Durham Station, North Carolina
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Durham ( ) is a
city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclopedia''. 2nd edition. London: Routledge. It can be def ...
in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...
and the
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into
Orange County Orange County most commonly refers to: *Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area Orange County may also refer to: U.S. counties *Orange County, Florida, containing Orlando *Orange County, Indiana *Orange County, New ...
and
Wake County Wake County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most-populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake County was the 9th-fastest growing county in the U ...
. With a population of 283,506 in the 2020 Census, Durham is the 4th-most populous city in North Carolina, and the 74th-most populous city in the United States. The city is located in the east-central part of the
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
region along the
Eno River The Eno River, named for the Eno Native Americans who once lived along its banks, is the initial tributary of the Neuse River in North Carolina, United States. Descendants of European immigrants settled along the Eno River in the latter 1740s and ...
. Durham is the core of the four-county Durham-Chapel Hill Metropolitan Area, which has a population of 649,903 as of 2020 U.S. Census. The
Office of Management and Budget The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, pol ...
also includes Durham as a part of the
Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
-Durham-Cary
Combined Statistical Area Combined statistical area (CSA) is a United States Office of Management and Budget (OMB) term for a combination of adjacent metropolitan (MSA) and micropolitan statistical areas (µSA) across the 50 US states and the territory of Puerto Ric ...
, commonly known as the
Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to ...
, which has a population of 2,043,867 as of 2020 U.S. census. A railway depot was established in 1849 on land donated by Bartlett S. Durham, the namesake of the city. Following the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...
, the community of Durham Station expanded rapidly, in part due to the
tobacco industry The tobacco industry comprises those persons and companies who are engaged in the growth, preparation for sale, shipment, advertisement, and distribution of tobacco and tobacco-related products. It is a global industry; tobacco can grow in any ...
. The town was incorporated by act of the North Carolina General Assembly, in April 1869. The establishment of Durham County was ratified by the General Assembly 12 years later, in 1881. It became known as the founding place and headquarters of the
American Tobacco Company The American Tobacco Company was a tobacco company founded in 1890 by J. B. Duke through a merger between a number of U.S. tobacco manufacturers including Allen and Ginter and Goodwin & Company. The company was one of the original 12 members ...
.
Textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
and electric power industries also played an important role. While these industries have declined, Durham underwent revitalization and population growth to become an educational, medical, and research center. Durham is home to several recognized institutions of higher education, most notably Duke University and
North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from ...
. Durham is also a national leader in health-related activities, which are focused on the
Duke University Hospital Duke University Hospital is a 957-acute care bed academic tertiary care facility located in Durham, North Carolina. Established in 1930, it is the flagship teaching hospital for the Duke University Health System, a network of physicians and hos ...
and many private companies. Duke and its
Duke University Health System The Duke University Health System combines the Duke University School of Medicine, the Duke University School of Nursing, the Duke Clinic, and the member hospitals into a system of research, clinical care, and education. Member hospitals Duke ...
are the largest employers in the city. North Carolina Central University is a
historically black university Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
that is part of the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
system. Together, the two universities make Durham one of the vertices of the
Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to ...
area; central to this is the Research Triangle Park south of Durham, which encompasses an area of 11 square miles and is devoted to research facilities. On the Duke University campus are the
neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...
Duke Chapel Duke University Chapel is a chapel located at the center of the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, United States. It is an ecumenical Christian chapel and the center of religion at Duke, and has connections to the United Method ...
and the
Nasher Museum of Art The Nasher Museum of Art (previously the Duke University Museum of Art) is the art museum of Duke University, and is located on Duke's campus in Durham, North Carolina, United States. The Nasher, along with Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Art and Pr ...
. Other notable sites in the city include the Museum of Life and Science, Durham Performing Arts Center, Carolina Theatre, and
Duke Homestead and Tobacco Factory Duke Homestead State Historic Site is a state historic site and National Historic Landmark in Durham, North Carolina. The site belongs to the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural resources and commemorates the place where Washington ...
.
Bennett Place Bennett Place is a former farm and homestead in Durham, North Carolina, which was the site of the last surrender of a major Confederate army in the American Civil War, when Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to William T. Sherman. The first meetin ...
commemorates the location where
Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia secede ...
surrendered to
William T. Sherman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
in the American Civil War. The city is served, along with
Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
, by
Raleigh–Durham International Airport Raleigh–Durham International Airport , locally known by its IATA code RDU, is an international airport that serves Raleigh, Durham, and the surrounding Research Triangle region of North Carolina as its main airport. It is located in unincorpo ...
.


