[Durham INC] Fwd: Golden Belt Update
Susan Sewell
mssewell2009 at gmail.com
Tue Aug 23 22:14:22 EDT 2016
Here is the information I mentioned at tonight's meeting. It should provide
some good points for emails to City Council in support of Goldenbelt
Neighborhood's request for a full boundary for their historic district.
Mill history is such an important part of Durham History.
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From: Preservation Durham <info at preservationdurham.org>
Date: Fri, Aug 19, 2016 at 10:29 AM
Subject: Golden Belt Update
Preservation For All.
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* Golden Belt Update*
*Golden Belt Local Historic District: Why It Matters*
Please join us on *September 6th*, beginning at *7:00PM*, for the City
Council meeting to discuss whether the Golden Belt neighborhood should
become a local historic district, with connectivity across Alston Avenue,
to ensure the fabric of the neighborhood remains intact.
*Where: **Durham City Council Chambers*, 101 City Hall Plaza, Durham, NC
27701
*Email:* City Council (if you cannot make it): council at durhamnc.gov with
your thoughts and opinions.
On a personal note, I live on East Main Street, just down the road from the
proposed district, and a few blocks away from the Durham Rescue Mission.
The need to keep intact a working class mill village that has been
revitalized through the efforts of artists and others, many of whom are
members of the LGBTQ community or people of color, should be held closely
in the balance with the personal interests of a family-run non-profit.
Below are some thoughts from Rob Emerson, our Board President, and Tom
Miller, a longtime PD member and Planning Commission member.
1) *The Golden Belt district is the last in-tact mill and mill
village complex in Durham. All the others are gone. * Durham has deep
industrial roots and the preservation of that architectural heritage is
what gives Durham its unique character. Using the local district mechanism
in the UDO to protect Golden Belt is not only an appropriate use of the
preservation tool, it is an act of municipal self-respect. Our historic
neighborhoods are a string of pearls that reach across the city and are a
source of pride.
2) Unlike the grander homes in other Durham local districts -
along Club, in Morehead Hill, and near east campus, Golden Belt is a mill
village. The homes there were built as factory housing for thousands of
low-wage mill employees. These were the people of Durham from the late
nineteenth century through the end of the 20th century. Their stories are
fascinating and powerful. Their houses are simple and modest. They
provide the architectural narrative of the broad base of ordinary Durham
citizens for 100 years. Golden Belt was among the first Durham
neighborhoods to integrate racially in the 1970s. That desegregation in
housing is part of the neighborhood's living and continuing legacy to all
of us. The local district rules will keep the houses in the neighborhood
relatively small in scale. And, if the real estate market in the area
should heat up, the rules will discourage the demolition of the district's
smaller homes in favor of larger houses more profitable in the market.
3) Approving the Golden Belt local district would be a strong
symbol that East Durham is no longer the city's red-haired stepchild - that
the aspirations of the people who live in East Durham are no less worthy
than Durham citizens in other parts of town.
4) *The petition to create the Golden Belt district is from the
people who live in the neighborhood. This all by itself is significant. *
Our modern zoning ordinance is complex. It is structured in such a way
that the expectation is that developers or the city itself will always be
the moving party and that the role of ordinary homeowners is to respond,
never to initiate. The one exception to this is the citizen petition for a
local historic district. *So when citizens band together and, after
jumping through all the hoops and putting up with all the delays, ask for
this type of action, their request deserves special deference by the city
council. * The reasons for voting against this rare citizen-initiated
zoning action had better be really compelling. In this case, certainly,
the compelling reasons for acting argue for, not against, the creation of
the district.
5) The Rescue Mission is part of the community it serves. This
case is a test of the commitment to service. The standards of the local
district would not prevent the Rescue Mission from using the historic
structures it owns or from developing the vacant properties it owns in a
way consistent with its mission. By way of example, in September last
year, the Durham Historic Preservation Commission approved a sizable
entirely new apartment complex on vacant land in the Morehead Hill
district. The district standards shaped the design of the project, but did
not prevent it. Since then, we have adopted new preservation standards
which now specifically contemplate modifications to non-contributing
buildings and new construction on vacant lots. These standards, unlike the
earlier ones, are considerably more flexible and are based upon Durham's
accumulated experience in managing its historic districts. The proposed
Golden Belt district will not seriously impede the Rescue Mission.
Embracing the local district will serve to ensure that the Rescue Mission
and the neighborhood can move forward together as good neighbors.
Finally, a parting story from Tom Miller, as part of a historic plaque
recently done in Golden Belt...
