West Main Street Historic District
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The West Main Street Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006. Portions of the content on this web page were adapted from a copy of the original nomination document. [†] Adaptation copyright © 2012, The Gombach Group. The West Main Street Historic District in Forest City, Rutherford County, meets National Register of Historic Places criterion for architecture and art. The largely linear district includes approximately twenty-seven acres two blocks west of what was once one of the region's most important industrial centers. The period of significance begins in 1867, the year that Cool Springs Cemetery was established as the burial ground for Cool Springs Baptist Church, and extends to 1958, the year Cool Springs Gymnasium was constructed. Cool Springs Cemetery meets National Register criterion as it encompasses a significant array of modest granite and marble gravemarkers and monuments, particularly obelisks, characteristic of Christian burial grounds dating to the Victorian era. The West Main Street neighborhood developed into a prosperous enclave containing the residences of prominent Forest City businessmen and professionals. Property owners constructed six of the buildings in the district soon after W.A. Harrill and J.A. Watkins subdivided their land on the south side of West Main Street in 1924. Architectural styles range from modest one-story Bungalows to two-story Neoclassical, Colonial and Mediterranean Revival houses. In addition to dwellings, the West Main Street Historic District includes the 1925 Cool Springs High School (National Register 1999), an impressive two-story-on-basement, T-plan, flat-roofed brick building with a monumental, two-story, flat-roofed Classical Revival portico supported by paired Tuscan columns, and the 1940 First Presbyterian Church, which displays the influence of the Gothic Revival style. The Modernist Cool Springs Gymnasium reflects the statewide trend toward separate, hygienic, well-lit athletic facilities for North Carolina students during the 1950s. Even though Cool Springs Gymnasium is less than fifty years old, it is an integral part of the Cool Springs High School complex and contributes to the cohesiveness of the West Main Street Historic District. Comparable Modernist gyms in North Carolina have been successfully listed in the National Register. The West Main Street Historic District encompasses an intact collection of domestic, religious, funerary, educational and recreational resources reflecting the development of Forest City from 1867 to 1958, with most of the contributing primary buildings dating from the 1920s and 1930s. Twenty-two primary and eleven secondary resources constitute the West Main Street Historic District, ninety percent of which are contributing. The noncontributing resources include modern outbuildings, a 1964 service station and a 1965 medical office. Historical Background Rutherford County, located in southwestern North Carolina, was formed from Tryon County in 1779 and named for Griffith Rutherford, an Indian fighter, member of the Provincial Congress and Revolutionary War general. Rutherfordton, incorporated in 1793, is the county seat. The county's population, isolated by poor roads, consisted primarily of subsistence farmers until the introduction of the textile industry in the late nineteenth century. The powerful Broad and Second Broad Rivers in the southeastern section of the county provided the incentive for local investors to build water-powered textile mills, and the arrival of the railroad in 1887 created an outlet for cash crops and accelerated industrial development.[1] The town of Forest City was incorporated in 1877 as Burnt Chimney. The small crossroads community was so named after a circa 1855 fire that destroyed the home of James McArthur, leaving only a blackened chimney. The Burnt Chimney Post Office (no longer extant) had served the community at the intersection of the Shelby-Rutherfordton Road (now Main Street) and a major north-south road (now Cherry Mountain Road and Depot Street) since 1869. John Bostic built the first dwelling on Main Street (no longer extant) between 1825 and 1830, and other early residents included Dr. G.E. Young, Dr. T.E. Lovelace, Reverend J.E. Yarborough, A.H. McDaniel, John Blanton, John B. Harrill, Alfred Harrill, Thomas Wilkins, Amos McBrayer, Matt McBrayer and Wallace Jackson. A few frame commercial buildings were constructed at the center of town, followed by the Burnt Chimney Academy in 1874. The population grew to 110 in 1880, the first year the federal census documented statistics for the town independently of the county. By 1882 there was a movement to rename Burnt Chimney in honor of Forest Davis, a local lumber merchant, and the post office became Forest City, although it was not until 1887 that the community was officially renamed. The first Forest City newspaper was established in 1885, but its offices were destroyed in an 1886 fire along with most of the businesses in town.