East Durham Print 1891

View of Durham, Durham County, N.C., 1891 / drawn & published by Ruger & Stoner.

Measures 16" x 20" and fits a standard frame. 

This bird’s-eye view print of East Durham, North Carolina was drawn by Albert Ruger and J. J. Stoner and published by Burleigh Lithographing Establishment in 1891. Durham was established as Durham Station in the mid-1800's along the banks of the Eno River. The agricultural community had resisted the coming railroad but with a land donation by Dr. Bartlett S. Durham, a station was established and named after him.

When Durham County was formed in 1881 Durham became its county seat. In 1887 Trinity College moved to Durham. The learning institution is now known as Duke University. Durham maintained a large hosiery manufactory and a denim factory, but the town’s economy leaned heavily on the tobacco industry. Bright-leaf tobacco grown and processed here was found to be quite popular and several prominent tobacco companies emerged from Durham including the Bull Durham Tobacco Factory and W. Duke & Sons Tobacco Company.

In 1890, James B. Duke organized the American Tobacco Company by merging several tobacco companies and concentrating on the sale of cigarettes with the aid of newly invented rolling machinery. The industry would later be immortalized in the song “Tobacco Road” by John D. Loudermilk as he accounted growing up in Durham.

Features references to many of Durhams Historical landmarks.