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Physical Expansion (1.6.6)During the first decade of the twentieth century, Elizabeth City's population grew by over 2,000 residents, an increase of one-third since 1900 (Cheney 1975, 1129). In 1915 a promotional brochure published by the Norfolk Southern Raihvay made the boastful claim that Elizabeth City "has flattering prospects of becoming the largest city in the State within the next quarter of a century." It claimed further that the city had "sufficient river frontage to meet the demands of several hundred thousand people." Clearly, the boom was on and Elizabeth City's aspirations knew no bounds (Weaver 1915, 1; Butchko 1989, 335 n. 77). The early twentieth century was a period of unprecedented neighborhood expansion in Elizabeth City. Whereas the tracts developed during the 1880s and 1890s were primarily north of the antebellum city, the areas opened after the turn of the century were mostly south and west of the old city. In just three years, 1900 to 1902, six subdivisions were recorded that added sizeable areas to the city's residential sections. Among these were Euclid Heights in 1900 (in the Shepard-Road Street area) and the land of the Riverside Land Company on the west bank of the Pasquotank River (Deed Book 21, p. 512; Deed Book 26, p. 236). A significant factor in the popularity of the Riverside lots, and later the lots platted by the Fearing estate in 1926 (Deed Book 87, p. 533), was the construction in 1914 of the Elizabeth City Hospital at the eastern end of Riverside Avenue. The impressive Neo-Classical Revival style structure (now substantially altered) was the city's first large modern medical facility. While most twentieth century developments were south and east of the old city, residential construction continued apace on the west side of the city. In 1899 and 1902 the West End Land and Improvement Company, with Wiley M. Baxter as majority stockholder, recorded plats that led to development along Selden, Church, and McPherson streets west of Persse Street (Deed Book 20, p. 370; Map Box 3, p. 18). The West End became home to merchants, businessmen, farmers, and professionals. Early in the twentieth century, the railroad passenger station was relocated from Pennsylvania Avenue (now North Poindexter Street) to a new building (now 109 South Hughes Boulevard) at the western end of Main Street. Close proximity to the new station further enhanced the lots owned by the Improvement Company of Elizabeth City, formed in 1892, and the West End Land and Improvement Company. Soon fashionably up-to-date residences were under construction west of the 700 blocks of West Main and West Church streets (see Map 8). |
Starting in 1907 a number of residential neighborhoods were platted on the city's southwestern and southern edges for blacks. Sections laid out by the partnership of Brooks and Parker (Ray Street and Bunnells Avenue) in 1907 and Laurel Park (Laurel Avenue and Washington, Adams, Jefferson, and Madison streets) in 1908 became home to black laborers, professionals, and businessmen. The relocation of the State Colored Normal School to its present campus south of town in 1912 encouraged the nearby residential construction for blacks. Neighborhoods such as Highland Park (platted in 1914 and 1923) and Washington Heights (1916) were developed to meet these needs. Construction of both Dunbar High School and the brick training school (later H. L. Trigg Elementary) on the south side of town encouraged further black residential development in the southern part of the city. Throughout the early twentieth century, blacks, as well as whites, built in sections of town that were developed on a small scale and therefore were either not formally platted or the plats were never recorded with the Register of Deeds. In addition to Pine Grove, the subdivision of the Fearing Estate along Riverside Avenue platted in 1926, new residential areas for whites included Westover (1924), and Elcinoca (1927), an acronym for Elizabeth City North Carolina. Both are located at the extreme west of the city along what is now Hughes Boulevard, the city's primary vehicle bypass. The city's limits in 1931 illustrated the tremendous growth of the past fifty years, enclosing an area roughly bounded by Knobbs Creek and the tracks of the Norfolk Southern Railroad on the north and west; Church, McPherson, and Selden Streets on the west; Hollywood Cemetery and Park Avenue on the south; and the Pasquotank River on the east. (Butchko, 1989: 170) The economic upheaval of the Great Depression halted almost all building activity until the mid 1930s. No new subdivisions were platted during the 1930s, not only because of the difficult times, but because there were plenty of unimproved lots in almost all sections of the city: in the Improvement Company's property on West Colonial Avenue and Cedar and Maple streets; in the West End lands along Shirley, Selden, Pitchard, and Harrell streets; in the former Fearing farm along Riverside, Jones, and Hunnicutt avenues and Agawam and Wareham streets; in Highland Park on Southern and Highland avenues and Herrington Road; and near the Elizabeth City State Teachers College in Washington Heights (Sanborn map 1931). Beginning about 1935, however, there was enough economic recovery, particularly among whites, to revive building activity in the Fearing property and the western lots of the Improvement Company and the West End Land and Improvement Company. | ||
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