Hill's Durham (Durham County, N.C.) City Directory [1950], Part 2

Author: Hill Directory Company.
Publication date: 1950
Publisher: Hill Directory Co.
Number of Pages: 758

USA > North Carolina > Durham County > Durham > Hill's Durham (Durham County, N.C.) City Directory [1950] > Part 2

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

HISTORY

In April, 1865, at a log cabin known as the Bennett Place, near Durham Station, there occurred one of the most historic events in the history of the nation. Lee had surrendered at Appomattox, and the future looked dark indeed for the Southern states. Jefferson Davis and his cabinet had escaped to Greensboro, North Carolina, and there had held fiery debate as to the advisability of continuing the Civil War. Some members of the cabinet favored continuing hostilities at any cost, even though it meant carrying on a guerilla warfare, while others took the position that the cause of the Confederacy was forever lost and that no good could be accomplished by further hloodshed. Finally it was decided to instruct General Joseph E. Johnston, commander of the Confederate Armies of the Carolinas, Georgia and Florida, to negotiate terms of peace with General Wm. Tecumseh Sherman, commander of the Federal Army that had broken the backhone of the Confederacy hy reason of its famous march to the sea. These two generals met at the Bennett Place and signed a tentative peace agreement. This agreement was so favorable to the South that General Grant refused to approve it, but after several days' conference, it was amended to meet General Grant's de- mands and was signed and approved by the governments of the North and South, and the War between the States came to a close.

INTRODUCTION

Marking the place of surrender, just four miles from Durham, there has been erected, through the generosity of Mrs. S. T. Morgan, a beautiful monument consisting of two columns, one representing the North and the other the South, joined together by a cross- piece on which is the word "Unity." This historic spot, the birthplace of a reunited na- tion, is visited each year by thousands of people.

Graduate Dormitory Tower, Duke University

The death of the Confederacy gave birth to the city of Durham, and out of the ashes of the hopes of the Southern people has been built a great and beautiful city. In 1865 Durham Station was a small and insignificant point on the North Carolina Railroad, inhabited by less than 100 persons. There was one lone business enterprise here, a crude and unimport- ant tobacco factory with total assets of less than $2,000, including not only products on hand, but representing also the entire investment and replacement. History and tradition unite in saying that this factory was broken into by Sherman's soldiers and a large part of the stock carried away. Tradition further says that the product carried away was so well made and of such quality that when the soldiers returned to the pursuit of civil life, letters came back to Durham to ascertain if there was more of the product upon the market. To supply this demand a broken business was rebuilt.

In 1865 Washington Duke, a Confederate soldier, walked from New Bern to his home in Durham, and with the same stout heart that had carried him through the vicissitudes of a lost cause, turned his attention to the battle for bread, which was doubtless as cruel and bitter as the war from which he had returned. He built the second factory in Durham, composed of a log cabin 20 x 30 feet, and with his own hands manufactured a product out of a small supply of tobacco that the Federal soldiers had not found. This he called Pro Bono Publico. The annual output of this factory was originally four or five hundred pounds, and in 1872 had grown to 125,000 pounds.

In the meantime, W. T. Blackwell had moved to Durham to engage in the tobacco busi- ness. He was to the early development of the tobacco industry in Durham what Napoleon was to France, or Caesar to Rome. The Durham Bull got upon the map and in a few brief years his sonorous voice, like the shot at Lexington, was heard around the world. In 1872 the two small tobacco factories had grown into twelve.

James Buchanan Duke, becoming convinced that it was neither practicable nor profit- able to compete with Bull Durham smoking tobacco, turned the vision of his great genius into the cigarette field, and from that day to the present hour the increasing volume of the tobacco industry has become the common property of mankind.

On April 10, 1869, almost exactly four years after Johnston surrendered to Sherman, Dur- ham was born. There were only 258 inhabitants in the village, and the total municipal revenue was $357.44. The largest taxpayer paid $40.62 in taxes. In 1870 there were probably less than 100 wage-earners in industrial pursuits in the town.