History


Pre-establishment

The Eno and the Occoneechi, related to the Sioux and the Shakori, lived and farmed in the area which became Durham. They may have established a village named Adshusheer on the site. The Great Indian Trading Path has been traced through Durham, and Native Americans helped to mold the area by establishing settlements and commercial transportation routes. In 1701, Durham's beauty was chronicled by the English explorer John Lawson, who called the area "the flower of the Carolinas." During the mid-1700s, Scots, Irish, and English colonists settled on land granted to George Carteret by King Charles I (for whom the Carolinas are named). Early settlers built gristmills, such as
West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...
, and worked the land. Prior to the American Revolution, frontiersmen in what is now Durham were involved in the
Regulator movement The Regulator Movement, also known as the Regulator Insurrection, War of Regulation, and War of the Regulation, was an uprising in Provincial North Carolina from 1766 to 1771 in which citizens took up arms against colonial officials, whom they v ...
. According to legend, Loyalist militia cut Cornwallis Road through this area in 1771 to quell the rebellion. Later, William Johnston, a local shopkeeper and farmer, made Revolutionaries' munitions, served in the Provincial Capital Congress in 1775, and helped underwrite
Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyond the we ...
's westward explorations.


Antebellum and Civil War

Prior to the arrival of the railroad, the area now known as Durham was the eastern part of present-day Orange County and was almost entirely agricultural, with a few businesses catering to travelers (particularly livestock drivers) along the Hillsborough Road. This road, eventually followed by US Route 70, was the major east–west route in North Carolina from colonial times until the construction of interstate highways. Steady population growth and an intersection with the road connecting Roxboro and Fayetteville made the area near this site suitable for a US Post Office. Roxboro, Fayetteville and Hillsborough Roads remain major thoroughfares in Durham, although they no longer exactly follow their early 19th century rights-of-way. Large plantations, Hardscrabble, Fairntosh, Lipscomb,
Patterson Patterson may refer to: People * Patterson (surname) Places ;Canada * Pattersons Corners, Ontario *Patterson Township, Ontario *Patterson, Calgary a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta. ;United States of America * Patterson, Arkansas *Patterson, C ...
, and
Leigh Leigh may refer to: Places In England Pronounced : * Leigh, Greater Manchester, Borough of Wigan ** Leigh (UK Parliament constituency) * Leigh-on-Sea, Essex Pronounced : * Leigh, Dorset * Leigh, Gloucestershire * Leigh, Kent * Leigh, Staf ...
among them, were established in the antebellum period. By 1860, Stagville Plantation lay at the center of one of the largest plantation holdings in the South. African slaves were brought to labor on these farms and plantations, and slave quarters became the hearth of distinctively Southern cultural traditions involving crafts, social relations, life rituals, music, and dance. There were free
African-American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ensl ...
s in the area as well, including several who fought in the Revolutionary War. Durham's location is a result of the needs of the 19th century railroad industry. The wood-burning steam locomotives of the time had to stop frequently for wood and water and the new
North Carolina Railroad The North Carolina Railroad is a state-owned rail corridor extending from Morehead City, North Carolina to Charlotte, North Carolina. The railroad carries over seventy freight trains offered by the Norfolk Southern Railway and eight passenger ...
needed a depot between the settled towns of Raleigh and Hillsborough. The residents of what is now downtown Durham thought their businesses catering to livestock drivers had a better future than "a new-fangled nonsense like a railroad" and refused to sell or lease land for a depot. In 1849, a North Carolina Railroad depot was established on a four-acre tract of land donated by Dr. Bartlett S. Durham; the station was named after him in recognition of his gift. A
U.S. post office The United States Postal Service (USPS), also known as the Post Office, U.S. Mail, or Postal Service, is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the executive branch of the Federal government of the Uni ...
was established there on April 26, 1853, now recognized as the city's official birthday. Durham Station, as it was known for its first 20 years, was a depot for the occasional passenger or express package until early April 1865, when the Federal Army commanded by Major General
William T. Sherman William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
occupied the nearby state capital of Raleigh during the American Civil War. The last formidable Confederate Army in the South, commanded by General
Joseph E. Johnston Joseph Eggleston Johnston (February 3, 1807 – March 21, 1891) was an American career army officer, serving with distinction in the United States Army during the Mexican–American War (1846–1848) and the Seminole Wars. After Virginia secede ...
, was headquartered in
Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...
to the west. After the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia by Gen. Robert E. Lee at Appomattox, Virginia on April 9, 1865, Gen. Johnston sought surrender terms, which were negotiated on April 17, 18 and 26 at
Bennett Place Bennett Place is a former farm and homestead in Durham, North Carolina, which was the site of the last surrender of a major Confederate army in the American Civil War, when Joseph E. Johnston surrendered to William T. Sherman. The first meetin ...
, the small farm of James and Nancy Bennett, located halfway between the army's lines about west of Durham Station. As both armies passed through Durham, Hillsborough, and surrounding Piedmont communities, they enjoyed the mild flavor of the area's Brightleaf tobacco, which was considered more pleasant to smoke or chew than was available back home after the war. Some began sending letters to Durham to get more.