[2] The commercial district was reconstructed in brick, and many of those late 1880s buildings are contributing resources in the Main Street Historic District (NR 2002). Although plans for railroad lines through Rutherford County were in place before the Civil War, it was not until 1887 that the Wilmington, Charlotte and Rutherford (Seaboard Airline) Railroad reached Forest City and Rutherfordton. The Southern Railway, which ran from Charleston to Cincinnati and Chicago, soon followed, arriving in Rutherfordton by way of Forest City in 1890. The Cliffside Railroad connected Cliffside Mills on the Second Broad River in the southeastern corner of the county to the Seaboard Railroad by 1907. The Clinchfield, Carolina and Ohio Railroad was completed through the county in 1909, at which time twelve passenger trains stopped in Forest City daily.[3] Raleigh Rutherford Haynes and Simpson B. Tanner are credited with bringing the modern textile industry to Rutherford County about the same time the first railroad lines arrived.[4] R.R. Haynes began to acquire land in the High Shoals area of the Second Broad River as potential locations for textile mills in 1885. His partners included Simpson B. Tanner, J.S. Spencer and J.M. Scott. Work on the first mill, named Henrietta after Simpson Tanner's mother-in-law, Mrs. Henrietta Spencer, commenced in 1887. When the Henrietta Mill was completed in 1893 it was the largest textile plant in North Carolina. The mill started out with 10,000 spindles and soon increased to 28,000. The second Henrietta Mill, with 48,000 spindles, was constructed in the nearby community of Caroleen in 1896.[5] Haynes and his partners financed the construction of the Florence Mill in Forest City in 1897, but Haynes sold his interest in the mill soon after completion of the new building to concentrate on other endeavors. Florence Mill (Main Street Historic District Boundary Expansion, NR 2004) continued to be an extremely significant force in the growth and development of Forest City, as evidenced by the fact that Forest City tripled in population after the mill and railroads came — growing from a small community of 419 residents in 1890 to a booming town of 1,592 residents in 1910. Haynes began purchasing property along the nearby Second Broad River for a new mill, Cliffside, or Haynes Plant No. 1, in 1899. The mill, completed in 1902, was one of the last water-powered mills in Rutherford County and the largest gingham mill in the southern states at the time of its construction.[6] As the twentieth century dawned, Forest City, like much of the state, was poised for growth and expansion. Most residents worked at Florence Mill, Dixie Knitting Mills, Regal Manufacturing (lumber) or in auxiliary service enterprises. The rapid surge in Forest City's population in the first two decades of the twentieth century fueled a residential and commercial building boom and a great diversification of goods and services. Amenities such as telephone service were available to Forest City residents by 1901, followed by public water and electrical systems in 1910. Dr. T.C. McBrayer constructed a tuberculosis clinic on Main Street in 1902 and the Mabree Hotel in 1904, hoping to capitalize on the moderate climate, but Forest City never became a health retreat or a resort community. The First National Bank of Forest City was established in June of 1904 with Dr. G.E. Young as president.[7] The Forest City Betterment Club, which later became the Forest City Woman's Club, was organized in 1914 and responsible for city beautification efforts, including the creation of a central town square and wide city streets with landscaped medians. Implementation of these initiatives resulted in the 1927 selection of Forest City as one of the ten most beautiful and best planned cities in the United States by the Department of Agriculture. The construction of a new courthouse in 1926 and a town hall and fire department in 1928 further improved the appearance of downtown Forest City. The first public library, established in 1929, was housed in the town hall.