Old West Durham Neighborhood Association









Map of Old West Durham


Main Menu Web Site Guide | News | About OWDNA | Neighborhood Info | Photographs of OWD | Media Spotlight | Citizen Resources | Home


Snapshots of Old West Durham

This is a growing archive of shots submitted by residents of the neighborhood. Visit it often!



Old NC 10

Hillsboro Road was once part of the "Central Highway" -- the first route to cross North Carolina. Early road proponents dubbed it "the magnificent state route number 10." Stretching from Beaufort to Murphy, old NC 10 was renamed US 70 when the federal government started designating national highways in the mid-twenties.

An overnight success, the popular Vin Rouge restaurant is located in what was once McKay's filing station. Next door is the Pizza Palace -- the oldest pizza restaurant in Durham. Former Mayor Harry Rodenhizer owns the place and helps deliver hand-tossed pizzas to the surrounding neighborhoods.

Across Ninth Street from Vin Rouge was once a service station owned by Ralph Dennis (in what is now Cozy). When the Barnum & Bailey Circus came to Durham, the circus train would stop at West Main and Broad to unload the animals. Every child who grew up on Mill Hill remembers the parade of circus animals that would slowly walk through West Durham. Ralph Dennis recalls standing in front of his dad's service station to watch the parade of animals come up Ninth Street and turn west onto Hillsboro Road to reach the circus grounds. Barnum & Bailey's tents were raised near what is now the Kroger's on Hillsborough Road.

Moore's Texaco station was the third filling station located at 9th and Hillsborough (the fourth corner was a popular bakery that is now H&K Printing). Rothie Moore fills up a tank at his filling station (behind what is now George's Garage). Like many in Durham, Moore is sporting a beard in preparation for the City's Centennial celebration in April 1953. Rothie could be also found at the corner grocery store he owned at Knox and Alabama.


One of the South's best alternative newspapers, The Independent Weekly was founded at 2824 Hillsborough Road in 1982. In the early days, Indy's staff was crammed into a small, almost windowless brick and cinder block building -- sharing the space with a car radio repair shop before moving a couple doors down the street. The masthead on each Indy says it all: "We're out to help build a just community here in our beloved North Carolina home."


The is the St. Francis Veterinarian on the corner of Hillsborough and Hicks.

Louis Berini, 2908 Hillsborough Road: The Berini family was one many Italian families that moved to West Durham to work as stone cutters and craftsmen during the construction of Duke Chapel and Duke Hospital. Louis Berini stands in what was the back yard of his childhood home in OWD. Where the family's chicken coops once stood is now a parking lot for Tienda Mexicana. The Citrini family lived behind the Berini's on Georgia Avenue. Anthony Citrini, who married Louis' sister, was known as the best bricklayer in the Bull City.

RedZ hair salon on Markham Ave.



The Hillsborough Road meat market stood at the corner of Hillsborough and Ninth. Roy Leo Jacobs is far right (ca. 1930).

If anyone else has pictures of other OWD homes or landmarks, email me and either attach the scans, or arrange to drop off the pictures to me and I'll scan them and put them on the site.

Thanks,
Tom Clark, webmaster