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Selected Historical Photographs of Burke County North Carolina

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West Union Street - 100 Block
Downtown Morganton, NC
ca 1920

Source:

Nancy Hills Davis

2002-09-17-016

Davis Store: I. I. Davis and Bro. Store

118 West Union Street

Built ca 1895.  It is probably the first brick building constructed in downtown Morganton after the fire of 1893. The church on the left may have been the First Methodist Church.  Calvary Lutheran Church is near the site today. 

Source:

Nancy Hills Davis

2002-09-19-001

131-139 West Union Street

Downtown Morganton, NC
ca 1911

Construction of Four Buildings (1)

The steeple of the First Methodist Church is in the background. The church was located in the 100 block of South King Street at that time.

131-139 West Union Street

Downtown Morganton, NC
ca 1911

Construction of Four Buildings (2)

131-139 West Union Street

Downtown Morganton, NC
ca 1911

Construction of Four Buildings (3)

Downtown Glen Alpine, NC:  Area East of Glen Alpine Town Hall -1902

At left, Glen Alpine Milling Company. At center, J. D. Pitts Lumber Company. Photograph includes Pitts Lumber Company employee houses. Smokestack in foreground behind trees is part of Noah O. Pitts Saw Mill.

John H. Pearson House

502 West Union Street, Morganton, NC.
Romanesque and Queen Anne style residence built for John Henry Pearson (1852 - 1954) ca 1891.  The house was razed in 1965.  The First Baptist Church of Morganton is on the site today.

Photographer:  F. W. Tyler

North Carolina School for the Deaf - Main Building
ca 1895

The building was designed by A. G. Bauer, an architect from Raleigh.  Construction was started in 1892, and was completed in time for the opening of school in 1894.  

Glen Alpine Springs Hotel

Located near Brindletown in Burke County. Incorporated by Thomas George Walton and John H. Pearson in 1870.  When it opened its doors in 1878, it  was the largest frame building in North Carolina.  In addition to healing waters, it offered many amenities such as billiards, bowling, lavish meals, and dancing. The hotel closed in 1902. The building was used for a school until 1909.  The structure burned to the ground in 1934.  

St. Stephens Episcopal Church

This African-American church was located on McDowell Street in Morganton directly across from Grace Episcopal Churchyard. Completed in 1891.