The tobacco industry grew at a very rapid rate, using large quantities of bright-leaf tobacco. While much of this type of tobacco was grown around Durham, it was sold at

INTRODUCTION

View of City Hall

tobacco markets in Richmond and other Virginia cities, and local manufacturers had to pay the cost of transporting the tobacco from Virginia to Durham. This condition made desirable the opening of warehouses for the sale of leaf tobacco in Durham, and resulted in this city becoming one of the largest bright-leaf tobacco markets in the world, now selling from 40 to 57 million pounds each season.

During all this time- there were no banks in the town, practically all the banking being transacted in Raleigh, and on days of big sales at the tobacco warehouses it was necessary to obtain cash from the merchants in order to pay the farmer for his product. Such incon- veniences could not long continue, and soon two banks were established,

View of Main Street, Looking East

INTRODUCTION

The next step in the industrial and commercial history of the town was the bringing in of additional railway lines. By the cooperation of manufacturers, merchants, and the city and county governments, the Seaboard Air Line Railway, the Southern Railawy, and the Norfolk & Western Railway were given access to this market. Later the Norfolk Southern Railroad and the Durham & Southern Railway were added to the railway lines serving the city, giving a total of five railway companies with seven lines radiating in every direction.

Durham had now grown into a very prosperous and thriving community, but its citi- zenship was not satisfied with having purely a commercial and industrial town. The people felt the need of better schools and, in 1885, after a heated political campaign, bonds were voted for public school buildings and a tax levied for maintaining a public school system. Today Durham has one of the finest public school plants of any city of its size, with physical property valued at $4,416,755, and with a personnel of teachers and management that gives it first rating among the cities of North Carolina.

In 1892, Trinity College, now Duke University, was brought to Durham through the philanthropy of Mr. Washington Duke and General Julian S. Carr. Today Duke University has a physical plant worth $34,600,000, 5,211 student, a 604-bed hospital, and ranks among the leading educational institutions of the nation.

As the tobacco industry grew and prospered, certain persons used some of their divi- dends in establishing cotton mills, and this industry soon assumed a position of importauce in the industrial life of the city. Later hosiery mills were established, until today Durhain ranks as the first city of the South in the manufacture of full-fashioned hosiery. Other in- dustries were added from time to time, including flour mills, fertilizer plants, iron works, woodworking plants, printing establishments, etc., until now there are engaged in industry over 17,000 wage-earners, producing $200,000,000 worth of manufactured products annually. These industries pay into the Federal treasury approximately $70,000,000 each year. Durham today produces 19% of all the cigarettes made in the U. S.

- In 1914 a program of civic improvement was undertaken, and although it was inter- rupted by the first World War, it has now reached the point where Durham has all the conveniences of a modern city, including complete sewerage, asphalt streets, paved side- walks, electric power, gas, the latest dial telephone service, Western Union telegraph service, American Telephone & Telegraph repeater station, insuring rapid long-distance telephone communication; a fine recreation program, and a system of water works with an impounding reservoir sufficient to care for the needs of a city of 100,000 people.

Malbourne Hotel

Any story about Durham would be incomplete without mention of the notable contribu- tion which the Negro race has made to the industrial, commercial and civic development of the community. The progress the race has made here has been truly amazing. Under the leadership of E. R. Merrick, and later, C. C. Spaulding, and their associates. Durham's col- ored people have established industries, insurance companies, banks and other commercial businesses which would be creditable to any city. The labor which they furnish the city's industrial plants is intelligent and dependable. The high type of leaders among the colored people here has made Durham a conspicuous outpost in the advancement of Negro civilization.