Reconstruction and the rise of Durham tobacco

The community of Durham Station grew slowly before the Civil War, but expanded rapidly following the war. Much of this growth attributed to the establishment of a thriving
tobacco Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
industry. Veterans returned home after the war with an interest in acquiring more of the tobacco they had sampled in North Carolina. Numerous orders were mailed to John Ruffin Green's tobacco company requesting more of the Durham tobacco. W.T. Blackwell partnered with Green and renamed the company as the "
Bull Durham Tobacco Factory W.T. Blackwell & Co. Tobacco was a tobacco manufacturer in Durham, North Carolina. It was best known as the original producer of Bull Durham Tobacco, the first nationally marketed brand of tobacco products in the United States. The Blackwell to ...
". The name "Bull Durham" is said to have been taken from the bull on the British
Colman's Colman's is an English manufacturer of mustard and other sauces, formerly based and produced for 160 years at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. Owned by Unilever since 1995, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited ra ...
Mustard, which Mr. Blackwell mistakenly believed was manufactured in
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, England. Mustard known as Durham Mustard was originally produced in
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, England, by Mrs Clements and later by Ainsley during the eighteenth century. However, production of the original Durham Mustard has now been passed into the hands of
Colman's Colman's is an English manufacturer of mustard and other sauces, formerly based and produced for 160 years at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. Owned by Unilever since 1995, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited ra ...
of
Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...
, England.


Incorporation

As Durham Station's population rapidly increased, the station became a town and was incorporated by act of the North Carolina General Assembly, on April 10, 1869. It was named for the man who provided the land on which the station was built, Dr. Bartlett Durham. At the time of its incorporation by the General Assembly, Durham was located in Orange County. The increase in business activity, land transfers etc., made the day long trip back and forth to the county seat in Hillsborough untenable, so twelve years later, on April 17, 1881, a bill for the establishment of Durham County was ratified by the General Assembly, having been introduced by Caleb B.Green, creating Durham County from the eastern portion of Orange County and the western portion of
Wake County Wake County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most-populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake County was the 9th-fastest growing county in the U ...
. In 1911, parts of Cedar Fork Township of
Wake County Wake County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most-populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake County was the 9th-fastest growing county in the U ...
was transferred to Durham County and became Carr Township.


