I'm in Love

This post is not directly related to 308westmain but certainly has a connection......

Today I felt even more a part of the community. Scott and the folks at center studio architecture invited me to be their guest at the Downtown Durham Inc. Annual Meeting. The meeting was hosted at the new Durham Performing Arts Center, making this the third day in a row that I visited (dinner with Wayne before B. B. King on Sunday - Ashley, Chris and I went to the grand opening on Monday - then this afternoon).

I'm back from that brief commercial break.

Anyhow, the meeting was very informative and renewed my interest in Downtown Durham. I learned:

• residents of downtown have grown from 180 in 1996 to 1470 in 2008. Nearly a tenfold increase in 12 years
• # downtown employees has grown from 5,851 in '96 to 13,500 today
• office occupancy rates remain in the high 80 percentile (88% this year)
• resulting from downtown's renaissance, properties increased in value an average of 135%, compared to the county average of 30% (results of 2007 reevaluation)
• folks are committed to keeping the downtown SAFE, DIVERSE and full of the arts
  

Downtown Durham: Find Your Cool (new slogan)

Most importantly, my connection to the community was deepened because of the people I met and hung out with. Thanks to:

• David Downie for his continued friendship and dedication to construction
• The folks at DDI for their vision of Downtown Durham
• Joni Madison, the outgoing DDI chair and COO of McKinney, for a moving salutation
• Congratulations to Kelli and Billy of Toast for winning this year's "Outstanding Retail Entrepreneur" award
  
• Cheers to my new friends and neighbors; Lindsay, Rachel and Nicole
  
• And finally, a BIG THANKS to Scott, David, Will, Tom, Chris and Dawn for inviting me and putting up with the noises that come from above their studio

A Building Birth Story.......Part II

In the first part of the story, Durham's Main Street grew west with my building being built circa 1907. Druggists, working for R. Blacknall, moved to my building and opened their own drug store, sharing space with a physician and an art shop. The westward movement continues......

1911
King, C. E. & Sons are the only business listed at 224 West Main (my buildings address in the early years)

The King brothers, Charles E., Charles H., and Harris L., are still living at 505 Duke Street and listed as druggists. Blacknalls Drug Store is still at 130 West Main (corner of Corcoran and Main) along with Five Points Drug Co. at the corner of Main & Chapel Hill, Main Street Pharmacy at 202 West Main and Rexall Pharmacy on the corner of Corcoran and Main. There are 16 Drug Stores listed in the Directory. Clearly this was a booming business, and perhaps one heading for consolidation.

Furniture also seems to be going through some considation because Herring & Elliott Furniture is now listed at 126 West Main. The Elliott name has moved onto the marque. It's still not tied to my building, I'm using him as the character to drive interest........

1915
My building is still labeled as 224 West Main on the Sanborn maps and Herring & Elliott Furniture Co. is listed in Directory as the tenants. H. H. Herring and B. W. Elliott are listed after the building name, maybe meaning they are co-owners. Benjamin W. Elliott lives at 905 Yancey so he's moved out of living where he works. H. H. Herring is listed as a resident of Spartanburg, SC.

Why B. W. Elliott is interesting to me is he is the great-great grandfather of Kristy, my friend and hair stylist. I've known Kristy for 17 years and even dated her for a time. She remains one of my favorite persons on this planet. Having a connection to her past gives me great pleasure.

C. E. King and Sons are listed at West Main corner Market. I'm not sure which corner, but I suspect what is now known as the Temple Building. Charles H. and Harris L. are still listed as proprietors.

1919
Now my building takes on its current address of 308 West Main. Elliott Furniture Co. (not Herring and Elliott) is listed as the tenant. B. W. is noted as sec-tres, with H. H. being the president.

Benjamin W. moved his home to 114 E. Geer.

1923
Elliott Furniture Co. has moved to 416 West Main. H. H. and B. W. are still proprietors.

Benjamin C. Woodall Sporting Goods moved into 308 West Main.

The building is 15 years old and Durham is growing. The building was home to 3 shops; druggists, furniture and sporting goods. Not an exact parallel to my life but oh well. I've got enough information now to decide how to brand the building.

A Revised Building's Birth Story

Today the Durham Performing Arts Center opens with a show by B. B. King. The weather is "cold and rainy"; hopefully it won't dampen the mood of the evening (I crack myself up).

Tom (the architect) discovered from the Sanborn Maps that my building wasn't always addressed as 308 West Main. In its first 10ish years, the block west of Corcoran was the 200 block, with my building being at 224 West Main. So, here's the Directory search information for 224 West Main, including my cross-references of the business/persons names......

Summary:
From the Directory it appears my building was built pre-1907 and post-1905. The druggists who were employed at R. Blacknall & Sons on on Corcoran and Main in 1905 moved a block west and started their own pharmacy in my building pre-1907. They gave the business their family name. In 1907, the building also contained a physician, an art shop and a person of unknown profession. I've got later years information that I'll save for another post.

Now here's the detail for those freaks like me:

1903
224 West Main was not listed. Nor was "B W Elliott or Herring". (stay with me on the names, they start to make sense in the coming years)

Searching on King I found:
King, Charles E (Haywood and King), home 505 Duke
King, Charles H, drug clk R Blacknall and Son, home 503 Duke
King, Harris L, druk clk R Blacknall and Son, home 503 Duke

Searching on Blacknall I found:
R. Blacknall and Son, Druggists, northeast corner of Main and Corcoran Sts.
I even found some ads so maybe this was a big, important business in town. It was certainly on a prominent corner of the community, what is now a vacant lot.

1905
224 West Main was not listed.

Searching on Elliott I found:
Elliott, Benjamin W, mngr Herring Furniture Co. home 126 West Main

Searching on Herring I found:
Herring Furniture Co, 126 w Main, B W Elliott mngr - phone 473 (so BW lived where he worked?)
I also found this list of salesmen, including some with the "colr" notation. This denotes "colored" which at times had a seperate listing in the Directories.
Cannon, Joseph P (colr); Case, L Baseom; Robinson, W Prince; Thompson, Wade W (colr); Walsh, William E (colr)
I don't know when integrated workforces began in the south, but it seems Herring Furniture Co had one.

1907
Searching on 224 West Main reveals:
Durham Art Shop (Owen Z Wren, William S Marten)
Felts, Robert L. physician home 409 n Mangum
King, C E and Sons (Charles E., Charles H., and Harris ), druggists - phone 106
Woodard, Charles A

So, the building dates 1907 and its first collection of merchants were physicians, druggists and an art shop.

Searching on Elliott reveals:
Elliott, Benjamin W, mngr Herring Furniture Co., home 126 W Main (so he still lived where he worked)

Searching on Herring reveals:
Herring Furniture Co., 126 W Main and East Durham, B W Elliott mngr

Searching on King reveals:
King, C E and Sons (Charles E., Charles H., and Harris L.) druggists 224 W Main - phone 106

Herring and Elliott become part of my buildings history in later years. I'll write more about them in the future, as well as cross-reference the above with the Title search Lynn ran. Gotta run now so I can meet Wayne before he heads off to the show.....