HISTORIC GEMS OF APEX
By Sarah Merritt Ryan
As you stroll north past shops and restaurants on Salem Street in the Apex Historic District, you will come across The Depot, the original hub of the settlement that became incorporated as Apex on February 28, 1873. Across the street from The Depot and to your left stands the Halle Cultural Arts Center. These two buildings were fundamental to the development of Apex as a town and commercial center and remain central to our community today.
The Depot
The Apex Union Depot was constructed as a passenger and freight station for companies like Chatham Railroad and Seaboard Air Line Railroad. The reason the town is named Apex is because the community is situated at the highest point, or ‘apex,’ of a 30-mile section of the Chatham Railroad. Steam engines would stop at this ‘apex’ to replenish their water supply on the path to Raleigh. This structure was known as the Apex Union Depot until it was shortened to The Depot in 2020.
The first Apex Union Depot was built in 1869 and was replaced in 1906. In 1911, much of downtown Apex was destroyed by a fire. The Apex Union Depot survived this fire, but was destroyed by another fire in 1914. The building was rebuilt in brick, according to a town ordinance that downtown Apex buildings must be made of brick to make them more fireproof. The new structure was built for $8,586, which was considered a fortune unheard-of then for such a small town (only 700 people lived in Apex at the time).
Passenger service was discontinued in 1969, at which time The Depot became the Apex Community Library. The Eva Perry Regional Library was built in the 1990s, replacing the Apex Community Library, at which point the Apex Chamber of Commerce then became its main tenant. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988. Between 2019 and 2021, significant interior renovations were made in order for the building to house the Apex Welcome Center and the Town of Apex Economic Development department. The Apex Chamber of Commerce now resides in a smaller section of the building.
Despite renovation and repairs made by the Town of Apex, many original features remain untouched from the 1914 structure. With the exception of an added wall and repurposed rooms, the structure remains very much as it was when it was built. The building maintains its late Victorian architecture and features a double fireplace, ticket windows, original poured-glass windows, a bell-cast hip roof, dark red brick veneer and its original moldings and wainscoting.
The Halle Cultural Arts Center
The Halle Cultural Arts Center building stands at the corner of North Salem and Templeton streets. It was built in brick in 1912, a year after the great fire of 1911. Today, the Halle Cultural Arts Center is used for a variety of live performances like plays, concerts, visual art exhibitions and other events.
This building housed the Apex Town Hall for 65 years. The first floor also originally housed a fresh meat and vegetable market, a small fire house with a makeshift fire truck, and a tiny jail. Apex’s first volunteer fire department assembled in 1939, chartered by 19 local businessmen, where they first acquired a dump truck that the town allowed them to store in what is now the Halle Cultural Arts Center building. The mayor’s office was on the second floor, along with an auditorium that seated 300 people and provided entertainment of the time: silent movies, dramas, musicals and Chautauquas (live educational and cultural events popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries).
Apex Town Hall did not move out of the building until 1978, when the town outgrew the space. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It housed the Department of Parks and Recreation administrative offices from the 1980s through 2005 and then sat empty for three years as the town planned its renovation. Its 2008 reopening was made possible due to the Second Century Campaign, a funding initiative led by the Town of Apex. This campaign made the following renovations and expansion possible: modern restrooms, modern stairs, additional square footage in the back, dressing rooms, a backstage area for the auditorium, and storage.
This expansion also connected the Halle Cultural Arts Center building with the former Tobacco and Mule Exchange building (originally built in 1917) next door. In 2008, the Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources department moved back in and the building was renamed the Halle Cultural Arts Center.
The Depot and Halle Cultural Arts Center have witnessed several eras of Apex history, evolving and expanding in purpose from accommodating a town of just 700 people at the turn of the 20th century to accommodating the needs of the 75,000-person Town of Apex we live in today. These buildings’ preservation allows current and future generations to understand and appreciate the community’s evolution and heritage.