Early growth (1900–1970)

The rapid growth and prosperity of the Bull Durham Tobacco Company, and
Washington Duke Washington Duke (December 18, 1820 – May 8, 1905) was an American tobacco industrialist and philanthropist. During the American Civil War he enlisted in the Confederate States Navy. In 1865, Duke founded the "W. Duke, Sons & Co.", a tobacco ma ...
's W. Duke & Sons Tobacco Company, resulted in the rapid growth of the city of Durham. Washington Duke was a good businessman, but his sons were brilliant and established what amounted to a monopoly of the smoking and chewing tobacco business in the United States by 1900. In the early 1910s, the Federal Government forced a breakup of the Duke's business under the antitrust laws. The Dukes retained what became known as American Tobacco, a major corporation in its own right, with manufacturing based in Durham. American Tobacco's ubiquitous advertisements on radio shows beginning in the 1930s and television shows up to 1970 was the nation's image of Durham until Duke University supplanted it in the late 20th century. Prevented from further investment in the tobacco industry, the Dukes turned to the then new industry of electric power generation, which they had been investing in since the early 1890s.
Duke Power Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. Overview Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Duke Energy owns 58,200 megawatts of base-load and peak generation in ...
(now Duke Energy) brought in electricity from hydroelectric dams in the western mountains of North Carolina through the newly invented technology of high voltage power lines. At this time (1910–1920), the few towns and cities in North Carolina that had electricity depended on local "powerhouses". These were large, noisy, and smoky coal-fired plants located next to the railroad tracks. Duke Power quickly took over the electricity franchises in these towns and then electrified all the other towns of central and western North Carolina, making even more money than they ever made from tobacco. Duke Power also had a significant business in local franchises for public transit (buses and trolleys) before local government took over this responsibility in the mid- to late 20th century. Duke Power ran Durham's public bus system (now the
Durham Area Transit Authority GoDurham, formerly Durham Area Transit Authority (DATA), is the public transit system serving Durham, North Carolina. It was rebranded under the consolidated GoTransit branding scheme for the Research Triangle region. In , the system had a riders ...
) until 1991. The success of the tobacco industry in the late 19th and early 20th century encouraged the then-growing textile industry to locate just outside Durham. The early electrification of Durham was also a large incentive. Drawing a labor force from the economic demise of single family farms in the region at the time, these textile mills doubled the population of Durham. These areas were known as East Durham and West Durham until they were eventually annexed by the City of Durham. Much of the early city
architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, both commercial and residential, dates from the period of 1890–1930. Durham recorded its worst fire in history on March 23, 1914. The multimillion-dollar blaze destroyed a large portion of the downtown business district. The fire department's water source failed during the blaze, prompting voters to establish a city-owned water system in place of the private systems that had served the city since 1887. Durham quickly developed a black community, the center of which was an area known as '' Hayti'', (pronounced HAY-tie), just south of the center of town, where some of the most prominent and successful black-owned businesses in the country during the early 20th century were established. These businesses — the best known of which are
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company NC Mutual (originally the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association and later North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company) was an American life insurance company located in downtown Durham, North Carolina and one of the most influential A ...
and Mechanics & Farmers Bank — were centered on Parrish St., which would come to be known as "Black Wall Street." In 1910, Dr. James E. Shepard founded
North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from ...
, the nation's first publicly supported liberal arts college for African-Americans. In 1924,
James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University. ...
established a philanthropic foundation in honor of his father
Washington Duke Washington Duke (December 18, 1820 – May 8, 1905) was an American tobacco industrialist and philanthropist. During the American Civil War he enlisted in the Confederate States Navy. In 1865, Duke founded the "W. Duke, Sons & Co.", a tobacco ma ...
to support Trinity College in Durham. The college changed its name to Duke University and built a large campus and hospital a mile west of Trinity College (the original site of Trinity College is now known as the Duke East Campus). Durham's manufacturing fortunes declined during the mid-20th century.
Textile Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...
mills began to close during the 1930s. Competition from other tobacco companies (as well as a decrease in smoking after the 1960s) reduced revenues from Durham's tobacco industry. In a far-sighted move in the late 1950s, Duke University, along with the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University in Raleigh, persuaded the North Carolina Legislature to purchase a large tract of sparsely settled land in southern Durham County and create the nation's first "science park" for industry. Cheap land and a steady supply of trained workers from the local universities made the Research Triangle Park an enormous success which, along with the expansion resulting from the clinical and scientific advances of Duke Medical Center and Duke University, more than made up for the decline of Durham's tobacco and textile industries.


