500 W. ROSEMARY ST. / STROWD HOUSE / THE LOOM PRESS

The house was built between 1916 and 1925. The property was originally part of the Craig (or Craige) lands, as Lot 1 when the property was subdivided.[1]

 

Louis H. Webb purchased this property and several other lots of the subdivided Craig property at auction in February, 1916.[2]

 

Louis H. and wife Elsie K. Webb sold the property to W. O. Lacock in December 1916 [3] W. O. and wife Elizabeth Lacock sold the property to Butler Strowd in April 1919.[4] Butler Strowd sold(?) the property to his wife, Florence Strowd, in June, 1925.[5] Florence Strowd Jones (she remarried after Butler's death) died in March 1955, and the property was inherited by her son, William Clarence Strowd.[6] Over the years, it housed a number of tenants, including The Loom Press, a printing, publishing, and graphics company that operated in the 1970s and 1980s.[7]

 

In August 1989, William C. and Mable W. Strowd sold the property to Sarah Carter.[8] Carter was the town’s first female taxi driver, who owned and operated Airport and Intown Taxi out of this house until circa 2003. It then became a rental property for UNC students [9]

 

This building is slated for demolition to make way for a new, four-story mixed-use building.

 

Some interior photographs can be viewed in this Zillow listing: zillow.com/homedetails/500-W-Rosemary-St-Chapel-Hill-NC-27516/61800267_zpid

 

View north, 2019 (via Google Streetview)

 

View south east, 2019 (via Google Streetview)

 

View north west, 2019 (via Google Streetview)

 

June 1925 Sanborn map excerpt (house is at at #516)

 

Loom Press ad, January 5, 1974 (DTH)

 

ENDNOTES

[1] See Orange County plat book 65, page 143, and plat book 70, page 529 for the subdivision maps

[2] Orange County deed book 71, page 76

[3] Orange County deed book 72, page 125

[4] Orange County deed book 74, page 417

[5] Orange County deed book 85, page 201

[6] Orange County deed book 153, page 489; also see deed book 225, page 1121

[7] News & Observer (Raleigh). "Chapel Hill dentist office, apartments planned for historic corner near downtown," February 25, 2022. (newsobserver.com/news/local/counties/orange-county/article258735093.html)

[8] Orange County deed book 89, page 461; also see plat book 36, page 146