INTRODUCTION

Duke University Stadium; Seating Capacity, 41,000 (with Temporary Stands Now Seats 56,500) ; Scene of Rose Bowl Football Game, Jan. 1, 1942

Part of the Main Quadrangle, Duke University, West Campus

One of the finest things about the founders of Durham is that material prosperity merely opened to them avenues of service to mankind. It has been said that more philan- thropists have been produced in Durham than in any other city of the South, Watts Hos- pital, of 250 beds, was a gift to the city and county by Mr. George W. Watts, Lincoln Hos- pital, of 118 beds, is largely the gift of Mr, Benjamin N, Duke, Duke University is a living memorial to Mr, Washington Duke and his two sons, Benjamin N, Duke and James Buchan- an Duke, Other philanthropists have remembered the city from time to time in ways that help in making Durham a good place in which to live and work.

INTRODUCTION

Durham is today the third city in North Carolina in point of population, having 72,000 inhabitants, and is second in industrial payrolls, and second in importance in the value of its manufactured products. It is far in the lead in its educational facilities, having an un- excelled public school system and Duke University within its corporate limits, and having within a radius of a few miles the University of North Carolina, Wake Forest College, Meredith College, North Carolina State College, Peace Institute and St. Mary's.

The colored people have in Durham, in addition to excellent public schools for their race, the North Carolina College for Negroes, the only college of liberal arts for Negroes supported by taxation in the state.

All these things have been accomplished by people not especially favored by nature, but who by their determination, unconquerable will, tireless effort, and by their faith in man- kind and in this community, have created a city that proudly takes its position as one .of the representative cities of the new South and of America.

BRIEF FACTS ABOUT DURHAM, ALPHABETICALLY ARRANGED

Altitude: 406 feet above sea level.

Area: 12.8 square miles.

Automobiles:

Passenger cars in county Jan. 1, 1940

14,415

Passenger cars in county Jan. 1, 1941

15.150

Passenger cars in county Jan. 1, 1942

17,641

Trucks in county Jan. 1, 1940

3,050

Trucks in county Jan. 1, 1941

3,425

Trucks in county Jan. 1, 1942

3,849

All types of vehicles in county as of Dec. 31, 1944

16,400

All types of vehicles in county as of Dec. 31, 1946

18,212

All types of vehicles in county as of Dec. 31, 1948

20.016

All types of vehicles in county as of Dec. 31, 1949

24,291

Banks:

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

Capital, surplus and

(As of Dec. 31) (As of Dec. 31) (As . Dec. 31) (As of Dec. 31) (As of Dec. 31)

undivided profits

$ 4,565,376.70

$ 4,438,952.30

$ 5,100,663,26

$ 5,874.345.46

$ 5,710,713.77

Deposits

79,418,202.00

77,556,167.22

88.533,063.41

76,269.047.76 71,958,787.10

Total resources

84,249,045.70

82,702.686.31

84,027,818.83

82,143,393.22

78,094,722.55

Industrial Banks:

19-15

1946

1947

1948

1949

Capital, surplus and

(As of Dec. 31) (As of Dec. 31) (As of Dec. 31) (As of Dec. 31) (As of Dec. 31)

undivided profits

$ 644,270.28

$ 666,053.73

$ 689,848.92

$1,199,774.84

$ 746,039.82

Total Resources

2,762,247.71

3,230,289.71

3,258,783.28

3,485,644.98

4,173,239.39

Deposits

2,066,447.32

2,075,591.31

2,266,323.29

2,185,870.20

3,113,231.51

Building and Loan Associations:

Year

No.

Assets

1940

$ 5,044,529.59

1941

6,182.953.83

1942

6,240,622.62

1943

6,308,779.81

1944

7,121,590.23

1945

8,638,783.29

1946

11,504,547.15

1947

15,328,882.93

1948

17,613,813.91

1949

20,986,589.63

Building Permits:

Year

No.

Value

1940

509

$ 1,637,033

1941

576

2,572,180

1942

461

1,451,693

1943

186

456,628

1944

163

· 481,397

1945

264

1,990,478

1946

442

4,355,090

1947

578

5,611,382

1948

777

8,692,840

1949

950

8,654,354

Churches: 116, representing practically all denominations. Durham is noted for its many beautiful church edifices.