[8] Forest City began to expand to the east and west in the 1910s. Developers including J.V. Ware, E.O. and J.H. Thomas, C.M. Teal, J.B. Harrill, J.A. Wilkie, Horace Doggett, W.A. Harrill, J.A. Watkins and Dr. T.C. McBrayer subdivided their property in close proximity to downtown from 1914 to 1927, targeting the middle and lower middle class with modest houses on relatively small, inexpensive lots. A few of Forest City's business leaders, including B.B. Doggett, who owned a car dealership, commissioned more elaborate residences on large lots facing West Main Street. Forest City, like most of the nation, saw little development during World War I, but the population grew from 2,312 in 1920 to 4,068 in 1930, once again creating the need for additional housing. Two residences in the West Main Street Historic District were erected before development efforts escalated west of downtown, but the majority of the dwellings in the district were built following municipal improvement efforts such as the paving of Main Street and the construction of Cool Springs High School in 1924. W.A. Harrill and J.A. Watkins subdivided property they owned on the south side of West Main Street that year, creating 56 lots that were 25 feet wide and 110 to 150 feet deep. Most buyers purchased more than one lot and developed their property slowly: six houses were constructed in the 1920s, four in the 1930s and one in 1954. Much of the land on the east side of the Harrill-Watkins property belonged to Dr. T.C. McBrayer, who sold off building lots incrementally through the 1930s. The land on the north side of West Main Street west of Cool Springs Cemetery and Cool Springs High School was also subdivided for residential use, but only one dwelling, the Lovelace-Ragin House, was erected in 1928. Although building costs remained high in the early 1920s, the Forest City Courier reported that "new houses are going up almost daily and even with this hustling movement there is still a crying demand for new houses." A May 14, 1925 article entitled "Forest City Growing Like a Green Bay Tree" discussed improvements on East Main Street, particularly the paving of the road, "grading and beautifying of yards." A February 1926 article stated that $300,000 worth of building permits were issued in Forest City the previous year. This rapid development may have prompted the creation of a zoning commission, appointed by the city council in early 1926.[9] The Great Depression slowed the economic growth of Forest City, like the rest of the country. The economy started to recover by the late 1930s, when the Wright-Bachman Lumber Company built a plant just outside of Forest City. The Rutherford Electric Membership Corporation, headquartered in Forest City, was established in 1937 with 120 miles of lines throughout the county. The First Presbyterian congregation purchased a lot for a new church on the corner of Vance and West Main Street in 1938. In 1939, the Works Progress Administration granted Forest City $135,000 for street, sidewalk and gutter improvements and $13,409 for a sewage treatment plant. U.S. 74 was widened from eighteen to thirty feet between Forest City and Rutherfordton in 1939 and 1940. Forest City continued to grow, with a population of 5,036 in 1940.[10] Increased production associated with World War II resulted in some resurgence for the southern textile industry, but did not provide the impetus to save many small companies.[11] During World War II, seventy-five percent of the total production of the Florence Mill was directed at the war effort. The mill manufactured bag sheeting and flannels for veteran's hospitals, the Red Cross and other government contracts. Company employees participated in a payroll deduction plan to contribute to the purchase of war bonds. The only time Florence Mill ever shut down in the middle of a shift was the day World War II ended.[12] Other Rutherford County textile mills manufactured a variety of goods for the war effort, and Rutherford County farmers responded to the national call for escalated production of agricultural commodities including soy beans and sweet potatoes. The Wright-Bachman Lumber Company produced bomb boxes, which enclosed jelly incendiary bombs, during the war years.[13] Forest City experienced a period of expansion from the mid-1940s through the early 1950s, when the GI Bill helped returning World War II veterans pay for homes. National housing shortages resulting from years of slow development during the Depression and war years, coupled with the post-war population influx, fueled the construction of new houses on vacant lots in existing neighborhoods. Development west of downtown continued through the 1960s, and as West Main Street (U.S. 74 Business) became a busy commercial thoroughfare, a service station and a medical office building were constructed on vacant lots in the district. In the decades since, the character of the West Main Street Historic District has remained remarkably stable, maintaining a mix of homeowners and renters, young professionals and retirees. The relatively few buildings that post-date the period of significance are of compatible form and scale, and the neighborhood still retains its early-to mid-twentieth century character. Architecture The church, dwellings, outbuildings and school in the West Main Street Historic District represent the architectural styles and forms that were common in Forest City and throughout North Carolina from the early twentieth century through the post-World War II era. During