Taylor Wray, manager of Halle Cultural Arts Center, and Barbara Belicic, small business specialist for the Town of Apex, helped build this story. “Between the teams at The Depot and The Halle, we collaborate on bringing the arts to Apex, connecting downtown business owners with town entities, and sharing one another’s programs,” they write. “Our collaboration can positively attract visitors to historic downtown Apex, thereby supporting our local economy.”
HISTORIC GEMS OF CARY
By Judith Cookie Rubens
The Town of Cary has more than a dozen local historic landmarks and three buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Two of its most recognizable treasures served citizens over three different centuries and boast great stories of renovation and revival.
Page-Walker Arts & History Center
119 Ambassador Loop, Cary
In 1868, when the town was only about one square mile, Cary’s founder—the rail and lumber businessman Frank Page—built a three-story railroad hotel as a stopover for passengers on the new North Carolina and Chatham Railroad. Designed in the French Second Empire style, it was a grand structure for a rural town of only 300.
In 1884, Page sold the building to Jacob and Helen Yates Walker, who continued to run it as a railroad hotel until 1915. The building stayed in the Walker family, eventually becoming a boarding house for Cary High School students and teachers, until 1941.
It then became the private home of railroad employee John Williams. The Williams family kept it for 30 years and modernized it, adding indoor plumbing and steam heat and modifying the front porch, says Kris Carmichael, operations and programs supervisor of the now-named Page-Walker Arts & History Center. “I think of it as the Gone with the Wind era, because they added a second tier to the front porch,” Carmichael says.
Local florist Bob Strother bought the property in 1971, and by 1979 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places. But Strother’s planned restoration proved overwhelming, and he put it on the market.
Sadly, it sat empty from 1980–1985, deteriorating from a leaky roof, overgrown grounds, mold and vandalism. Members of Cary’s then-historical society tried to save the distinctive building, but small bake sales weren’t cutting it, Carmichael says. “It was in dire need of saving,” she adds.
The society incorporated as the nonprofit Friends of the Page-Walker Hotel, and they urged the town council to buy the dilapidated property and land (then worth about $4,000) and lease it back to them. The Friends raised more money (the town matched it) and led a major renovation and annex addition in the early ’90s. Fully operational by 1994, the Page-Walker was the town’s main cultural arts facility until the Cary Arts Center emerged.
Today, the Page-Walker is a free, living museum (check out the third floor for more artifacts). The Friends still serve as building advisors, and the facility hosts arts and crafts exhibits, concerts, workshops and children’s camps. A spring Herbfest shows off its educational gardens.
Perhaps its most well-known event, December’s Victorian Christmas leans into the building’s history with carolers dressed in Victorian garb and period holiday decorations and sweets.
“It really took a vision for the Friends of the Page-Walker to be able to see what that property could be,” Carmichael says. Cary’s Assistant Planning Director Katie Drye adds, “It’s a really great example of a public-private partnership.”
You can learn more about the Page-Walker Arts & History Center at friendsofpagewalker.org.
Cary Arts Center
101 Dry Avenue, Cary
The eye-catching, neoclassical Cary Arts Center, located where South Academy Street meets Dry Avenue, has roots as the town’s educational heart.
The property counts three different school identities over its more than 150-year history.
In 1870, Cary founder Frank Page financed a four-room, wood-frame schoolhouse known as (the original) Cary Academy. It taught students from elementary through 11th grade.
“The reason we have Academy Street rather than Main Street is because the road went down to the Academy, and it was indicative of how important the school was for the development of the community,” says Page-Walker’s Carmichael.
In 1896 it transitioned into Cary High School, a private boarding school that drew students from around the region. In 1907, Cary High School became the state’s first public high school, and by 1913, citizens supported a tax increase to modernize into a two-story brick facility costing $30,000.
Today’s four-columned structure with its grand steps was built in 1940 by the Works Progress Administration (WPA). It housed Cary High School until 1961, and it would later become Cary Junior High and Elementary School. The town purchased it from the school system in 2010 and repurposed it as the Cary Arts Center, adding a 431-seat theater for live performances. It earned Cary’s historic landmark status in 2017.