1008 Franklin Street (Open Durham)
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*A Golden Belt Story*
*Although many Golden Belt employees called 1008 Franklin home during its
time as company property, two families stand out - the Wallaces and the
Pollards. From the mid-1920s until 1937, the principal tenants of the
house were Joseph Preston Wallace, his wife, Bettie, and their family. The
1930 U. S. Census provides a snapshot of what life in a large mill house
was like. Eleven people lived at 1008. The head of the household was
Joseph. He was 53 years old and worked as an elevator operator at the
Golden Belt factory. Joseph's wife was Bettie Moore Wallace. She was 55
years old and had no employment outside the home. Like their father,
several of the Wallace children worked in the mill. Benton, 25 years old
in 1930, was a "speeder." A speeder is someone who operates a machine that
introduces twist into cotton yarn. The Wallaces' daughter Goldie was
twenty-three and worked in the mill as a spinner. Listed next is son
Gilbert. At 19, he was a hauler. A hauler is an unskilled worker who does
heavy work as needed. Often this meant moving loads of equipment like
spools and bobbins. In 1930, the Wallaces' youngest child was Robert. At
15, he was in school and did not work at the mill. The Wallaces'
son-in-law, George Beddingfield, also lived at 1008. He was 44. By 1930,
his wife, an unnamed Wallace daughter, had died and left him the single
parent of the Wallaces' six year-old grandson, Preston. George
Beddingfield did not work at the mill. Instead, he was a carpenter working
in "house construction" - a business soon to dry up in the worsening Great
Depression. The Wallaces also took in lodgers. One was William
Patterson. He worked as a weaver at the mill. Rounding out the extended
household were a young married couple, Charles and Minnie Smith. Minnie
worked as a spinner at the mill, but Charles had a job as a gas station
attendant.*
* According to the census, neither Joseph nor Bettie Wallace
could read or write. When he registered for the draft in 1913, Joseph was
compelled to sign the form with an "X." But all of the Wallace children
were literate. They were the beneficiaries of the significant leap made in
public education (at least for white people) in the 1910s and 20s.*
* One can only imagine what life in the house was like. It
was probably not divided into two units. There was one kitchen and one
bath. There could have been little privacy and with the mill operating
three shifts, there was much coming and going. Sleeping arrangements must
have been complicated. The small wages of eight workers combined to pay
the rent and the bills. Presumably, Betty Wallace did the cooking and
cleaning for everyone.*
* The Wallace family moved from 1008 to 1101 Franklin Street
in 1937. Their son Benton lived across the street at 1102. Soon after the
move, Joseph Wallace died. According to his death certificate, Joseph
Wallace died on March 5, 1937. He was only 60. The cause of death is
recorded as a cerebral hemorrhage - a stroke. Joseph is buried in the
Barber Chapel cemetery in Johnson County. *
* The Robert Lee Pollard family followed the Wallaces at
1008 Franklin Street. The Pollards occupied the house from 1938 until the
early 1950s. From the information recorded in the 1940 U. S. Census, it
appears that life at the house while the Pollards lived there was little
changed from Wallaces' time. Robert Lee Pollard was 59 in 1940. He worked
as a carpenter at Golden Belt. His wife, Mary, was 48. She did not work
outside the home. The Pollards' sons David (18) and Robert M. (11) were
students. The census also records four lodgers at 1008. Two single men,
both in their 50s, are listed, but unfortunately, their names on the census
sheet are illegible. One was a section hand and the other was a spinner at
the mill. The third lodger was Walter Winston. He was 24 years old and
was employed at Golden Belt as a knitter. His wife, Essie, was 22 years
old. She worked at the mill as a mender. Although the census taker did
not record it, Essie was the Pollards' daughter.*
* According to his death certificate, Robert Lee Pollard was
born on September 3, 1880 and died on October 19, 1962. Before coming to
Durham, he lived in Wake, Johnson, and Harnett counties. Census records
indicate that he left school after the fifth grade and that he held various
factory jobs. His marriage license indicates that he married Mary Helen
Stokes in 1914. He was thirty-four and she was twenty-one years old. His
World War I draft registration card indicates that he was of medium height
and slender build. His eyes were blue and his hair was dark. While he
lived on Franklin Street, Robert rose through the ranks at the mill to
become a foreman before retiring. According to his obituary in the October
21, 1962 edition of the Durham Morning Herald, Robert Pollard died while
visiting his friends at the Golden Belt factory. The cause of his death
was a coronary thrombosis. He was survived by his wife, Mary, three sons,
Clarence, David, and Robert Myatt, and one daughter, Essie Mae Winston. At
the time of Robert Pollard's death, he and Mary lived at 1109 Taylor
Street.*
* According to her death certificate, Mary Pollard was born
on November 16, 1891, and died on November 17, 1969. She died at Watts
Hospital. The cause of her death was congestive heart failure. A broken
right hip was listed as a contributing factor. Her very brief obituary in
the November 18, 1969 edition of the Durham Sun records that she grew up in
Wake County and attended Wake County schools. She had lived in Durham
since 1921. She was a member of Edgemont Baptist Church and lived at 1109
Taylor Street. The Pollards are buried at Woodlawn Memorial Park*
* In 1953 Golden Belt subdivided the mill village into lots
and sold off the houses with preference given to their employee tenants.
