Roanoke Rapids Historic District

Last updated
Roanoke Rapids Historic District
ROANOKE RAPIDS HISTORIC DISTRICT, HALIFAX COUNTY, NC.jpg
Turtleback House
USA North Carolina location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationRoughly bounded by Roanoke R.; Charlotte, Marshall, and Jefferson Sts.; CSX RR; and W. Thirteenth, Rapids, and Henry Sts, Roanoke, North Carolina
Coordinates 36°27′38″N77°39′23″W / 36.46056°N 77.65639°W / 36.46056; -77.65639 Coordinates: 36°27′38″N77°39′23″W / 36.46056°N 77.65639°W / 36.46056; -77.65639
Area0 acres (0 ha)
ArchitectAladdin Company; Upjohn, Hobart, et al.
Architectural styleQueen Anne, Bungalow/craftsman, Colonial Revival
NRHP reference No. 98001574 [1]
Added to NRHPApril 27, 1999

Roanoke Rapids Historic District is a national historic district located at Roanoke Rapids, Halifax County, North Carolina. It encompasses 1,130 contributing buildings, 5 contributing sites, 27 contributing structures, and 1 contributing structure in the central business district and surrounding residential sections of the town of Roanoke Rapids. The district includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Bungalow / American Craftsman style architecture. Located in the district is the separately listed Roanoke Rapids High School. Other notable buildings include workers houses in four local mill villages, Driscoll-Piland-Webb House (c. 1897), Dickens-Webb House (1906-1907), Samuel F. Patterson (1914-1915), Council-Coburn House (1925-1927), First Presbyterian Church (1915), All Saints Episcopal Church designed by Hobart Upjohn (1917), (former) First Baptist Church (1928-1929), (former) Nurses Home and School (1930-1931), Clara Hearne Elementary School (1933-1935), (former) North Carolina National Guard Armory (1940-1941), (former) United States Post Office (1937-1938), Rosemary Drug Co. Building (1915-1916), Shelton Hotel (c. 1915), First National Bank Building (1914-1915), J. C. Penney and Co. Building (1938-1942), McCrory Co. Building (1940), Imperial Theatre Building (1919, 1931), (former) Seaboard Air Line Passenger Station (1917), Rosemary Manufacturing Company complex, Patterson Mills Co. (1910), and Roanoke Mills Co. Plant No. 2. (1916-1917). [2]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999. [1]

Carolina Trailways Bus Station

Roanoke Rapids bus terminal, erected in 1941 at 1114 Roanoke Ave, is shown with a Carolina Trailways bus, in a postcard from the North Carolina State Archives.
36deg27'14''N 77deg39'29''W / 36.453904degN 77.658158degW / 36.453904; -77.658158 Bus Statlion, Roanoke Rapids (14547503797).jpg
Roanoke Rapids bus terminal, erected in 1941 at 1114 Roanoke Ave, is shown with a Carolina Trailways bus, in a postcard from the North Carolina State Archives. 36°27′14″N77°39′29″W / 36.453904°N 77.658158°W / 36.453904; -77.658158

The former Carolina Trailways Bus Terminal, located at 1114 Roanoke Avenue, was the site of the event that lead to the United States Supreme Court case of Keys v. Carolina Coach Co. .

Shortly after midnight on August 1, 1952, when the Carolina Trailways bus she was riding on pulled in, an African American woman, Sarah Keys, was forced to give up her seat and move to the so-called "colored section" in the back of the bus. Keys refused and was arrested, charged, jailed overnight in Roanoke Rapids, and fined $25 for disorderly conduct. [4] Keys v. Carolina Coach made legal history both at the time of its issuance in 1955, and again in 1961, when Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy invoked it in his successful battle to end Jim Crow travel during the Freedom Riders' campaign. [5]

The Streamline Moderne-style building was constructed in 1941 and operated as a bus station until the 1970s. It was listed in 1998 as Contributing Property 965 in the creation of the surrounding historic district. [3]

Related Research Articles

Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina City in North Carolina, United States

Roanoke Rapids is a city in Halifax County, North Carolina, United States. The population was 15,754 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Roanoke Rapids Micropolitan Statistical Area, and is also an anchor city of the Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids CSA, with a total population of 297,726 as of 2018.