this period, architecture reflected the social and economic changes occurring as Forest City transformed from a quiet crossroads community to the largest town in Rutherford County. As the population of Forest City grew, landowners near downtown took advantage of the opportunity to profit from the subdivision of their large parcels of land into smaller residential lots. This push outward from the center of town translated into the construction of houses on streets only one or two blocks beyond main arteries and commercial areas. During the first decades of the twentieth century, it was common for bank presidents and prosperous merchants to live only one street away from store clerks and carpenters. While professionals and workers continued to live in relative close proximity to their work places and each other, the differences in the two groups' income and social standing were made clear by the size of their houses and the lots they occupied. This disparity is very apparent in Forest City. The lots on the east end of the West Main Street Historic District are smaller and contain more modest dwellings, a few of which were constructed as rental duplexes. This section also encompasses the district's oldest resources. For example, the imposing Neoclassical Revival home of Frank and Mae Bridges Wilkins at 363 West Main Street is adjacent to the modest circa 1925 Bungalow constructed by Clarence and Mary McDaniel at 381 West Main Street. A series of Colonial Revival and eclectic Period Revival homes occupy more expansive lots at the west end of the district. The earliest resource in the West Main Street Historic District is Cool Springs Cemetery, established in 1867 as the burial ground for Cool Springs Baptist Church. The cemetery contains eight sections, the oldest of which appears to be Section 4, surrounded by Rose, Hardin and Ridge Drives. A system of asphalt driveways winds through a significant array of modest granite and marble gravemarkers and monuments, particularly obelisks, characteristic of Christian burial grounds dating to the Victorian era. The monuments found in such cemeteries reflect the influence of the nineteenth century romantic movement, which extolled nature and sentiment, as well as the mechanization of the industrial age. Monument makers inspired by a broad range of pattern books created a great variety of markers with figural images and geometric forms. The obelisk — a tapering shaft on a pedestal — was an extremely popular marker type due to its "association with Egyptian sepulchral monuments signifying eternal life beyond the earthly realm," thus embodying the "Christian belief in the eternity of the spirit."[14] The earliest houses in the West Main Street Historic District date to the 1910s. The circa 1910 Frank B. and Mae Bridges Wilkins House at 363 West Main Street is one of the most imposing residences in Forest City. A monumental tetrastyle portico supported by Tuscan columns on plinths projects from the facade of the two-story, frame, hip-roofed Neoclassical Revival dwelling. Sidelights and a transom flank the entrance, which is surmounted by a balcony with a low wood railing. The McDaniel House, constructed at 381 West Main Street in 1913, is a two-story, frame, transitional Queen Anne/Colonial Revival house with a gable-on-hip roof and a wraparound porch supported by paneled square posts. Both houses use scale and massing rather than an abundance of architectural ornament to convey the wealth and social status of the original owners. As the twentieth century progressed, national trends in architecture began to exert a greater influence on houses in the district. The Bungalow enjoyed national popularity in the late 1910s and 1920s and architects designed fine examples for clients from coast to coast. Scaled-down versions of the style proved immensely popular throughout North Carolina into the early 1930s. Building plans for these houses, with their wide overhanging eaves, open arrangement of rooms and inviting porches, appeared in national magazines and catalogs. The Bungalow was inexpensive and easy to construct and appealed to families' desires for a modern house. Several Bungalows stand on the south side of West Main Street, and even some of the plainest dwellings, like the circa 1930 duplex at 355-357 West Main Street, manifest Craftsman Bungalow elements such as square brick porch posts, four-over-one window sash and exposed rafter ends. The one-and-one-half-story, brick Bungalows at 343 West Main Street and 499 West Main Street are almost identical, with side-gable roofs, large central gabled dormers, full-width front porches and gabled porte cocheres. The Clarence Arthur and Mary Bowles McDaniel House, constructed at 373 West Main Street in 1930, is an intact one-and-one-half-story frame Bungalow with a front-gable roof, a full-width recessed porch supported by tapered posts on brick