“Its development was through public input,” Carmichael says. “It was the community asking for a place to have their performances.”
Today the arts center hosts all types of fine arts programming—classes for adults and children in everything from painting, clay, metal and glass, to woodworking and jewelry-making—plus gallery space for artist exhibitions.
The theater, a high-tech facility in year-round use, is home to the Cary Players Community Theatre Company, Applause! Cary Youth Theatre and the town’s Marvelous Music series. Other community groups such as the Concert Singers of Cary, the Cary Town Band and the Cary Ballet Conservatory regularly perform there as well.
“If you’ve been in the Cary Arts Center, there’s a tip of the hat to its original purpose,” Carmichael says. Old locker doors serve as wainscoting, and framed photos of former students and other school memorabilia decorate the first floor.
Renovations of both the Page-Walker Hotel and the former Cary High School have purposefully left nods to original architectural design and meaning, Cary’s Assistant Planner Drye adds. “They’re in operation in a way that allows the people of Cary to interact with them and learn about Cary’s history,” she says.
HISTORIC GEMS OF FUQUAY-VARINA
By Heather Darnell
As one of the fastest-growing towns in North Carolina, Fuquay-Varina’s history is sometimes overlooked. However, two Fuquay-Varina buildings on the National Register of Historic Places offer windows into the past and show how locals hope Fuquay-Varina will incorporate that history in its future. The Fuquay-Varina Woman’s Club ensures that community service remains a priority in our town, while the Fuquay-Varina Mineral Spring Inn & Garden serves as a welcome sign for visitors, representing Fuquay-Varina’s hospitality.
Fuquay-Varina Woman’s Clubhouse
602 N. Ennis Street, Fuquay-Varina
An unassuming white house with a red door lies nestled in a downtown historic neighborhood in Fuquay-Varina. The house is not a private home, but a clubhouse built in 1936 that belongs to the Fuquay-Varina Woman’s Club. The club is the oldest civic organization in town, and the building has served as a community service launching pad for almost 100 years.
“The Woman’s Club has had a gracious history here,” says Shirley Simmons, the self-proclaimed “oldest member of the club.”
Knotty pine walls, floors and ceiling characterize the clubhouse interior, along with the building’s original windows. Wall hangings celebrate past members and achievements. Looking much as it did when it was built, the clubhouse resembles a one-room schoolhouse, centered around a single meeting room. Landscaping and modern updates have been made, like adding an HVAC unit, bathroom and kitchen, and removing a wood-burning stove.
The Fuquay-Varina Woman’s Club was formed in 1926, when women were excluded from many clubs and organizations. In 1927 the club joined the General Federation of Women’s Clubs of North Carolina, which was gaining traction. Founding member Amorette Ballentine Judd and her husband, Dr. J.M. Judd donated land for the Varina Woman’s Club at 602 N. Ennis Street, and the clubhouse was built in 1936. The house was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2007 and received Wake County Historic Landmark recognition in 2010.
“The Woman’s Club has meant a lot to the town. It’s been the most consistent service organization,” Simmons says proudly.
Over the past 98 years, the Fuquay-Varina Woman’s Club has served the town with programs benefiting residents of all ages, from seniors to children. It has run countless community service projects and fundraisers that have provided scholarships and grants for high schools and teachers and championed cultural arts, town beautification and literacy, including founding the town’s first public library.
Today, Simmons says, the club has about 70 members, many of whom are new and are looking for friends and ways to serve. The clubhouse is still used for monthly Woman’s Club and Junior Woman’s Club meetings, and they rent the space to other clubs as well. Rental fees help cover the cost of maintaining the historic building so the club’s primary focus can remain on service.
Fuquay Mineral Spring Inn & Garden
333 S. Main Street, Fuquay-Varina
In the early 1900s, the area that is now Fuquay-Varina had a reputation for its mineral spring’s healing properties. Travelers would come by train to visit the spring and stay the night. Today, the Fuquay Mineral Spring Inn & Garden honors that legacy in downtown Fuquay-Varina.