City Incorporated: The City of Durham was incorporated by act of the General Assembly, ratified April 10, 1869.

Civic Organizations: Rotary Club. Kiwanis Club, Lions Club. Co- operative Club, Ameri- can Business Club, Civifan Club, Exchange Club, Altrusa Club, Business and Professional Wom- en's Club, Pilot Club, Durham Merchants' Association, Junior Chamber of Commerce, Durham Chamber of Commerce, National Secretaries Association.

Climate: Equable. Annual mean summer temperature, 71.3; winter, 48.3. 63% sunshine days. Annual rainfall, 47.19 inches. Annual snowfall, 10.1 inches. Prevailing westerly winds.

INTRODUCTION

Duke Hospital (for the Public) and Duke Medical School, Situated on the West Campus

Airplane View Showing East Campus, Duke University, and Part of City of Durham

Colleges:

Duke University Enrollment

1940-41

3,715

1945-46

3,596

1941-42

3,193

1946-47 5,121

1942-43

4,000

1947-48

4,890

1943-44

5,011

1948-43

6,882

1949-50

5,211

There is also located in Durham the North Carolina College for Negroes, the only col-

INTRODUCTION

lege of liberal arts for colored people, supported by the State, in North Carolina. Enrollment for 1949-50, 1,231.

Convention Facilities: Six hotels with total of 625 roonis. Maximum capacity of lodging accommodations, 1,374 persons; capacity in excess of ordinary requirements, 700 persons. Assembly halls, capacity, 800; ballroom capacity, 500; twelve committee rooms, auditorium, seating capacity, 1,750; Armory Auditorium, seating capacity 2,500. --.

County: Durham County was created by act of the General Assembly in 1881 from parts of Orange and Wake counties. While Durham is not a large county, it is the center of the famous bright-leaf tobacco belt. Between 40 and 57 million pounds of tobacco are sold each year on the Durham market. Tobacco is the principal money crop, although cotton, corn and truck crops also are important. Dairying has increased rapidly during the past few years. The county has good roads and splendid schools and churches. According to the 1940 U. S. Census there were 1 961 farms in the county, with a total of 186,240 acres.

Education: Durham is recognized as being one of the leading educational centers of :the South. Its colleges and university, its public school system, its schools of music and business schools are rated among the best in the South by leading educators. (See Colleges, also Schools).

Fire Protection: Durham has a well-equipped fire department, with four stations and paid personnel giving Durham first-class insurance rating.

Government: Durham has had the council-manager form of government since May 4, 1921. It is admitted to be one of the best governed cities in the state.

Health: Durham has a well-organized board of health, with 60 employees, charged with the supervision of health conditions in the entire county. It has been remarkably successful in its work. The white resident death rate for 1949 was only 6.6 (colored residents, 8.7) to the 1,000. The death rate for both races was 7.4. The birth rate for white was 23; for colored, 23.4; total, 23.2. Milk, meats, water, markets, dairies, hotels and eating places are carefully . in- spected.

Durham Public Library

ttospitals: Watts Hospital (public, white) is one of the finest hospitals in the South; value. $1.545,620; 250 beds, personnel of 105 physicians and 142 nurses: endowed by Mr. George W Watts and partly supported by contributions from city and county. Lincoln Hospital (public, colored); value, $250,000; 118 beds; personnel of 6 resident and 53 practicing physi- cians, and 13 graduate and 63 student nurses; partly supported by contributions from city and county. McPherson Hospital (private-eye, ear, nose and throat); value, $103,000; 30 beds and personnel of 6 physicians and 14 nurses. Duke Hospital, with 604 beds, representing an investment of more than $3,000,000, is said to be the best-equipped hospital in the world. It was opened on July 21, 1930. During 1932 the Duke Hospital Nurses' Home was completed at a cost of over $300,000. The North Carolina Cerebral Hospital (palsy), with 50 beds, is now in operation. The State has taken over the 3.300-bed Army hospital at Camp Butner, and this is now a mental institution. Early in 1950, work began on the 500-bed U. S. Veterans medical and surgical hospital here. Durham is the chief medical center south of Baltimore.