piers, exposed rafter ends, triangular eave brackets and German siding with wood shingles in the gable ends. The influence of the Colonial Revival style is evident in the West Main Street neighborhood from the 1920s through the 1950s. Most Colonial Revival houses from the period are modest dwellings with symmetrical facades and classical or Georgian nuances, often executed in brick veneer. The 1925, two-story-on-basement, brick Biggerstaff-Griffin House at 399 West Main Street features Colonial Revival elements such as a projecting central pedimented bay, a single-leaf entry framed by sidelights and a transom, lunettes in the front and west gables, a modillion cornice and end chimneys. The Amos C. and May B. Duncan House, constructed at 455 West Main Street in 1928 is a two-story-on-basement, brick, Colonial Revival house with a side-gable roof, a symmetrical five-bay facade, a single-leaf entry framed by sidelights and a fanlight, two sets of French doors on each side of the central entrance bay and end chimneys. Other variations of the Colonial Revival style — including the Dutch and Spanish Colonial Revival — are also present. The 1928 Spurgeon and Ellie Moss House at 389 West Main Street is a representative example of a Dutch Colonial Revival residence with its gambrel roof, long shed dormers across the front and rear roof slopes and gabled entry porch supported by Tuscan columns. The McMurry-Bodie House at 419 West Main Street, also constructed in 1928, is the only Spanish Colonial Revival style residence in Forest City. The two-story dwelling reflects the Spanish Colonial influence in its stuccoed walls, flat roof with a scalloped and crenellated parapet and the arched openings of the entry porch, while the symmetrical facade and the sidelights and fanlight framing the front door are more traditional Colonial Revival elements. As in many neighborhoods that developed during the first half of the twentieth century, the West Main Street Historic District also includes an example of a period revival dwelling based on the English cottage form. Drawn from buildings erected in Tudor England during the late fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, such houses are usually executed in brick with false timbering in steeply pitched gables and feature diamond-paned or casement windows, round-arched doors and facade chimneys. The 1925 B.B. and Jimmie Doggett House at 475 West Main Street is an austere interpretation of the style in form only, without traditional Tudor embellishments. The two-and-one-half-story, brick, eclectic Period Revival house features projecting gabled bays on the front and rear elevations characteristic of the style, while the flat-roofed entry porch supported by grouped square posts, entrance with sidelights and transom, gable and shed-roofed wall dormers, six-over-six sash and end chimneys are more Colonial Revival in nature. The Lovelace-Ragin House, the West Main Street Historic District's sole Mediterranean Revival style residence, occupies a large lot at 450 West Main Street. Mediterranean Revival houses evoke villas on the Mediterranean coasts of France, Spain and Italy with their low-pitched hipped roofs covered with ceramic tiles, deep bracketed eaves, and arches above large windows, French doors and symmetrical facades. The Lovelace-Ragin House, like the Doggett House, is also an eclectic interpretation of a style rather than a meticulous translation. The Clarence and Ethel Young constructed the two-and-one-half-story, yellow brick, hip-roofed dwelling in 1928. A stair tower with a polygonal roof, stained-glass windows and a corbelled cornice projects from the facade. Arched, inset brick panels with decorative glazed headers surround the windows and doors on the southeast corner of the house, while brick quoins embellish the second-floor window openings. Wrought-iron balconies further ornament two second-floor windows on the facade. When World War II war ended, Forest City's population rose to 4,971 in 1950 as soldiers returned home.[15] As construction revived after the war, some North Carolina families sought the comfort and reassurance of building in styles of the past such as the Colonial Revival, but, more commonly, new houses took on a decidedly modern appearance. The Ranch house, with its low pitched roof and open floor plan, originated in California in the 1930s and by the middle of the century had been adapted throughout the country to meet the needs of families who desired a low-cost dwelling with living area on one level and enough space for all its members to enjoy their privacy. The pervasiveness of the Colonial Revival style through the post-World War II era is manifested in the modest, one-story, brick, side-gable-roofed Ranch house at 487 West Main Street, where the front entry is embellished with a broken pediment surround. Like the Doggett House and the Lovelace-Ragin