Trailways Transportation System Transportation brand

The Trailways Transportation System is a US-based network of approximately 70 independent bus companies that have entered into a brand licensing agreement. The company is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.

Roanoke Rapids High School Public school in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina, United States

Roanoke Rapids High School is a public high school in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina.

Edenton Historic District United States historic place

Edenton Historic District is a national historic district located at Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 342 contributing buildings, 4 contributing sites, and 3 contributing structures. It includes several buildings that are individually listed on the National Register. The Lane House, possibly the oldest surviving house in North Carolina, is owned by Steve and Linda Lane and is located within the district. Also located in the district are the Dixon-Powell House, William Leary House, and Louis Ziegler House designed by architect George Franklin Barber.

<i>Keys v. Carolina Coach Co.</i>

Sarah Keys v. Carolina Coach Company, 64 MCC 769 (1955) is a landmark civil rights case in the United States in which the Interstate Commerce Commission, in response to a bus segregation complaint filed in 1953 by a Women's Army Corps (WAC) private named Sarah Louise Keys, broke with its historic adherence to the Plessy v. Ferguson separate but equal doctrine and interpreted the non-discrimination language of the Interstate Commerce Act as banning the segregation of black passengers in buses traveling across state lines.

The Tennessee Coach Company (TCC) was a regional highway-coach carrier, founded in 1928 and based in Knoxville, Tennessee, USA. It was in operation until 1976, when it became merged into the Continental Tennessee Lines, a subsidiary of the Transcontinental Bus System, called also the Continental Trailways. Continental Trailways was by far the largest member company in the Trailways trade association, which was then named the National Trailways Bus System.

Greyhound Bus Depot (Columbia, South Carolina) United States historic place

The Greyhound Bus Depot is a former Greyhound Lines intercity bus station in Columbia, South Carolina. It is at 1200 Blanding Street in downtown Columbia. The depot was named to the National Register of Historic Places on December 28, 1989. After the bus terminal was closed, the building became a bank. Currently, it is a physician's office.

Hobart Brown Upjohn (1876–1949) was an American architect, best known for designing a number of ecclesiastical and educational structures in New York and in North Carolina. He also designed a number of significant private homes. His firm produced a total of about 150 projects, a third of which were in North Carolina.

Wheeling Warehouse Historic District United States historic place

Wheeling Warehouse Historic District is a national historic district located at Wheeling, Ohio County, West Virginia. The district includes 20 contributing buildings and 11 contributing structures. They are warehouses and commercial style buildings and structures between Main Street and the Ohio River. All of the buildings date to the late-19th and early-20th century. The warehouses are mostly two- and three-story masonry buildings. The two-story commercial buildings have storefronts on the first floor and residential units above. Notable buildings and structures include the Pump Store (1933), Wheeling Stamping Plant (1932), Allied Plate Glass, Warwick China, Boury Warehouse, Ott-Heiskell Company, Edward Wagner Wholesale Grocers building (1915), the Moderne style former Greyhound Bus Station, and Main Street Bridge (1891).

Roanoke Park Historic District (Raleigh, North Carolina) United States historic place

The Roanoke Park Historic District a national historic district located at Raleigh, North Carolina. It is one of the city's historic Five Points neighborhoods and encompasses 446 contributing buildings and 1 contributing site. It is situated southeast of the Five Points intersection of Glenwood Avenue and Fairview and Whitaker Mill Roads. Roanoke Park is composed of six separate plats, filed from 1913 to 1926, and is roughly shaped like a diamond.