Hotels: Durham is unusually well provided with hotel facilities. The Washington Duke is one of the finest hotels in the South, having been constructed at a cost of more than $1,750,000. It has 300 bedrooms, all with bath. The Malbourne Hotel-200-room capacity-is a fireproof hotel and newly furnished throughout. Other hotels are the Durham and McArthur, and the Biltmore and Jones hotels for colored people.

Industries: Durham is the second largest industrial center in North Carolina, its out- put of manufactured products being valued at $200,000,000 annually (U. S. Census of Manufac- tures). It has large tobacco industries, manufacturing such well-known brands as Duke's Mixture and Bull Durham smoking tobaccos, and a great many brands of cigarettes, includ- ing the famous Chesterfield and Lucky Strike, and fifteen brands of Turkish cigarettes lt is the home of the Durham Hosiery Mills (manufacturers of Durable Durham Hosiery), Hill- crest Hosiery Mills (manufacturers of ladies' full-fashioned hose), and the Golden Belt Mfg. Co. (manufactuers of cloth bags). There are also manufactured in Durham, Erwin and White Star sheetings and pillow cases: Virginia-Carolina fertilizers; Occoneechee, Peerless and

INTRODUCTION

Climax flours; blank books, corrugated boxes, wooden boxes, castings and iron products, harness and saddles, bread, ice, mattresses, brick building materials, proprietary medicines, furniture, roofing, meat-packing products, machinery, and moth and mildew-proofing formu- lae. Due to proximity to source of raw materials, cheap electric power and its transportation facilities, Durham offers unexcelled opportunities for the location of industries.

Location: Durham is situated in the geographical center of North Carolina, a few miles north of the center of population of the state. Its terrain is slightly rolling and is well drained.

Payrolls: The payrolls of Durham exceed $90,000,000 annually.

Population:

City of Durham

County of Durham

18,041

1900

6,679

1900

26,233

1910

18,241

1910

35,276

1920

21,719

1920

12,219

1930

52,037

1930

67,196

1940

60,195

1940

80,244

1949 est.

72,000

1949 est.

100,000

Post-Office Receipts:

1940

$351,341.15

1945

$612,869.19

1941

409,266.19

1946

640,006.00

1942

420,616.08

1947

584,333.00

1943

556,117.82

1948

661,413.00

1944

671,732.49

1949

751,039.00

Public Utilities: Durham has public utilities furnishing bus service, gas, telephone and electric current service. These facilities compare favorably, both in cost of service and in efficiency, with those in other cities of similar size.

Public Services:

1945

1946

1947

1948

1949

Electric meters

20,651

21,990

24,644

28,157

31,238

Telephones

13,400

16,191

17,394

19,791

22,663

Gas meters

3,780

4,167

4,358

4,406

4,439

Miles of paved streets

104

107

Miles of sidewalks

Miles of water mains

196.5

214

221

228

236.1

Miles of sewers

321

322

324

326.4

Number of water meters

13,571

14,023

14,645

15,549

16,358

Recreation: Community recreation, under supervision of the Playground and Recreation Commission, supported by public taxation. Ten public parks, containing swimming pools, ten- nis courts, etc., 12 city playgrounds, and several large playgrounds maintained by industrial plants for the use of employees. Two 18-hole golf courses; magnificent country club; tennis and gun club; college football, baseball, basketball, track, boxing and wrestling. The schedules of Duke University and the University of North Carolina offer Durham citizens the oppor- tunity of seeing some of the best college teams of the East and South in action. Both these universities have magnificent stadiums, that of the University of North Carolina seating 44,000 with temporary stands, while the stadium of Duke University has a seating capacity of 41,000, and 56,500 with temporary stands.

View of Hope Valley Country Club

Schools: The public school system of Durham is nationally-known for its equipment, high scholastic standards and progressive policies. Croft Secretarial School and Kennedy's Com- mercial School are fully accrediated class 'A" institutions.

