General Raleigh History

dtraleigh · September 15, 2020, 2:16pm

I’m just getting around to reading this, it’s actually from here:

Some highlights (IMO anyway)

For railroad aficionados, many maps show the development of the area railroad system, such as a 1912 map of the new railroad cutting through Boylan Heights in Raleigh.

Here’s a lower res version of that BH map:

An example of an early subdivision is a 1920 map of Hayes-Barton in Raleigh.

The Register of Deeds office has created a special page where these historic original maps and the other records can be browsed on-line.

Survey of Raleigh Road District. (Showing roads and rail lines in relation to the Capitol.) 1897.

Old Fair Grounds. (Displaying names and price information.) Recorded 1893.

Brooklyn Hill Sub-Division. (Devereux and Peace Streets area.) 1905.

“Idlewild” “The Sewell Grove” Addition to the City of Raleigh. (Oakwood Avenue on the north to New Bern Avenue on the south.) 1906.

South Park. (South Park subdivision, Raleigh, showing existing structures.) 1906.

dtraleigh · September 26, 2020, 6:51pm

Spent some time with the maps I shared above and I’ve always wanted to know where the original quarry site is exactly, the one used to build the capital. I cannot figure it out from the old maps. Maybe we can crowd source it? Anyone have any ideas?

High res

Christopher · September 26, 2020, 7:14pm

I’m not very familiar with the history of this quarry but from a quick map search it looks like this area:

OakCityWildcat · October 3, 2020, 1:36pm

Based on this map, the “rock quarry” is located across from the National Cemetery where Hunter Elementary School is today. A second “quarry” is shown between Quarry St. and Coleman St.
Looking at the 1865 map of Raleigh’s Civil War fortifications shows a quarry in the same area. If you line up the 1865 map to today’s streets, the quarry is located between Davie St. and Lenoir St., the same location as Hunter Elementary School.

On the topic of Raleigh’s Civil War fortifications, y’all should checkout this blog for more information and to see the research this guy is working on to determine if any of the fortifications still exist.

dtraleigh · October 3, 2020, 1:42pm

Fantastic! Thank you so much for sharing!

OakCityWildcat · October 3, 2020, 2:02pm

Sure thing! Local history is my passion, so this was a fun exercise for me.

John · October 8, 2020, 5:11pm

Here are some map shots from the mid 70s. Clearly this map was also a marketing tool for North Hills Realty Company. FWIW, that penned phone number on the map is no longer in use by my family!

I think that the red lines on the map itself was someone’s attempt to map my dad’s commute from North Ridge to IBM on Yonkers Road.

ADUsSomeday · October 8, 2020, 6:42pm

Tower Shopping Center gets a shout out. That is fun

John · October 8, 2020, 6:55pm

Interesting article from the 80s about transferred IBM employees from South Florida to the Triangle.

Christopher · October 24, 2020, 12:28am

The old Broughton house on White Oak Road is being dismantled:

https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article246608943.html#storylink=mainstage_card6

(subscriber-only story, so I don’t have any more details than that)

pBeez · October 24, 2020, 1:13pm

Some how I got in yesterday before it went behind the pay wall. The house is being torn down so the 3 acres can be subdivided for 4 new lots/houses. It is on White Oak Rd. Currently they are letting folks come in and salvage elements: doors, windows, marble flooring, etc.

John · October 24, 2020, 2:29pm

I do have a subscription to N&O and can give some info.
The house was bought by Anup Mittal of Cary, who is founder and CEO of MJM Group. He and his wife live in Cary. It appears that Mr. Mittal has been in the Triangle for at least a couple of decades. The house is set to be raised later this month or next month.
The salvaging of items is not a free for all. You have to bid on items that you’d like to remove and it’s being handled by a antique’s expert named Barbara Dillard by appointment only…though the article didn’t say how to make an appointment. This whole “bid” thing is curious to me because it’s not sounding like an auction or anything. I suppose that you go in and say something like “I’d like that, and I’m willing to give you XX dollars for it, and I’ll remove it and haul it away”.
The 4 new lots will be about 3/4 acre each and will range in price from $900K to $1.1M.

MissDerz · January 11, 2021, 3:15pm

A sad day for the preservation of Black History in Raleigh, The Weaver House at 1203 E. Lane St, former home of David and Ernestine Weaver ca. 1922 in Idlewild, has officially been demolished.

David Weaver was the manager of the Masonic Temple that served as a dance hall (beer garden, social club, etc.) and was the local booking agent for Gale Agency out of NY. His efforts brought major Jazz artists like Duke Ellington and Count Basie to perform in Raleigh in the 30s and 40s.

Weaver Before

Over the last couple of decades, attempts have been made to preserve this Historic Landmark, but in 2017 a high-speed chase ended up in a fiery crash, destroying half of the home and making it impossible, or at least extremely costly, to restore.

Fortunately, The Delany House, across the street at 1204 E. Lane St. the former home of Dr. Lemuel Delany, has been met with a better fate.

Delany Before

The Delany House, closely linked to the Weaver House, served as a sort of Bed and Breakfast for the jazz performers at the Masonic Dance Hall. Remember- this was a time of segregation and people of color could not stay in the local hotels.

Dr. Delany (a graduate of St. Augustine, Shaw, and University of Pennsylvania), worked at St. Agnes Hospital, the only African American Hospital between Atlanta and D.C. for decades. Even more interestingly- he was such a renowned surgeon that he was often snuck into the back door of Rex Hospital to operate on the ‘white patrons’.

Here is the latest image of the restoration happening at the Delany House. Currently under construction, they are doing a great job of keeping original elements of the windows, woodworking, etc. Very excited to see the final product! I hope both sites find a way to remind people of its interesting past.

Christopher · January 22, 2021, 2:34pm

Continuing on the subject of local Black history, WRAL published an article this week about the 13 freedman’s villages founded around Raleigh after the Civil War. Only two—Oberlin and Masonville (now Method)—remain, while traces of the remaining 11 are hard to find.

evan.j.bost · January 22, 2021, 4:37pm

Wow, thank you for that history lesson. Amazing.

pBeez · March 25, 2021, 3:16pm

Over on another thread @scotchman and @HardeesBiscuit brought up when Wake Forrest was in Wake Forest and the extra intensity of ACC basketball if WFU was still in WF proper. I wanted to point out that for a long while it was baseball that ruled the college sports scene.

North Carolina long had the wired quirk of being just about the only state where Easter Monday and not Good Friday was the holiday. Apparently this goes back to the tradition of State and Wake playing a double-header that day, and the legislatures wanted to be able to go to the game, so they made it a holiday so they wouldn’t have to work!

paytonc · April 11, 2021, 3:31pm

The rock quarry definitely was the site that’s now Hunter Elementary. As a kid, I loved tumbling down the 20’ tall slope between the school and the track.

OakCityDylan · April 12, 2021, 2:26am

This is kind of fun. Some of these we’ve discussed in the forum but some are new to me.

John · April 12, 2021, 2:37am

I read that earlier today. I agree.

HardeesBiscuit · April 18, 2021, 3:03pm

So here’s something I didn’t know before today. There used to be a legit zoo at Pullen Park. This person from WRAL gives a video tour of remnants you can still find there.