National Register Adds Four North Carolina Historic Places

The North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources is pleased to announce that four districts across the state have been added to the National Register of Historic Places. The following properties were reviewed by the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee and were subsequently nominated by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer and forwarded to the Keeper of the National Register for consideration for listing in the National Register. 
 
“The addition of these North Carolina listings to the National Register of Historic Places -- the honor roll of the nation -- continues to expand our telling of the diverse story of our state's history, and to acknowledge the important contributions of all North Carolinians,” said Secretary Susi Hamilton, N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
 
The listing of a property in the National Register places no obligation or restriction on a private owner using private resources to maintain or alter the property. Over the years, various federal and state incentives have been introduced to assist private preservation initiatives, including tax credits for the rehabilitation of National Register properties. As of January 1, 2019, over 3,790 historic rehabilitation projects with an estimated private investment of over $2.833 billion have been completed. 
 
In Central North Carolina
Lexington Industrial Historic District, Lexington, Davidson County, listed 05/15/2019
Lexington Industrial Historic District, locally significant in the areas of industry and architecture, comprises the city’s most intact and cohesive collection of late-19th to mid-20th century industrial buildings, as well as associated resources including a freight depot, municipal utilities office, mill worker housing, and the adjacent North Carolina Railroad corridor, which links the properties. The district includes numerous complexes of freestanding and interconnected one- to three-story brick, concrete, and steel manufacturing and storage buildings erected between 1887 and 1980, utilized for textile, furniture, clothing, hosiery, and candy production.
 
Oakwood Historic District (Boundary Increase), Hickory, Catawba County, listed 05/08/2019 
The Oakwood Historic District (Boundary Increase) includes six separate areas that expand the original district, listed in the National Register in 1986. The increase, like the original district, is locally significant in the area of architecture for the diversity and quality of its domestic architecture representing a range of types, periods and methods of construction reflecting the city’s growth and development. The boundary increase therefore more accurately reflects the full scope of 20th-century building trends, with more modestly scaled and detailed early to mid-20th century houses in styles including Queen Anne, Craftsman, Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Period Cottage, Minimal Traditional and Ranch. In addition to houses, a number of apartment buildings were constructed in the boundary increase area, and professional offices appeared at the south end of the increase area, as that thoroughfare began to take on a more non-residential character in the 1960s. The boundary increase is also listed as significant for Social History at the local level for the inclusion of the (former) Elliott-Carnegie Library, which was individually listed in the register in 1983 for its Social/Humanitarian importance.
 
West Chapel Hill Historic District (Boundary Increase), Chapel Hill, Orange County, listed 05/09/2019
The West Chapel Hill Historic District (Boundary Increase) includes six separate areas that expand the original district, listed in the National Register in 1998. Like the original district, the increase areas are significant for Community Planning and Development, representative of the town’s continued growth and development in the 19th and 20th centuries in the West Chapel Hill neighborhood, as well as the growth of the University of North Carolina, which is located west of the neighborhood. It reflects the national popularity of the City Beautiful Movement and Neighborhood Movement in the first half of the 20th century, and features examples of the Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Gothic Revival, Craftsman, Colonial Revival, and Ranch styles. While the architecture of the Boundary Increase is generally more modest than that of the original West Chapel Hill Historic District, the areas share much of the original district’s history and collectively the district and boundary increase more accurately reflect the full scope of West Chapel Hill’s development. The boundary increase is also significant at the local level under Criterion A for Social History due to the inclusion of the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity House (NRHP 2005), which was listed in the register for its association with the Eta Chapter of Beta Theta Pi at the University of North Carolina.  
 
In Western North Carolina
Henry River Mill Village Historic District, Hildebran vicinity, Burke County, listed 05/09/2019
Established circa 1905 by the Henry River Manufacturing Company, the Henry River Mill Village is significant to the history of Burke County as an excellent and intact collection of wood frame textile mill workers’ houses. Though the mill burned in 1977, a majority of the houses remain, along with the two-story company store, illustrating the type of dwellings that were built by manufacturing facilities to house their employees.  Most of the houses follow three specific floor plans, with the variety accommodating the different needs of and representing nuanced differences among the social classes of the company’s employees.

 
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