[SLOW UPBEAT MUSIC]
A POSTCARD JOURNEY WITH JOHN SCHELP
THROUGH DOWNTOWN DURHAM IS A FASCINATING WAY TO SEE HISTORY.
- A WONDERFUL WAY TO LEARN ABOUT YOUR TOWN'S HISTORY
IS THROUGH POSTCARDS.
I ALWAYS LOVED DURHAM HISTORY
AND I STARTED TO FIND POSTCARDS THAT YOU KNOW,
THE ANTIQUE SHOPS AINND BRIGHT LEAF SQUARE.
AND THEN I STARTED GOING TO THESE POSTCARD CONVENTIONS
AT SMALL HOTELS LIKE OUTSIDE OF BURLINGTON
AND DOWN THE 85 CORRIDOR.
AND YOU KNOW, YOU'RE LOOK IN THROUGH SHOE BOXES
AND YOU FIND A POSTCARD OF DURHAM AND THAT'S EXCITING.
BUT YOU KNOW, AFTER A WHILE THAT KIND OF GETS OLD.
AND SO EBAY'S MY FRIEND
AND I'LL FIND MYSELF LATE AT NIGHT
WAITING FOR THE FINAL SECONDS TO TICK DOWN
ON AN AUCTION TO MAKE SURE I GET A POSTCARD FOR WIND MILLS
OR WORKERS IN THE TOBACCO FACTORIES.
SOME PRETTY RARE POSTCARDS THAT I'VE COME ACROSS.
SO THIS IS JUST A SMALL SAMPLE OF MY COLLECTION.
AND WHENEVER I START TO TALK ABOUT THE HISTORY OF DURHAM,
I LIKE TO TALK ABOUT THE RIDGE.
AND HERE'S A SHOT OF DOWNTOWN DURHAM.
AND RIGHT THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF DOWNTOWN IS THE RIDGE.
AND MOST OF THESE POSTCARDS IN THE COLLECTION
ARE OF CHURCHES, COTTON MILLS,
TOBACCO FACTORIES, COURTHOUSES, BANKS
THAT ARE ON THE RIDGE,
THEY'RE UP IN THE ELEVATED AREAS OF DURHAM.
[SOFT MUSIC]
- [DEBORAH] BUT THE LARGE CITY OF DURHAM STARTED SMALL.
IT WAS FIRST A TRAVELER'S REST CALLED PIN HOOK.
- SO BEFORE DURHAM,
1830S, 1840S WAS THE SETTLEMENT OF PIN HOOK.
AND ON THE OTHER SIDE OF TOWN WAS PRATTSBURG.
THE RAILROAD COMPANY CAME TO PRATT
AND ASK THEM IF THEY COULD PUT THE STATION THERE.
HE SAID NO BECAUSE IT WOULD SCARE THE HORSES.
AND SO THEY WENT ANOTHER MILE DOWN THE ROAD
AND THEY ASKED DURHAM
AND BARTLETT DURHAM SAID, "YES."
AND SO WE ARE DURHAM,
NOT PRATTSBURG BECAUSE OF DR. BARTLETT DURHAM.
THERE WERE TWO TOBACCO WAREHOUSES HERE
AT THE END OF THE WAR
AND NOT MUCH ELSE.
THE LARGEST TROOPS SURRENDERED RIGHT DOWN THE ROAD.
WE'RE FOUR MILES FROM DOWNTOWN DURHAM.
AND AFTER THE SURRENDER,
SOLDIERS EMPTY THE TOBACCO WAREHOUSES WENT HOME,
ORDERED MORE TOBACCO,
AND THAT'S WHAT STARTED THE TOBACCO INDUSTRY IN DURHAM
- [DEBORAH] PERHAPS DURHAM'S FIRST INDUSTRIALIST
WAS WASHINGTON DUKE.
AND JOHN HAS AN EARLY POSTCARD OF HIS HOME.
- THIS IS A BEAUTIFUL POSTCARD, IT'S HAND PAINTED,
AND WE'RE LOOKING AT DUKE HOMESTEAD.
AT THE END OF THE CIVIL WAR,
WASHINGTON DUKE WALKED BACK FROM NEW BERN
AND STARTED DUKE AND SONS TOBACCO
- [DEBORAH] FROM PIPE TOBACCO TO SNUFF, TO CIGARETTES,
TOBACCO PLAYED A MAJOR ROLE IN DURHAM'S GROWTH.
- ALL RIGHT, WE'RE STANDING AT WHAT IS HISTORICALLY SPEAKING
THE MOST IMPORTANT INTERSECTION IN DURHAM.
WE HAVE OLD BULL,
THE OLDEST BUILDING IN DOWNTOWN.