Fuquay Mineral Spring Inn & Garden was originally built in 1927 as a Colonial Revival–style home for the Cozart family. Dr. Wiley Simeon Cozart Jr. was the mayor of Fuquay Springs for 10 years, and his wife Pauline used their home and garden for community events through the 1970s. The Cozarts also built the next-door Ben-Wiley Hotel in 1925 to host guests visiting the mineral spring.
Today, John Byrne, a former Fuquay-Varina mayor of 20 years, and his wife Patty own and operate the inn. The house is part of the Fuquay Springs Historic District and is designated as a local historic landmark. Byrne views the inn as an extension of his home—and as an extension of Fuquay-Varina’s hospitality. He is a charming storyteller, and it’s easy to see why people enjoy visiting.
“People stay at the inn for three reasons: its location, environment and safety. And they come back because of how they’re cared for,” Byrne says.
In the last 25 years, the Byrnes have welcomed travelers from 52 countries and all 50 states. Guests can easily walk from the inn to many downtown sites for dining, shopping and entertainment—and right across the street to Fuquay Mineral Spring Park, where the spring that once formed the economic center of Fuquay Springs still flows.
Byrne sees the inn as an opportunity to invest in and revitalize downtown Fuquay-Varina. His unique passion for historic preservation and progress are palpable. “People should come to the Fuquay Springs Historic District and walk through it, and enjoy it and all the preservation that has been done by all the property owners, and see the [Fuquay] Mineral Spring Park,” he says. “See where the town started, and how it got its name.”
Byrne bought the house that is now the Mineral Spring Inn in 1999, when Fuquay-Varina’s downtown was not the bustling place it is today. After a two-year renovation, the five-room inn opened in 2001. The inn’s first floor features classical plaster molding, Hemingway furniture and a grand stairway with columns. The inn displays original artwork and baseball memorabilia from the innkeeper’s father, Tommy Byrne, who played baseball for the New York Yankees. Press clippings and awards commemorating Byrne’s projects and accomplishments are also displayed.
The inn’s landscaping is also a draw. Guests at the inn enjoy access to the outdoor garden and grounds. They can sip drinks sitting among hydrangea, nandina, wisteria, lantana and azaleas, or simply enjoy relaxing in the shade of a 100-year-old magnolia tree.
The preservation of these buildings brings visitors back to Fuquay-Varina’s early 20th-century history. At the same time, through their owners’ continuing service work and the energy they bring to celebrating their community, they are helping Fuquay-Varina move into a new and exciting future.
HISTORIC GEMS OF HOLLY SPRINGS
By Jennifer Axness
Holly Springs is home to a rich history reflected in its landmarks. Two of these in particular—Holly Springs Masonic Lodge No. 115 and the Leslie-Alford-Mims House—are historically significant and continue to play vital roles in the community today. These structures are testaments to the town’s past, having endured for many years through hard times while their members maintained their emphases on tradition and philanthropy.
Holly Springs Masonic Lodge No. 115
224 Raleigh Street, Holly Springs
Masonic Lodge No. 115 has long been a cornerstone of the Holly Springs community. Chartered in 1847, the lodge’s building, completed in 1852, is on the National Register of Historic Places. It is Wake County’s only Masonic lodge to predate the Civil War, and it is one of the oldest continuously operating Masonic lodges in the state.
Beyond its Masonic roots, the lodge’s history is deeply intertwined with the town’s development. The building still sits on its original site—an achievement in an area where many historic buildings have been moved to accommodate development. It has weathered numerous challenges, including the Civil War—a testament to its members’ resilience, since the town experienced severe decline during Reconstruction.
The lodge was central to Holly Springs’ early education. It opened Holly Springs’ first school in 1852, when the Masons began renting the hall out for classes. The lodge helped organize Holly Springs Academy in 1854, and in 1855 it helped establish a school for female students, renting the lower rooms of the hall for that purpose. Between 1883 and 1885, the lodge housed Holly Springs Institute, a new incarnation of Holly Springs Academy, and renamed it Holly Springs Masonic Institute. In 1909, the Grand Lodge of North Carolina met at the Holly Springs lodge to lay the cornerstone of Holly Springs High School, one of the first four public high schools in Wake County.
