Seven central North Carolina sites and one in western North Carolina have been added to the National Register of Historic Places, according to the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
“The addition of these North Carolina sites to the National Register of Historic Places is important because it will help preserve our shared history,” said Secretary Reid Wilson of the NCDNCR. “They are part of our state’s rich and diverse story and reaffirm our national leadership in the historic preservation movement.”
Hannah Beckman-Black with the State Historic Preservation Office says the register is "primarily an honorific program," but it does come with potential benefits.
"If a property owner is interested in rehabilitating their property, they can take tax credits to rehabilitate it," she said.
The new additions are:
Asheboro Downtown Historic District
The district encompasses 92 resources that contribute to its significance with architectural types and styles, the NCDNR stated in a news release. These styles range from Italianate to Craftsman, Classical Revival, Georgian Revival, Commercial Style, Art Deco, Art Moderne, Spanish Revival, Modernist, and Brutalist that predominated in state communities as the 20th century progressed. The locally-important district’s period of significance begins in 1903, with the completion date of its two oldest buildings, and ended in 1972.
Aurora Cotton Mills Finishing Plant, Baker-Cammack Hosiery Mills Plant (Burlington)
The textile industry was paramount in Burlington from the late-19th through the late-20th century. The Aurora Cotton Finishing - Baker-Cammack Hosiery Mills Plant's period of significance begins in 1906, when the first portion of the building was erected, and continued through 1972. The plant was associated with two of the primary textile manufacturers that drove Burlington’s growth.
Black Ox – Duplan Corporation Mill (Lincolnton)
Like most counties in the Piedmont region, textile manufacturing was a dominant industry in Lincoln County from the late-1800s through the mid-1900s. The mill is one of only eight mills that remain extant in Lincoln County. The mill embodies the evolution of the textile industry from the production of cotton to rayon and other synthetics, as well as the changing nature of corporate business practices. The property’s significant period begins in 1920, the construction date of the oldest portion of the mill, which was first erected as a cotton mill. It ended in 1957, when the Duplan Corporation shifted its production of rayon to other plants and closed the Lincolnton mill.
Dallas Historic District
This is a boundary increase of the preexisting Dallas Historic District. It expands the existing 1973 historic district which encompasses the heart of town, centered on the public square laid out in the 1840s when Dallas was designated the county seat of newly-formed Gaston County. Nationally popular architectural styles found in the district include Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival, Gothic Revival, Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Period Cottage, Minimal Traditional, and Ranch. The period of significance begins in 1880, the approximate date of the oldest resource, and extends to 1971, the date of several contributing Ranch houses.
Pilot Mountain Downtown Historic District
This historic district's significant period extends from 1900, the approximate date of the earliest known surviving buildings, to 1970, embracing Modernist and Historicist construction through that year which saw the completion of the Modernist Farmers Bank and the construction of the Historicist Surry Drug Company Building façade that year.
Southern Railway Passenger Car Number 1211 (Spencer)
The car is an all-steel, heavyweight passenger coach partitioned to comply with Jim Crow car laws that went into effect throughout the South in the late 19th century. Built without partitions, Southern Railway likely divided car number 1211 to seat Black and White passengers in separate areas in 1939, the same year it was air-conditioned and around the time other passenger coaches on the Southern Railway line were partitioned. The period of significance for this artifact of segregation begins 1939, the year it was most likely partitioned, and extends to 1961, the year Southern Railway likely ceased segregating passengers.
Hannah Beckman-Black with the State Historic Preservation Office says the railway passenger car is a reminder of the segregated South.
"It was separated between White and Black passengers. So, that's a really interesting one with a really interesting history," Beckman-Black said.
"Car number 1211 is a mostly intact example of a Jim Crow railroad coach of the first half of the twentieth century," state officials wrote in their application to have the car added to the register. "Although its seats no longer remain, the car’s form and materials give no doubt as to its identity as a railroad passenger coach whose interior space was reordered, most likely in 1939, to comply with stringent Jim Crow car laws legislated in the American South in the late nineteenth century."
Watkins Chapel AME Zion Church (Mooresville)
The church has a significant period ranging from 1942, the year the church was rebuilt, until 1964, the date of construction for the education wing. Its congregation was established during a period of explosive growth of the denomination in the South and particularly in the state. That growth is more of a testament to the response of emancipated African Americans — an expression not only of faith, but of freedom from the hypocrisy of white-dominated churches, according to NCDNR. Architecturally, the Romanesque Revival-style building exemplifies several trends in early 20th century African American churches: a plan adapted for services focused on music and preaching.
Skyline Lodge, Highlands vicinity (Macon County)
The lodge's local significance is that it was a hotel built to capitalize on the tourist industry in Highlands and Macon County. Also, it is a rare, and highly-intact example of a Mid-Century Modern, resort-style hotel that demonstrates the importance of the Frank Lloyd Wright influence on Modernist architecture. Original plans for the lodge began in 1936. Following the death of the original developer in 1938, the lodge sat partially unfinished. In 1965, it was finally opened to the public after new owners hired an architect to complete the interiors of the main lodge and the original 1938 room wing. The period of significance spans two time frames: 1936 to 1938 when the project was first conceived, partially constructed, and then abandoned; and 1965 to 1972 which encompasses the project’s completion and successful operation as a mountain-top resort.
Established in 1966, the National Register of Historic Places is the nation's official list of buildings, structures, objects, sites, and districts worthy of preservation for their significance in American history, architecture, archaeology, and culture.