House, First Presbyterian Church, constructed at 438 West Main Street in 1940, is a vernacular interpretation of a popular early-twentieth century architectural revival style. The exterior of the one-story, Flemish bond brick, front-gable-roofed Gothic Revival sanctuary is austere, with projecting gabled entrance bays providing visual interest on the south and east elevations. Steps lead to the east entrance, which encompasses a recessed double-leaf door with an arched stained glass transom surmounted by an open bell tower. Stained-glass windows in a variety of shapes and sizes illuminate the interior. Cool Springs High School at 382 West Main Street and Cool Springs Gymnasium at 400 West Main Street are classic examples of educational buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1950s, respectively. The former Cool Springs High School, 1924-1925, designed by Charlotte architect Louis Humbert Asbury, is an imposing two-story-on-basement, T-plan, flat-roofed edifice intended to evoke a sense of tradition and permanence. The school was executed in red brick laid in running bond with Classical Revival elements including a seven-part facade dominated by a monumental, two-story, flat-roofed portico supported by paired Tuscan columns. The 1958 Cool Springs Gymnasium, a one-story, orange brick, mid-century Modernist building designed by Chivous Gilmer Harrill, emphatically breaks with tradition and embraces the progressiveness of the postwar era. The building, which reflects the statewide trend toward separate, modern, hygienic, well-lit athletic facilities for North Carolina students during the 1950s, has three distinct parts: a gymnasium with a bowstring truss roof and original hardwood floor, a flat-roofed front lobby with a ticket booth and restrooms and a flat-roofed rear wing containing locker rooms. A concrete cornice and aluminum coping contribute to the building's streamlined, modern appearance. Each building embodies the design aesthetic of the period in which it was constructed. The Cool Springs Gymnasium is similar to other Modernist North Carolina gymnasiums recently listed in the National Register of Historic Places as part of school and historic district nominations. The 1954 Block Smith Memorial Gymnasium at 130 East Rhodes Street in Lincolnton is within the South Aspen Street Historic District (NR 2003). The broad segmental-vaulted roof and concrete-bordered, projecting lobby are character-defining features of the Modernist brick building. Tile walls with a gray field and red zigzagging lines distinguish the interior.[16] The Cleveland School (NR 2005) complex in rural Johnston County in the vicinity of Clayton includes a more conservative flat-roofed, rectangular, red brick, 1955 gymnasium with grouped ten-light windows on the side elevations. The interior retains wood floors and office space at the front and rear.[17] The James Benson Dudley Senior High School Gymnasium (NR 2002), built in 1959 east of Greensboro in Nocho Park, a historically African American suburb, is an important component of the Dudley High School campus and an interesting departure from the typical utilitarian physical education facilities constructed during the 1950s. Designed by African American architect Edward Jenkins during his tenure with Loewenstein-Atkinson Architects, the steel-framed, groin-vaulted building incorporates corrugated glass fiber-reinforced polyester panels into the brick exterior walls. Jenkins also used arch columns set on concrete bearing plates to support the two massive intersecting steel arches of the principal roofline.[18] The domestic architecture of Rutherfordton is more similar to Forest City than any other town in Rutherford County. Like Forest City, some of the most impressive dwellings in Rutherfordton lines Main Street. Although not yet included in a National Register historic district, a prime concentration of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century residences executed in the Queen Anne, Colonial Revival, Italianate, Tudor Revival and Craftsman Bungalow styles extends from North Main to North Washington Street, along with a few early-nineteenth century dwellings. Rutherfordton remained the county seat even after Forest City eclipsed it in population and industry, and the picturesque commercial district and government buildings (Main Street Historic District, NR 1995; Rutherford County Courthouse, NR 1979) date to a period of rebuilding during the first decades of the twentieth century.