Architecturally, the lodge is a simple, two-story building influenced by the Greek Revival architectural style that was popular in the United States at the time it was built. Today both the interior and exterior retain many of their original characteristics, though of course, the building has been modernized over time. In 1949, the building’s original cornerstone was removed and cleaned, and the lodge inserted a copper box with the lodge’s history, lists of members and officers, and objects and newspaper clippings representative of 1940s local history.
The Freemasonry’s principles of brotherhood, charity and truth have guided the lodge for over 175 years. Lodge No. 115 members support causes like the Masonic Home for Children and WhiteStone retirement community. Today, their annual Brunswick stew fundraiser unites residents and raises funds for charitable initiatives.
“When I first joined in the early 2000s, the lodge was struggling with membership. But after a lot of effort and some key changes, we saw a real resurgence, especially after the release of The Da Vinci Code,” says Sam Prestipino, senior warden of the lodge. “We upgraded our building, joined the chamber of commerce and brought in new members, which helped us create a stronger presence in Holly Springs.”
The Lodge’s commitment to preservation has made it a symbol of community and history, while a resurgence of younger members ensures its legacy will endure in Holly Springs.
The Leslie-Alford-Mims House
100 Avent Ferry Road, Holly Springs
A short distance from the Holly Springs Masonic Lodge, the Leslie-Alford-Mims House is a stunning example of antebellum North Carolina architecture. Built in 1840 as a wedding gift from Archibald Leslie to his bride, Isabelle Rogers, the house reflects the Greek Revival style popular in the era. The original block includes a beautiful, two-story covered porch with Doric columns. The house later expanded with Colonial Revival elements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
The home’s significance is enhanced by the role it played during the Civil War. Isabelle Rogers Leslie worked hard to preserve the house despite its use as Union Army headquarters. After the war, prominent Holly Springs citizen George Benton Alford purchased the property. Alford (who belonged to the Holly Springs Masonic Lodge No. 115) worked tirelessly to bring economic prosperity to Holly Springs during its post–Civil War decline. It was through Alford’s efforts that Holly Springs was incorporated in 1877, and also through him that Holly Springs Academy was revived and eventually turned into the Holly Springs Masonic Institute. Alford added a third floor and a widow’s walk to the Leslie-Alford-Mims House when he lived there, among other additions.
Now listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the Leslie-Alford-Mims House was restored in 2014, preserving its original architectural features while accommodating its new role as an event venue. It is especially popular for weddings.
“I have such a deep affection for this house, its timeless charm, and the warmth of Southern hospitality—especially the magnolia trees,” says Brooke Everhart, the building’s current owner. “There’s something uniquely special about standing in this space, imagining the strains of a string quartet and the many occasions that have taken place here over the years.”
Both the Holly Springs Masonic Lodge No. 115 and the Leslie-Alford-Mims House are integral to the town’s identity, reflecting its rich history while actively contributing to community life. Efforts to preserve these landmarks, through restoration projects and ongoing events, ensure their continued relevance, preserving Holly Springs’ legacy while helping to shape its vibrant future.
HISTORIC GEMS OF MORRISVILLE
By Elizabeth Brignac
Morrisville turns out to have a more storied history than many locals realize. According to Ernest Dollar, the historian who directs the Museums Section for the City of Raleigh and who wrote the book Morrisville for the Images of America series, “Morrisville touches a lot of strange history in a lot of different places.”
Two buildings that have played important roles in Morrisville’s history are the Morrisville Christian Church and the Pugh House. Both centrally located in Morrisville, these structures were the settings for important cultural history in North Carolina, and are also excellent examples of local architectural traditions.