Halifax Historic District United States historic place

Halifax Historic District is a national historic district located at Halifax, Halifax County, North Carolina, US that was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970 with an increase in 2011. It includes several buildings that are individually listed on the National Register. Halifax was the site of the signing of the Halifax Resolves on April 12, 1776, a set of resolutions of the North Carolina Provincial Congress which led to the United States Declaration of Independence gaining the support of North Carolina's delegates to the Second Continental Congress in that year.

Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids CSA CSA in North Carolina, United States

The Rocky Mount-Wilson-Roanoke Rapids Combined Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of five counties in northeastern North Carolina. As of the 2010 census, the CSA had a population of 310,416, with an estimated population of 297,726 in 2018. The statistical area includes the Rocky Mount Metropolitan Statistical Area, Wilson Micropolitan Statistical Area, and Roanoke Rapids Micropolitan Statistical Area, and the counties of Nash, Wilson, Edgecombe, Halifax, Northampton.

Edenton Cotton Mill Historic District United States historic place

Edenton Cotton Mill Historic District is a national historic district located at Edenton, Chowan County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 70 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, 2 contributing structures, and 1 contributing object in a small mill village. It includes industrial and residential buildings developed between 1899 and 1923. Residential buildings are primarily simple one-story, single-pile, frame dwellings and some examples of the Bungalow / American Craftsman style. Notable non-residential buildings include the Italianate Revival style Edenton Cotton Mill (1899-1916), Edenton Cotton Mill Office, and First Christian Church (1916).

Weldon Historic District United States historic place

Weldon Historic District is a national historic district located at Weldon, Halifax County, North Carolina. It encompasses 256 contributing buildings, 2 contributing structures, and 9 contributing structures in the central business district and surrounding residential sections of the town of Weldon. The district includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, and Bungalow / American Craftsman style architecture. The district overlaps the Roanoke Canal Historic District. Notable buildings include the Larkin-Hart House, Ashley L. Stainback House c. (1879), Smith-Dickens House (1901-1902), DeLeon F. Green House (1934) designed by William Lawrence Bottomley, Emry-Zollicoffer Building (1877), Bank of Weldon Building, George C. Green Building/Bank of Halifax Building (1915), Weldon Grocery Company Building (1913), (former) Weldon Town Hall (1893), United States Post Office (1938), Weldon Freight Depot, Coca-Cola Bottling Company (1925), and Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Embankment and Viaduct.

Williamston Commercial Historic District United States historic place

Williamston Commercial Historic District is a national historic district located at Williamston, Martin County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 31 contributing buildings in the central business district of Williamston. They include notable examples of Greek Revival, Colonial Revival, and Romanesque architecture in buildings dated from the mid-19th century through the 1920s. Located in the district is the separately listed Martin County Courthouse. Other notable buildings include the Docton W. Bagley Building, (former) People's Bank (1917), Watts Theatre, the Tar Heel Apartments (1921), the Flatiron Building, and the United States Post Office (1938). The post office contains a mural, First Flight of the Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk, by Philip von Saltza, painted in 1940 as part of the Works Project Administration's mural project.

Northside Historic District (Elizabeth City, North Carolina) United States historic place

Northside Historic District is a national historic district located at Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 398 contributing buildings in a predominantly residential section of Elizabeth City. The district developed from the mid-19th to mid-20th century, and includes representative examples of Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Bungalow / American Craftsman, and Classical Revival style architecture. Notable contributing buildings include the John S. Burgess House, Scott-Culpepper House, Luther C. Lassiter House (1908-1913), William F. Williams House (1908-1914), Miles Pritchard House, Mack N. Sawyer House (1895), the Godfrey-Foreman House, Dr. Walter W. Sawyer House (1915), City Road United Methodist Church (1900-1902), Blackwell Memorial Baptist Church (1902), former Elizabeth City High School (1923), and S. L. Sheep School (1940).