Civil Rights Movement

As a result of its substantial African-American community, including many activists, a prominent
civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional racial segregation, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...
developed in Durham. Multiple sit-ins were held, and
Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...
, visited the city during the struggle for equal rights. The Durham Committee on Negro Affairs, organized in 1935 by C.C. Spaulding, Louis Austin, Conrad Pearson, and James E. Shepard, has been cited nationally for its role in fighting for black voting rights. The committee also has used its voting strength to pursue social and economic rights for African-Americans and other ethnic groups. In 1957, Douglas E. Moore, minister of Durham's Asbury Temple Methodist Church, along with other religious and community leaders, pioneered sit-ins throughout North Carolina to protest discrimination at lunch counters that served only whites. Widely credited as the first sit-in of the Civil Rights Movement in North Carolina, on June 23, 1957, Moore and six others assembled at the church to plan the protest. The young African Americans moved over to the segregated Royal Ice Cream Parlor and took up whites-only booths. When they refused to budge, the manager called the police who charged them with trespassing. Unlike the
Greensboro Four The Greensboro sit-ins were a series of nonviolent protests in February to July 1960, primarily in the Woolworth store—now the International Civil Rights Center and Museum—in Greensboro, North Carolina, which led to the F. W. Woolworth Comp ...
, three years later, the Royal Seven were arrested and ultimately found guilty of trespassing. The six-month-long sit-in at a Woolworth's counter in
Greensboro, NC Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte, North Car ...
, captured the nation's attention. Within a week, students from North Carolina College at Durham and Duke University staged a sit-in in Durham. About a week later, Martin Luther King Jr. met Moore in Durham, where King coined his famous rallying cry "Fill up the jails," during a speech at White Rock Baptist Church. Advocating non-violent confrontation with segregation laws for the first time, King said, "Let us not fear going to jail. If the officials threaten to arrest us for standing up for our rights, we must answer by saying that we are willing and prepared to fill up the jails of the South." This community was not enough to prevent the demolition of portions of the Hayti district for the construction of the Durham Freeway during the late 1960s. The freeway construction resulted in losses to other historic neighborhoods, including Morehead Hill, West End, and West Durham. Combined with large-scale demolition using Urban Renewal funds, Durham suffered significant losses to its historic architectural base.


1970s – present

In 1970, the Census Bureau reported city's population as 38.8% black and 60.8% white. Durham's growth began to rekindle during the 1970s and 1980s, with the construction of multiple housing developments in the southern part of the city, nearest Research Triangle Park, and the beginnings of downtown revitalization. In 1975, the St. Joseph's Historical Foundation at the Hayti Heritage Center was incorporated to "preserve the heritage of the old Hayti community, and to promote the understanding of and appreciation for the African American experience and African Americans' contributions to world culture." A new downtown baseball stadium was constructed for the
Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened in ...
in 1994. The Durham Performing Arts Center now ranks in the top ten in theater ticket sales in the US according to Pollstar magazine. Many famous people have performed there including
B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...
and
Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American country musician. The critical success of the album ''Shotgun Willie'' (1973), combined with the critical and commercial success of ''Red Headed Stranger'' (1975) and '' Stardust'' (197 ...
. After the departure of the tobacco industry, large-scale renovations of the historic factories into offices, condominiums, and restaurants began to reshape downtown. While these efforts continue, the large majority of Durham's residential and retail growth since 1990 has been along the I-40 corridor in southern Durham County. Major employers in Durham are Duke University and Duke Medical Center (39,000 employees, 14,000 students), about west of the original downtown area, and companies in the Research Triangle Park (49,000 employees), about southeast. These centers are connected by the Durham Freeway (NC 147).