The Morrisville Christian Church
The Morrisville Christian Church building was erected in 1872–1873. Led by William Gaston Clements, the church’s founders followed a denomination that eventually became the United Church of Christ. Pastor James O’Kelly led this denomination, which split from the Methodist Church due in part to their sense that Methodists should do more to oppose the institution of slavery. O’Kelly settled on land near what is now Southpoint Mall in Durham. Clements, who had grown up in poverty and educated himself, married into O’Kelly’s family and founded the church in Morrisville on O’Kelly’s principles in 1872.
The Morrisville Christian Church building is important partly because it is one of the only well-preserved frame churches in the nation built in a style that was hugely popular for 19th-century Methodist churches. Its size, gable-front design and simplicity are representative of many of North Carolina’s rural churches at the time. The steeple, however, is unusual for this type of church, with its three-stage bell tower and its projecting gables. “It’s so unique when compared to so many other local churches,” says Dollar. “It’s got some type of an ode to this unique, weird Gothic architecture about the steeple. If you look at the very top, it’s … a throwback to some of the German churches’ architectural elements. So it’s certainly taking artistic license with this rural, country church.”
The church formed a pillar of Morrisville’s small railroad community in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Over time, however, attendance dwindled, and in the 1960s, it finally closed. In 1976, the Town of Morrisville bought the building and used it as its first Town Hall until the early 1990s. It then sat vacant until 2010, when the town restored it for use as a community center. In 2012, the Morrisville Christian Church was added to the National Register of Historic Places, and it remains an important example of religious architectural history in North Carolina.
The Pugh House
Built around 1870, the Pugh House is representative of 19th century life in Morrisville in several ways. First, its smokehouse remains intact and is a good example of a working outbuilding, which was important in the life of a 19th-century North Carolina house. Second, the house is covered with elaborate ornamentation that was very popular in this area in its day. “The Pugh House has got to be the most ostentatious, gaudy house in Morrisville,” says Dollar. “And it is definitely like that for a purpose.”
The house’s distinctive features include panels of woodwork sporting fleur-de-lis patterns on the extended gables; ornamental brackets around the roof, capped with decorative finials; porch posts linked by rounded arches covered with elaborate scrollwork, and other embellishments.
The house was moved from its original location in 2008 in order to save it from demolition; originally, it stood across from the Morrisville railroad station. “If you arrive in Morrisville [in the 19th century], you’re going to look over and see the Pugh house and go, ‘Wow, that man is important and is affluent to have a house like that!’” says Dollar.
The man in question was merchant James Pugh, for whom the Italianate house was originally built. His neighbors shared his attachment to ornamentation. “Morrisville’s got one of the largest collections of this decorative scrollwork in Wake County,” says Dollar, who believes a local factory may have been producing these decorative elements and selling them to area homeowners. “After the Civil War, there was an explosion in house building. That’s why you see a lot of this stuff on houses of this age,” Dollar adds.
James Pugh’s daughter, Mabel Pugh, also gives the house significance. She grew up there and eventually became a noteworthy artist. In the 1920s and ’30s, her illustrations appeared in fashionable magazines and on the covers of popular novels across the country. She was recognized as a prominent printmaker, and her paintings won numerous awards. She moved back to Morrisville in 1938 to become director of the art department at William Peace University (which was then called Peace Institute).
In 1933, Mabel Pugh wrote and illustrated Little Carolina Bluebonnet, an autobiography of her Morrisville childhood. “It’s got all of these incredibly intimate pictures of Morrisville,” says Dollar. “There’s a little sketch in there of her father asleep on the porch in a chair, and other scenes of Morrisville.”
At present, the Pugh House’s future is uncertain. The Town of Morrisville bought it in 2008 but is not using it because the house requires extensive renovation. At present, the town is awaiting a response to a request for federal grant money to cover renovation and preservation work, and consulting with an architect on how they might use the property.
Dollar hopes every effort will be made to preserve these and other historic buildings in Morrisville. “These two buildings represent some of the earliest [U.S. citizens] to live in Morrisville,” he says. “So as [Morrisville] grows and diversifies, how are we going to keep a lot of this history around?”