Elizabeth City Historic District United States historic place

Elizabeth City Historic District is a national historic district located at Elizabeth City, Pasquotank County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 592 contributing buildings, 1 contributing site, 1 contributing structure, and 1 contributing object in the central business district and surrounds residential sections of Elizabeth City. The district developed after 1789, and includes representative examples of Greek Revival, Federal, and Late Victorian style architecture. Notable contributing buildings include the Grice-Fearing House (1789-1808), Shirley Armstrong House, Goodman-Matthews-Pool House, Dr. William Martin House, Pool-Kennedy-Lumsden House, Charles-Hussey House, Richardson-Pool House, North Carolina Building (1859), Cobb Building, the former First Methodist Church, Christ Episcopal Church (1857), J. W. Dent House, Dr. Butt's Drug Store, the McMullen Building, the Lowrey Building, former Citizens Bank, Robinson Building (1903), Kramer Building (1909), Selig Building (1925), the Virginia Dare Hotel and Arcade (1927), First Baptist Church (1889), United States Post Office and Courthouse, and Pasquotank County Courthouse (1882).

Lumberton Commercial Historic District United States historic place

Lumberton Commercial Historic District is a national historic district located at Lumberton, Robeson County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 64 contributing buildings and 1 contributing site in the central business district of Lumberton. It includes buildings built between about 1840 to 1941 in a variety of popular architectural styles including Classical Revival and Streamline Moderne. Located in the district are the separately listed Carolina Theatre and Planters Building. Other notable buildings include the Proctor Law Office, McLeod Building (1879), (former) National Hotel, (former) Efird's Department Store, Huggins Star Shoe Shop, National Bank of Lumberton (1914), Dresden Cotton Mills Office Building, (former) Lumberton Municipal Building (1917), and Stephens Funeral Home (1936).

Wilson Central Business–Tobacco Warehouse Historic District United States historic place

The Wilson Central Business–Tobacco Warehouse District is a national historic district located at Wilson, Wilson County, North Carolina. It encompasses 152 contributing buildings, 20 contributing sites, and 2 contributing structures in the central business district of Wilson. The district includes notable examples of Late Victorian and Art Deco style architecture. Located in the district are the separately listed Branch Banking Building, Cherry Hotel, and Wilson County Courthouse. Other notable buildings include the Woodard-Watson Warehouse, Planter's Warehouse, Passenger Station and Freight Depot (1924), Jackson Chapel First Baptist Church (1913), St. John's African Methodist Episcopal Church (1915), Imperial Tobacco Company, Winstead-Hardy Building, Rountree Building (1870s), Planter's Bank Building (1920), United States Post Office and Courthouse (1927), Charles L. Coon High School (1922), First National Bank of Wilson Building (1927), Wilson Theatre (1922), Odd Fellows Lodge (1896), and the Works Projects Administration financed Wilson Municipal Building (1938).

Petersburg Trailways Bus Station United States historic place

The Petersburg Trailways Bus Station is a historic transportation terminal building at 108 East Washington Street in Petersburg, Virginia. Built by the Trailways bus system in 1946, this example of Moderne architecture is one of the state's best surviving examples of a little-altered mid-20th century bus terminal. It is a roughly T-shaped masonry building with curved corners, and a recessed entry under a canopy labelled "Trailways Bus". The interior has relatively little alteration, limited to the removal of the fixtures related to a whites-only dining counter in one area of the building.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. Thomas R. Butchko (May 1998). "Roanoke Rapids Historic District" (pdf). National Register of Historic Places - Nomination and Inventory. North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Retrieved 2015-01-01.
  3. 1 2 Thomas R Butchko, Consulting Architectural Historian (22 May 1998). National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Roanoke Rapids Historic District (PDF). pp. 212–213. Retrieved 6 April 2018. One-story concrete-block building with streamlined Art Moderne character, chief among which is channelled cornice as it curves around corners and on metal awning on facade, and sophisticated spacing of brick courses on facade to effect a denser lower wall; bus terminal had angled parking areas for buses on north (left) with large paved area; operated until 1970s; now used for storage.
  4. Barnes, Journey from Jim Crow, p. 87, citing ICC ruling in Keys v. Carolina Coach, 64 MCC 769 (1955)
  5. Petition for Rule Making to the ICC, Attorney General of the US, May 29, 1961