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Institutional Architecture (2.3)

Significance (2.3.2)

The institutional buildings in Elizabeth City are significant because they reflect the growth and development of the city from a small trading town to the leading and largest municipality in northeastern North Carolina. The educational structures are significant because they indicate the struggle--particularly for blacks--to improve the city's quality of life by educating its young to create a brighter future. The first permanent building of the State Colored Normal School is also significant as the early home of the state's second college for the training of black teachers, and the present campus of Elizabeth City State University is important as a continuation and expansion of state and local commitment to the education of blacks. It is the only historically black state-sponsored institution of higher education in eastern North Carolina, a region with the state's highest percentage of black residents. The church buildings are significant as religious and social centers that are gauges of community development. Additionally, several of the churches and all of the relatively intact public buildings remain of high architectural merit as designs by notable state and regional architects. The government buildings are also significant for their association with the civic activities that shaped the city. They act as statements of civic pride and the belief in bright futures that were manifested by their construction.