Downtown revitalization

In recent years the city of Durham has stepped up revitalization of its downtown and undergone an economic and cultural renaissance of sorts. Partnering with developers from around the world, the city continues to promote the redevelopment of many of its former tobacco districts, projects supplemented by the earlier construction of the Durham Performing Arts Center and new
Durham Bulls Athletic Park Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP, pronounced "d-bap") is a 10,000-seat ballpark in Durham, North Carolina that is home to the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. It is also home to the Duke Blue ...
. The
American Tobacco Historic District The American Tobacco Historic District is a historic tobacco factory complex and national historic district located in Durham, Durham County, North Carolina. The district encompasses 14 contributing buildings and three contributing structures bui ...
, adjacent to both the athletic park and performing arts center, is one such project, having successfully lured a number of restaurants, entertainment venues, and office space geared toward hi-tech entrepreneurs, investors, and startups. Many other companies have purchased and renovated historic buildings, such as
Measurement Incorporated Measurement Incorporated is an educational testing company based in Durham, North Carolina. The company was founded in 1980 by Dr. Henry Scherich. Measurement Incorporated currently administers state-wide standardized tests for Arizona, Californi ...
and
Capitol Broadcasting Company The Capitol Broadcasting Company, Inc. (CBC) is an American media company based in Raleigh, North Carolina. Capitol owns three television stations and nine radio stations in the Raleigh–Durham and Wilmington areas of North Carolina and the Du ...
. The American Underground section of the American Tobacco Campus, home to successful small software firms including
Red Hat Red Hat, Inc. is an American software company that provides open source software products to enterprises. Founded in 1993, Red Hat has its corporate headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina, with other offices worldwide. Red Hat has become ass ...
, was selected by
Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
to host its launch of the
Google Glass Google Glass, or simply Glass, is a brand of smart glasses developed and sold by Google. It was developed by X (previously Google X), with the mission of producing an ubiquitous computer. Google Glass displays information to the wearer using ...
Road show in October 2013. The district is also slated for expansion featuring 158,000 square feet of offices, retail, residential or hotel space The
Durham County Justice Center The Durham County Justice Center is a civic building in downtown Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange Coun ...
, a major addition to downtown Durham, was completed in early 2013. Many of the historic tobacco buildings elsewhere in the city have been converted into loft-style apartment complexes. The downtown corridor along West Main St. has seen significant redevelopment including bars, entertainment venues, art studios, and
co-working Coworking is an arrangement in which workers for different companies share an office space. It allows cost savings and convenience through the use of common infrastructures, such as equipment, utilities and receptionist and custodial services, a ...
spaces, in addition to shopping and dining in nearby
Brightleaf Square Watts and Yuille Warehouses, also known as Brightleaf Square, are two historic tobacco storage warehouses located at Durham, North Carolina, Durham, Durham County, North Carolina. They were built in 1904, and are two identical buildings parallel t ...
, another former tobacco warehouse in the Bright Leaf Historic District. Other current and future projects include expansion of the open-space surrounding the
American Tobacco Trail The American Tobacco Trail (ATT) is a long Rails-to-Trails project located in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina, running along an abandoned railroad bed originally built for the American Tobacco Company in the 1970s. The route cross ...
, new hotels and apartment complexes, a $6.35-million facelift of Durham City Hall, and ongoing redevelopment of the Duke University Central Campus. In 2013,
21c Museum Hotels 21c Museum Hotels is a contemporary art museum and boutique hotel chain based in Louisville, Kentucky. The chain also has locations in Lexington, Kentucky; Cincinnati, Ohio; Chicago, Illinois; Bentonville, Arkansas; Durham, North Carolina; Okl ...
announced plans to fully renovate the
Hill Building The Hill Building is a 17-story modernistic skyscraper located in Durham, North Carolina. Built in 1935–1937, the Hill Building was designed by New York City architecture firm Shreve, Lamb & Harmon, best known for the design of the Empire Sta ...
. The renovations added a contemporary art museum and upscale restaurant to the historic building. Additionally, a boutique hotel was built in this major renovation effort in downtown Durham.
Skanska Skanska AB () is a multinational construction and development company based in Sweden. Skanska is the fifth-largest construction company in the world according to ''Construction Global'' magazine. Notable Skanska projects include renovation of t ...
is responsible for managing this project. In 2014, it was announced that downtown Durham would be the site of a brand new 27 story high building, tentatively named "City Center Tower", titled " One City Center" . Along with other new buildings in downtown Durham, it was under construction in 2018. Construction has already started, and the building will be at the corner of Main St. and Corcoran St. It will be directly across from Durham's current tallest building, but once completed, will be the new tallest building in downtown Durham and the 4th largest building in the Triangle. Originally scheduled for a 2016 opening, the building was then expected to open in May 2018. This is an ambitious, $80 million project. In October 2014, a major new development, the Durham Innovation District, was announced. The development will span 15 acres and comprise over 1.7 million square feet of office, residential, and retail space. On April 10, 2019, a
gas explosion A gas explosion is an explosion resulting from mixing a gas, typically from a gas leak, with air in the presence of an ignition source. In household accidents, the principal explosive gases are those used for heating or cooking purposes such as nat ...
rocked Kaffeinate, a coffee shop in Bright Leaf Historic District. The blast destroyed a city block and killed Kong Lee, the owner, as well as injuring 25 others.