[19] Other districts in the region, such as the Central School Historic District (NR 2001) in Kings Mountain, Cleveland County, contain examples of many of the same architectural styles found in the West Main Street Historic District. The houses, school, churches, commercial building and depot in the Central School Historic District were constructed from 1870 to 1950 and reflect the growth and development of the Kings Mountain that began with the arrival of the Charlotte-Atlanta Railway and was driven by the textile industry in the last decades of the nineteenth century. The residential section of town surrounds a central business district. The earliest vernacular frame dwellings are embellished with decorative Victorian elements. The influence of national architectural styles is evident in the later Second Empire, Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Neoclassical Revival, Tudor Revival and Gothic Revival buildings in the district.[20] The West Main Street Historic District is an intact, cohesive collection of domestic, religious, funerary, educational and recreational resources that clearly reflects the growth and expansion of Forest City from 1867 to 1958. Neighborhoods on the east side of downtown developed at about the same time, but, for the most part, contain more modest dwellings. The majority of the buildings in the East Main Street Historic District (NR 2005), for example, were constructed from circa 1900 through the 1950s. Dwellings executed in the Craftsman, Colonial Revival, Period Cottage, Minimal Traditional and Ranch styles are the predominant property types. Most houses are frame and one- or one-and-one-half stories in height, with only a few two-story residences standing on or immediately adjacent to East Main Street. A few apartment buildings and duplexes stand among the single-family homes, and a cluster of four rental houses were constructed on McBrayer Court around 1940.[21] There are small groupings of earlier vernacular homes north and south of town, and a limited amount of mill housing survives within the city limits. Endnotes
References Baynard, Kinard Tillman. History of Rutherford County. Forest City: Blanton Printing Company, Inc., 1976. Bishir, Catherine W., Michael T. Southern and Jennifer F. Martin, A Guide to the Historic Architecture of Western North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1999. Branson, Levi. Branson's North Carolina Business Directory. Raleigh: n.p., 1896. Bynum, William B., ed. The Heritage of Rutherford County, Volume I. Forest City: Genealogical Society of Old Tryon County, Inc., 1984. Christian, W. E. "Life Story of Late Raleigh Rutherford Haynes." The Charlotte Observer, March 11, 1917. The Courier, Forest City, North Carolina, 1925-1926. Eades, Megan D. and Brian R. Eades. "Central School Historic District." National Register of Historic Places Nomination, 2001. Fearnbach, Heather. "East Main Street Historic District." National Register of Historic Places Nomination, 2005. Franklin, Susannah V. "Cleveland School." National Register of Historic Places Nomination, 2005. Griffin, Clarence W. Essays on North Carolina History. Forest City: The Forest City Courier, 1951. ________. The History of Old Tryon and Rutherford Counties, North Carolina, 1730-1936. Spartanburg, South Carolina: The Reprint Company, 1977. ________. History of Rutherford County, 1937-1951. Asheville: The Inland Press, 1952. Haynes, Ina Fortune. Raleigh Rutherford Haynes: A History of His Life and Achievements. Cliffside: n.p. 1954. Martin, Jennifer F. "James Benson Dudley Senior High School and Gymnasium." National Register of Historic Places Nomination, 2002. Merkel, Kimberly I. The Historic Architecture of Rutherford County. Forest City: Rutherford County Arts Council, 1983. The North Carolina Yearbook and Business Directory. Raleigh: The News and Observer, 1905, 1910. Phillips, Laura A W. "South Aspen Street Historic District." National Register of Historic Places Nomination, 2003. Potter, Elizabeth Walton and Beth M. Boland. National Register Bulletin 41: Guidelines for Evaluating and Registering Cemeteries and Burial Places. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1992. Powell, William S. The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Tar Heel Places. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968. Price, Keith. Telephone interview with the author, November 17, 2005. Rucker, Virginia. Telephone interview with the author, November 17, 2005. Rutherford County Deeds and Plats, Office of the Register of Deeds, Rutherford County Courthouse, Rutherfordton, North Carolina. Sanborn Map Company maps, Forest City, Rutherford County, 1925 and 1932. Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950, Volume II: Characteristics of the Population, Part 33: North Carolina. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1952. Wilkie, Amelia. Telephone interview with the author, November 18, 2005. † Heather Fearnbach, Edwards-Pitman Environmental, Inc., West Main Street Historic District, Rutherford County, NC, nomination document, 2005, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C. Street Names: Cool Springs Drive, Main Street West, Memorial Drive, Route 221, Route 74 |
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