WEBB'S WAREHOUSE
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- TOBACCO COMPANIES by SteveR, Wed, 01/27/2021 - 5:01pm
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- Sun, 06/27/2021 - 1:17pm by SteveR
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WEBB FACTORY / WALKER FLOUR MILL
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- TOBACCO COMPANIES by SteveR, Wed, 01/27/2021 - 5:01pm
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- Wed, 01/27/2021 - 8:35am by gary
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Excerpt from the 1888 Sanborn map
~1900 (UNC postcard collection.) Old Courthouse is to the right.
Circa 1940; rear of building (view southwest, from King Street, with ag ext. building to right). (Image courtesy of Orange County DEAPR)
1950s (History of the Town of Hillsborough)
Webb & Company tobacco was started by James Webb, Jr., Joseph C. Webb, and George C. Corbin in 1878. They first operated in a wooden building, located on the southeast corner of King and Court Street (across the street and east of the 1840s courthouse), and in 1880 erected a brick three-story building, measuring 40 feet by 60 feet, connected to and to the north of the original wood building. Webb and Company produced twist and plug tobacco, and in 1881 they produced about 150,000 pounds of tobacco. Their main plug tobacco markets were in North Carolina and other Southern states, selling the brands Superb, Choice Bright, and Choice Red; most of their twist tobacco was sent to Cincinnati, Ohio, and Nashville, Tennessee, under the brands Berkshire and Victory.
By 1900, Webb and Company was out of business, and their tobacco factory was used for storage. A year later, the complex was utilized by the Hillsboro Milling Manufacturing Company. Between 1900 and 1905, the original wood building was torn down. By the 1920s, the brick building was Walker's Flour Mill (a.k.a. Walker Brothers Milling Company and Walker Milling Company).
From History of the Town of Hillsborough:
"Walker's Flour Mill is located across from the courthouse. It is now [early 1960s] owned and operated by Mr. Charlie Walker, Jr. This mill was first known as the Hillsborough Milling Company, It was owned by the Webb family, starting about 1900. Mr. Atlas Williams began work at this mill in 1904. The Walker Brothers bought the mill in 1917 and completely overhauled it.
From the Durham Morning Herald, 11 Dec 1964:
"Orange County will buy more than ,500 worth of historic hand-made bricks being removed from a razed building on courthouse square in Hillsboro.
The purchase for purpose of resale was agreed to at the request of spokesmen for Hillsboro historical groups. They asked the county commissioners to halt demolition of the former Walker Milling Co. building and to preserve its exterior and rebuild it as an office structure. Short of this the historical buffs asked that the bricks at least be salvaged.
The commissioners declined to change their plans to level the building site citing a contract with S. O. Cooper of Wilmington, who was at that moment in the process of tearing down the four-story structure. But by split vote decision they agreed, after inspecting the premises, to have the estimated 180,000 bricks salvaged and made available for purchase within a six months period.
The contractor offered the bricks to the county at a thousand, and guaranteed to buy them back if they weren't purchased. Newly elected Board Chairman Harvey Bennett had to cast his first tie-breaking vote in passing the purchase motion proposed by Commissioners Gordon Cleveland and Bill Ray and opposed by Carl Smith and Henry Walker. Historic Hillsborough Commission Chairrman Mrs. A. G. Engstrom told the commissioners the bricks were first used In the old Hillsborough Academy, that later became the Bingham School, and was built around 1845. The building was later a boarding house, she said. Then the bricks were salvaged for use in the flour mill building that was put up on the courthouse square an estimated 80 years ago. The property was bought by the county last year.
Until the wood trim on the brick structure was removed, historical groups hadn't realized how beaufitful the building was, Mrs. Engstrom said in her appeal. She asked that work be halted while the historical groups studied to see what could be done toward preserving it.
Chairman Bennett noted "We don't have the money to fix up the building now," calling attention to its hazardous condition and the firm contract for its destruction. County administrator Sam Gattis said the contractor planned to knock in the four-brlck-thick walls with an iron ball swung from a crane after he removed the roof and hand-hewn timbers supporting the interior structure."
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H.P. Jones and Company was located in west Hillsborough, across Occoneechee Street (present-day Nash Street) from the rail station. The wooden two-story, 40-by-70 foot factory was built circa 1871, and the factory began operation in 1872. The factory was powered by steam, and manufactured the smoking tobacco brands Tar Heel and Occoneechee, and received an award for "Fine Smoking Tobacco" at the 1877 North Carolina State Fair.
By 1900, H.P. Jones and Company was out of business.
Excerpt of 1894 Sanborn map
1886 advertisement
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J. Y. Whitted & Company
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Webb & Roulhac
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103 E. TRYON ST.
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In tours
- BOOZE TOUR by SteveR, Wed, 02/17/2021 - 10:12am
- TOBACCO COMPANIES by SteveR, Wed, 01/27/2021 - 5:01pm
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- Sun, 11/07/2021 - 4:20pm by gary
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Built prior to 1768 on town lot 99. It was originally used as an ordinary/tavern and a dwelling.
1768 Sauthier map excerpt (showing the original site of this house on the right side of Churton Street)
View east, showing structure's original location, indicated by red arrow (circa 1910 postcard excerpt)
1894 Sanborn map excerpt
1900 Sanborn map excerpt
1905 Sanborn map excerpt
1911 Sanborn map excerpt
This structure was moved circa 1928 from the north east corner of E. Tryon and N. Churton streets (when the Esso service station was built) to its present location. The antebellum structure that was at the north east side of the lot was attached to the rear of the colonial structure when it was moved, the chimneys were removed and rebuilt, and new 3-over-1 windows were installed, among other renovations.
1943 Sanborn map excerpt
Image excerpt, view north east (structure at right), circa 1988 (photo by Susan Bellinger)
View north, circa 1990 (photo by Susan Bellinger)
The 1990 booklet Photocensus: A Photographic Survey of Buildings in the Hillsborough, N.C. Historic District Built Prior to 1950 lists the structure as being a Queen Anne style house, built circa 1880. This description was incorrect; however, at the time, the structure had been extensively remuddled and hid its true history behind the numerous modifications (see photo above).
The entire structure was renovated and restored by its current owners (Tom and Diane Magnuson) in 1992-1993, to include a new chimney on the west side of the original structure and new windows on the front. The house is labeled by the front sign as "Mason's Ordinary" with a build date of circa 1754.
From the 2014 Historic Hillsborough Survey:
This one-and-a-half-story, side-gabled house is the front portion of an eighteenth century house built for Catherine Lockhart about 1768 on the adjacent lot at the northeast corner of Churton and Tryon Streets. The house is three bays wide and single-pile with a full-width shed-roofed rear wing and a full-width gabled rear wing that is four bays deep. It has beaded weatherboards, six-over-six wood-sash windows on the façade and in the gabled dormers on the façade, and four-over-one Craftsman-style wood-sash windows on the side elevations. The six-panel door has a one-light transom and is sheltered by a replacement shed-roofed porch supported by chamfered wood posts. The Flemish-bond brick chimney in the left (west) gable is likely a reconstruction. In the early 19th century, the house was owned by William H. Brown, who lived there and kept his shoemakers shop in the house. About 1927, the Esso Company bought the house and the front half was moved to this adjacent site and remodeled in the Craftsman style. The Craftsman-style porch was later removed, a front stoop was added, and the front-gable dormers were reconstructed.
08.14.2016 (G. Kueber)
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