Geography

Durham is located in the east-central part of the
Piedmont it, Piemontese , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...
region at (35.988644, −78.907167). Like much of the region, its topography is generally flat with some rolling hills. The city has a total area of , of which is land and , or 0.84%, is water. The soil is predominantly clay, making it poor for agriculture. The
Eno River The Eno River, named for the Eno Native Americans who once lived along its banks, is the initial tributary of the Neuse River in North Carolina, United States. Descendants of European immigrants settled along the Eno River in the latter 1740s and ...
, a tributary of the
Neuse River The Neuse River ( , Tuscarora: Neyuherú·kęʔkì·nęʔ) is a river rising in the Piedmont of North Carolina and emptying into Pamlico Sound below New Bern. Its total length is approximately , making it the longest river entirely contained in No ...
, passes through the northern part of Durham, along with several other small creeks. The center of Durham is on a ridge that forms the divide between the Neuse River watershed, flowing east to
Pamlico Sound Pamlico Sound ( ) is a lagoon in North Carolina which is the largest lagoon along the North American East Coast, extending long and 15 to 20 miles (24 to 32 km) wide. It is part of a large, interconnected network of lagoon estuaries that in ...
, and the
Cape Fear River The Cape Fear River is a long blackwater river in east central North Carolina. It flows into the Atlantic Ocean near Cape Fear, from which it takes its name. The river is formed at the confluence of the Haw River and the Deep River (North Carol ...
watershed, flowing south to the Atlantic near Wilmington. A small portion of the city is in
Wake County Wake County is located in the U.S. state of North Carolina. In the 2020 census, its population was 1,129,410, making it North Carolina's most-populous county. From July 2005 to July 2006, Wake County was the 9th-fastest growing county in the U ...
. Durham is located 10.41 miles northeast of
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...
, 20.78 miles northwest of
Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
, 50.21 miles east of
Greensboro Greensboro (; formerly Greensborough) is a city in and the county seat of Guilford County, North Carolina, United States. It is the third-most populous city in North Carolina after Charlotte and Raleigh, the 69th-most populous city in the Un ...
, 121.40 miles northeast of
Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...
and 134.06 miles southwest of
Richmond, Virginia (Thus do we reach the stars) , image_map = , mapsize = 250 px , map_caption = Location within Virginia , pushpin_map = Virginia#USA , pushpin_label = Richmond , pushpin_m ...
.


