Built and furnished in 1898 with a donation from Benjamin N. Duke, the building was officially named the Angier B. Duke Gymnasium in honor of his son. The building is probably the first college gymnasium in the state. The building was the site of the second intercollegiate basketball game in the state, and should be considered the birthplace of Duke Basketball

One of two buildings built during the initial construction of the Trinity College campus that remains standing in its original location, the Crowell Building was initially called the "Technological Building" because it housed the School of Technology. The building housed drafting rooms, and laboratories for chemistry, physics, and biology. The main generator for the campus was housed in the basement. The building was renamed the Crowell Building in 1896 in honor of President Crowell's wife.

A large, rambling Shingle Style structure, the building was a center for social activity at the college, a dormitory, and hotel. The first floor contained a dining hall, parlor, chapel, and guest rooms. The second and third floors contained 75 dormitory rooms. Board was $10 a month at the dining hall. An on-site dynamo provided electricity sufficient to provide a light bulb in every dormitory room - more than the vast majority of the city of Durham could claim at the time.

The original main building of Trinity College, home to offices, classrooms, and dormitories, Old Main's belltower sounded the changes of classes and other important events. The building was beset by tragedy at its beginning and end, but during a brief ~two decades was the heart of the campus

--- Erwin Mill No. 1 and office building, early 20th century (Courtesy John Schelp) Julian Carr's success with Durham's first textile manufacturing plant, the Durham Cotton Manufacturing Company, which returned 20-30% net profit in its first 6 years, showed the viability of the industry in Durham and, more broadly, the south. The Dukes, who had...

--- Prison Farm / County Home, 1880s. (Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection) On November 15th, 1881, the County Commissioners purchased a tract of 138 acres of land on Roxboro Road, then about three miles north of Durham, from WA Wilkerson for $1393.75 and erected a frame house for "the care of the aged, indigent and infirm."...

--- Prison Farm / County Home, 1880s. (Courtesy Durham County Library / North Carolina Collection) On November 15th, 1881, the County Commissioners purchased a tract of 138 acres of land on Roxboro Road, then about three miles north of Durham, from WA Wilkerson for $1393.75 and erected a frame house for "the care of the aged, indigent and infirm."...