City Schools Enrollment

1940-41

11,962

1941-42

11,552

1942-43

11,285

1943-44

10,475

1944-45

10,040

1945-46

10,177

1946-47

9,973

1947-48

9,791

1948-49

10,409

1949-50

10,665

Number of Schools: White, 14; colored, 7. Number of teachers, 390. Value of public school plant, $4,416.755.

Social Agencies: Young Men's Christian Association, Young Women's Christian Asso- ciation, Salvation Army, Red Cross, King's Daughters, Board of Charities and Public Wel- fare. Wright Refuge for Children, Junior League. Council of Social Agencies, Association for the Blind, Family Service Association, and Duke Legal Aid Clinic.

1890

5,485

1890

INTRODUCTION

View of One Eleven Corcoran Street, Constructed at a Cost of $1,000,000, in the Heart of Durham's Business District

DURHAM COUNT

HOUSE

Durham County Court House

INTRODUCTION

Streets: Durham is today one of the best paved cities in the state. The white-way light- ing system in the business district is admitted to be one of the best in the South,

Taxes and Valuation: As of 1949 the city of Durham had an assessed valuation of $115, - 933,587, with a city tax rate of $1.65 on the $100. Property assessed on 75% of true value. The county of Durham had an assessed valuation of $235,000,000 and a county tax rate of 55c in 1949. Property assessed on 75% of true value, No property tax is levied by the State.

Theatres: 5 motion-picture theatres for White, and 2 tor colored, Total seating capacity, 5,225.

Tobacco Market: The tobacco market in Durham sold in the

1948 season, 45,541,102 pounds for $22, 466,317.40;

1947 season, 49,603,108 pounds for $21,329,568.07;

1946 season, 50,937,289 pounds for $23,449,361.07;

1946 season, 41,025.004 podads for $18,243,434.94; 1949 season, 37,023,456 pounds for $17,949,631.94.

Transportation: Durham has five lines of railroad, radiating in seven directions, It has two lines of the Southern Railway, the Seaboard Air Line Railway, the Norfolk & Western Railway, the Durhanı & Southern Railway, and the Norfolk Southern Railroad, These rail- roads afford unusually good freight facilities, Durham is on the National Highway and the Central Highway, the principal routes between the North and South and between the East and West. Excellent ous service is maintained between Durham and Raleigh, Wake Forest, Henderson, Oxford, Roxboro, Greensboro, Chapel Hill, Pittsboro, Siler City and Danville, Va.

Water: Durham has an ample supply of pure water, An impounding reservoir completed in 1926 stores 4,600,000,000 gallons, which, if used for no other purpose, would, at the present rate of consumption, supply the demand for a period of two years, There is no longer any danger of a water shortage. The water is excellent for domestic uses and is soft and free from iron, making it very desirable for industrial purposes,

Duke University Chapel Tower

U. S. POSTAL INFORMATION

POSTAGE RATES AND CLASSIFICATION

For Information regarding classifica- tion, postage rates, and mailability of domestic mail of all classes, entry and mailing of publications as second-class matter, metered and permit mail. bulk rate mailings of third-class matter, Business Reply Cards and Envelopes, apply at your local post office.

DOMESTIC POSTAL RATES First-Class

LETTERS: 3 cents for each ounce or fraction of an ounce. (Local delivery same rate.)

POST CARDS: 1 cent each within prescribed sizes.

BUSINESS REPLY CARDS: 2 cents each ; Air Mail, 5 cents each.

BUSINESS REPLY ENVELOPES: Business reply envelopes 1 cent in ad- dition to regular postage. Apply at Post Office for Permit.

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Hill's Durham (Durham County, N.C.) City Directory [1950], Part 2

Author: Hill Directory Company. Publication date: 1950 Publisher: Hill Directory Co. Number of Pages: 758

Author: Hill Directory Company.
Publication date: 1950
Publisher: Hill Directory Co.
Number of Pages: 758