RIGHT ACROSS FROM THE TRAIN STATION,
THE OLD DURHAM DEPOT
WHICH IS RIGHT ACROSS FROM BARTLETT DURHAM'S HOUSE.
THE NAMESAKE FOR THE TOWN,
WHICH IS RIGHT ACROSS
FROM THE TWO OLDEST TOBACCO WAREHOUSES IN TOWN.
WE HAVE A STREET IN DOWNTOWN DURHAM
CALLED CIGARETTE STREET,
WE HAVE FATIMA STREET,
WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, CHESTERFIELD,
WE HAVE ALL THESE TOBACCO HISTORY,
BUT THE DUKES FOR INSTANCE,
WANTED TO DIVERSIFY THEIR INVESTMENTS.
THEY DIDN'T WANT TO JUST PUT ALL THEIR MONEY IN TOBACCO.
SO THEY STARTED INVESTING IN WATER POWER AND COTTON MILL.
SO THE ERWIN COTTON MILLS ON NINTH STREET
IS OWNED BY THE DUKE FAMILY.
ALL RIGHT, SO I'M STANDING RIGHT HERE AT ERWIN MILLS
AND IN WEST DURHAM,
5,000 PEOPLE WORKED HERE.
BY 1905, IN FACT,
MORE PEOPLE WORKING IN COTTON MILLS IN DURHAM
THAN IN TOBACCO FACTORIES.
AND FOR MANY YEARS,
DURHAM HAS MANY MILLIONAIRES
AS THE REST OF THE STATE COMBINED.
- [DEBORAH] ANOTHER WATERSHED EVENT IN DURHAM'S HISTORY
WAS WHEN TRINITY COLLEGE, NOW DUKE UNIVERSITY
WAS INVITED TO MOVE TO DURHAM.
- STRUGGLING FAR AWAY
FROM THE NEAREST TELEPHONE TELEGRAPH LINE,
LOW STUDENT ENROLLMENT,
TRINITY NEEDED TO MOVE TO FLOURISH.
AND THEY CHOSE DURHAM OVER RALEIGH.
THIS IS A POSTCARD OF TRINITY COLLEGE.
WE'RE STANDING RIGHT HERE.
JUST ACROSS THE WAY THEODORE ROOSEVELT STOPPED HIS TRAIN,
SAID, "GENTLEMEN, I'VE NEVER HEARD SO MUCH NOISE."
IT WAS ALL THE BELLS AND THE WHISTLES
FROM THE TOBACCO FACTORIES AND THE COTTON MILLS,
THEY WERE HERE GREETING THE PRESIDENT.
- [DEBORAH] OF COURSE, ALL STORIES HAVE THEIR CHARACTERS
WITH CONFLICTING PATHS.
MEET JULIAN SHAKESPEARE CARR.
- CARR WAS A WHITE SUPREMACIST
AND HE WAS A MEMBER OF THE KKK.
IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF DUKE UNIVERSITY,
NO ONE WAS MORE IMPORTANT THAN JULIAN SHAKESPEARE CARR.
HE BACKED UP THEIR LOANS WITH THE BANKS.
SO HE KEPT THE UNIVERSITY AFLOAT.
ALL RIGHT, WE'RE STANDING IN FRONT OF THE ESTATE
OF JULIAN SHAKESPEARE CARR.
HE WAS AN INDUSTRIALIST
WHO WAS INVOLVED WITH TOBACCO AND BANKING,
THE CONFEDERATE ALUMNI.
AND ALL WE HAVE LEFT IS THE PARKING LOT.
- [DEBORAH] BLACKS PERSEVERED IN DURHAM
DESPITE THE OBSTACLES ERECTED AGAINST THEM.
PERHAPS THE MOST VIVID DURHAM DESTINATION OF THAT ERA
IS WHAT IS NOW CALLED BLACK WALL STREET.
- MECHANICS AND FARMERS BANK
BECAUSE BLACK FAMILIES COULDN'T GET LOANS FROM WHITE BANKS.
NORTH COUNTY MUTUAL,
BECAUSE BLACK FAMILIES COULDN'T GET LIFE INSURANCE
FROM WHITE COMPANIES.
THESE AND OTHER COMPANIES GREW TO BE VERY IMPORTANT.
AND IN FACT,
W. E. B. DUBOIS AND OTHERS WHO HAVE COME,
BOOKER T. WASHINGTON AND OTHERS WHO HAVE VISITED DURHAM
WOULD SAY IN SPEECHES AFTER,
"YOU HAVEN'T SEEN ANYTHING
UNTIL YOU'VE SEEN WHAT THEY'RE DOING IN DURHAM."
- TO SEE MORE OF JOHN SCHELP'S POSTCARDS OF DURHAM,
FIND HIM ON INSTAGRAM @POSTCARDSFROMDURHAM.