The house at 1008 Franklin Street was purchased by William Moorefield and
his wife Callie in 1954. Moorefield was an assistant foreman at Golden
Belt. The Moorefields did not stay long. In 1955 they sold the house to
Buster Brown and his wife, Cora Hilton Brown. According to the 1940 U. S.
Census, Buster Brown left school following the fifth grade. In that year
he and his wife Cora and their two children, Dorothy and Ervin, lived in
Wake Forest, North Carolina, where Buster worked as a doffer at the Royall
Cotton Mill. In a textile mill, a doffer is someone who removes and
replaces bobbins and spindles. Buster's annual salary in 1940 was $512. In
1955, when the Browns moved into 1008 Franklin Street, Buster Brown was a
doffer at Golden Belt. The Brown family lived at 1008 Franklin from 1955
until the early 1970s. Unfortunately, the U. S. Census records after 1940
are not available and we are deprived of this useful source of
information. From city directories we know that for a time in the
mid-1950s, the Brown's son, James Ervin Brown and his wife, Mildred Brown,
also lived at 1008 Franklin Street. James was a timekeeper at Golden
Belt. In 1971, Buster and Cora Brown gave the Franklin Street House to
James and his wife at the time, Betty P. Brown.*
* According to the North Carolina Death Index, Buster Lee
Brown was born in Virginia on September 23, 1906. He died on December 22,
1986. His obituary in the December 23, 1986 edition of the Durham Morning
Herald states that he died at his home on Maple Street after a very long
illness. He was survived by his daughter, Dorothy Deans. North Carolina
Death Indexes indicate that Cora Brown was born in 1907. She died on
January 2, 1978. No obituary for Cora could be located.*
* James and Betty Brown appear to have used 1008 Franklin
Street as a rental property. In 1978, the Browns sold the house to the
Kornegay family, some of whom are still living in the Golden Belt
neighborhood.*
* The period of the Kornegay's ownership marks a change in
the social history of the house and the neighborhood. William Henry
Kornegay and his wife, Helen, were African-American. By the late 1970s,
the changes in law and in attitude began to break down the race barriers
separating Durham residential neighborhoods. African-Americans began to
move into areas which had formerly been white-only working class
neighborhoods like Golden Belt. By the 1990s, the population in Golden
Belt and other East Durham neighborhoods had shifted substantially. At the
same time, the neighborhood entered into a period of decline as the housing
stock aged and major employment centers like Golden Belt and the nearby
Durham Hosiery Mills shut down. Golden Belt lasted the longest, closing
its operations in 1996.*
*North Carolina Death Indexes indicate that William Henry
Kornegay was born on September 5, 1920, and died on April 21, 1997. His
obituary in the April 24, 1997 edition of the Durham Herald Sun newspaper
records that he was born in Little Washington, North Carolina, and that at
the time of his death he had lived in Durham 38 years. William Kornegay
served in the navy during World War II. He worked in construction and was
a concrete and terrazzo finisher. He retired in 1974. He was survived by
his wife, Helen Kornegay, four daughters - Amanda Self, Rosa Taylor,
Victoria Goodman, and Antoinette Kornegay, five sons - Carl Kennedy, Nelson
Kennedy, Jimmy Kennedy, William Earl Kornegay, and Calvin Kornegay, (Could
this be a print error? Should "Kennedy" be "Kornegay?") and two stepsons -
Carl Simmons and Glendale Simmons. William Kornegay's death followed a
lengthy battle with worsening heart disease. He resided at 1008 Franklin
Street at the time of his death. He is buried at Oak Grove Memorial
Gardens on Cheek Road in Durham.*
* North Carolina death records for Helen Kornegay indicate
that she was born Helen Marie Harper on September 27, 1928, in Greene
County, North Carolina. She remained in school through the eighth grade.
She died on May 29, 2000. According to her brief obituary in the May 30,
2000 edition of the Durham Herald Sun, Helen Kornegay died at home at 1008
Franklin Street. No survivors are listed. It is presumed that she is buried
next to her husband at Oak Grove.*
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