Though much modified, this building is one of the oldest remaining in downtown - minus its original, quirky Second Empire roof.

347-351 West Main is part of a row of early 1920s-era row buildings along the south side of Five Points that replaced earlier industrial buildings and frame commercial structures. In 1923, National Dollar Store was the tenant at 347, Noell Brothers Hardware at 349, and Dixie Clothing Company at 351. The earliest view I could find of the whole row...

434 West main, only partly visible as Duke Sport Shop Billiards, on the far left. -- The northwest corner of Five Points contained a series of commerical structures, similar to Main St., that fronted on Five Points and turned the corner at Morris Street. A view from the 1920s, looking northwest. (Courtesy Durham County Library) A 1920s view from a...

The opposite point of Five Points was the first home of the main Durham Public Library, which was housed in a small wood-frame building Courtesy Durham County Library, circa 1910 Looking northwest (towards Five Points) from West Main St. (Courtesy Duke Archives) The main public library was established in 1897 as the first public, non-subscription...

---------- Today, we move downtown to 'big' Five Points. Although Durham Station was established at the foot of Corcoran Street, at the railroad tracks, Five Points became an important hub of retail activity by the 1910s-1920s Looking west on West Main St., 1905. New mercantile, masonry structures replaced the earlier industry structures during the...

The 800 block of North Mangum Street, between Little Five Points and the renovated houses north of Geer Street, continues to experience significant transition. The busy intersection of Geer St. and Mangum St., with a large auto repair shop, forms a significant barrier between sections of the neighborhood. The 800 block retains more houses than the...

The neighborhood business district at the intersection of Cleveland, Mangum, and Corporation streets is known as "Little Five Points". It once served the communities of "North Durham" (now Old North Durham), Cleveland Street, and the neighborhoods extending west towards the old ballpark and east to Roxboro. Little Five Points, early 20th Century (Courtesy Duke Archives)

Just north of the houses pictured yesterday is a large parcel of vacant land (between Hunt, Broadway, and Mangum), all owned by the City of Durham

1960s (Courtesy Ralph Rogers) The third iteration of Fire Station #1 was part of an urban renewal project that demolished part of the formerly exclusive Cleveland Street neighborhood north of downtown. The 500 block of Cleveland St. was, by the early 20th century, filled with large Victorian houses, constituting part of the first wave of...

Name: Rosenstein House Built: ~1920 Demolished: ~ after 1980 Owner: Shirley Taylor, Jejuan Taylor The Rosenstein House was built later than most of the original structures on Cleveland Street - around 1920 - by Nathan Rosenstein, a local optometrist. It was a Tudor Revival house, very different in style than the Victorians that otherwise lined the...