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Edgemont (Durham, North Carolina)

African-American history in Durham, North CarolinaCompany towns in North CarolinaNeighborhoods in Durham, North CarolinaUse American English from January 2025Use mdy dates from February 2025
Mark at Durham One Apartments
Mark at Durham One Apartments

The Edgemont neighborhood is a community of mill works located in Durham, North Carolina. Previously known as Smoky Hollow, this area developed around the Durham Hosiery Mills in the late 19th century. Durham was a “raw whistle-stop village” along the Great North Carolina Central Rail Road that transformed into one of the largest tobacco cities in the United States. The Durham City Bull became one of the better-known tobacco trademarks with the help of the big players in the industry, W. T. Blackwell and Company and Julian Carr. The success of these tobacco mills started overflowing into other industries, mainly textile mills that produced cloth bags, socks, and other hosieries. As demands rose, communities began growing and changing around the factories. A shift in the racial make up of the workforce was reflected in Edgemont's shift to a more African American dominant community as the years progressed. Julian Carr Jr. was one of the first to allow black workers in factory level jobs to help cope with the high demands. This industrialist's decision to reach over the race barrier is part of what made Durham “the City of the New South.” The Edgemont Neighborhood is just one of many examples of how Durham became one of the more progressive and tolerant locations for African Americans in the country.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Edgemont (Durham, North Carolina) (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Edgemont (Durham, North Carolina)
South Elm Street, Durham

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Geographical coordinates (GPS)

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N 35.988 ° E -78.893 °
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South Elm Street 300
27701 Durham
North Carolina, United States
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Mark at Durham One Apartments
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Hayti, Durham, North Carolina
Hayti, Durham, North Carolina

Hayti (pronounced "HAY-tie"), also called Hayti District, is the historic African-American community that is now part of the city of Durham, North Carolina. It was founded as an independent black community shortly after the American Civil War on the southern edge of Durham by freedmen coming to work in tobacco warehouses and related jobs in the city. By the early decades of the 20th century, African Americans owned and operated more than 200 businesses, which were located along Fayetteville, Pettigrew, and Pine Streets, the boundaries of Hayti. The neighborhood continued to develop during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, through years of racial segregation imposed by white politicians in the state legislature, following the Reconstruction era in the South. With black-owned businesses and services, a library, a hotel, a theatre, and a hospital, the community became self-sufficient. It declined in the late 20th century, due to suburbanization, which drew some residents to newer housing outside the area. A 1958 urban renewal and freeway project took down houses and businesses in 200 acres of the community and split it with a freeway. St. Joseph's African Methodist Episcopal Church (1891) is listed on the National Register of Historic Places; its congregation was founded in 1868. The church has been used since 1975 as a community and cultural center. Hayti's residents have included African Americans who achieved national reputations for their successes.