Cityscape


Climate

Durham is classified as a
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a zone of climate characterized by hot and humid summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between latitudes 25° and 40° ...
(''Cfa'') according to the
Köppen classification Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author an ...
, with hot and humid summers, cool winters, and warm to mild spring and autumn. Durham receives abundant precipitation, with thunderstorms common in the summer and temperatures from 80 to 100 degrees F. The region sees an average of of snow per year, which usually melts within a few days. Durham consistently ranks in the top 10 least challenging places to live with seasonal allergies.


Demographics


2020 census

''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.'' As of the
2020 United States census The United States census of 2020 was the twenty-fourth decennial United States census. Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2020. Other than a pilot study during the 2000 census, this was the first U.S. census to of ...
, there were 283,506 people, 114,726 households, and 64,982 families residing in the city.


2010 census

As of the 2010
census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
, there were 228,330 people, 93,441 households, and 52,409 families residing in the city. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopul ...
was 2,406.0 people per square mile (928.9/km2). There were 103,221 housing units at an average density of 1,087.7 per square mile (419.9/km2). The racial composition of the city was: 42.45%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on ...
, 40.96%
Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
or
African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...
, 5.07%
Asian American Asian Americans are Americans of Asian ancestry (including naturalized Americans who are immigrants from specific regions in Asia and descendants of such immigrants). Although this term had historically been used for all the indigenous people ...
, 0.51% Native American, 0.07%
Native Hawaiian Native Hawaiians (also known as Indigenous Hawaiians, Kānaka Maoli, Aboriginal Hawaiians, First Hawaiians, or simply Hawaiians) ( haw, kānaka, , , and ), are the indigenous ethnic group of Polynesian people of the Hawaiian Islands. Hawaii ...
or Other Pacific Islander, 8.28% some other race, and 2.66%
two or more races 2 (two) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 1 and preceding 3. It is the smallest and only even prime number. Because it forms the basis of a duality, it has religious and spiritual significance in many cultur ...
; 14.22% were
Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to Vic ...
or
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
of any race.
Non-Hispanic White Non-Hispanic whites or Non-Latino whites are Americans who are classified as "white", and are not of Hispanic (also known as "Latino") heritage. The United States Census Bureau defines ''white'' to include European Americans, Middle Eastern Amer ...
comprised 37.9% of the population. Durham's population, as of July 1, 2019 and according to the 2019 US census data estimate, had grown to 278,993, making it the 50th fastest growing city in the US, and the 2nd fastest growing city in North Carolina, behind Cary but ahead of Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro. There were 93,441
household A household consists of two or more persons who live in the same dwelling. It may be of a single family or another type of person group. The household is the basic unit of analysis in many social, microeconomic and government models, and is im ...
s, out of which 27.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 36.2% were
married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between t ...
living together, 15.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 43.9% were non-families. 33.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.34, and the average family size was 3.04. In the city, the population was spread out, with 22.7% under the age of 18, 14.1% from 18 to 24, 33.6% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 8.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.9 males. The
median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of ...
for a household in the city was $47,394, and the median income for a family was $60,157. Males had a median income of $35,202 versus $30,359 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...
for the city was $27,156. About 13.1% of families and 18.6% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
, including 24.3% of those under age 18 and 10.1% of those age 65 or over.


Economy

Duke University and
Duke University Health System The Duke University Health System combines the Duke University School of Medicine, the Duke University School of Nursing, the Duke Clinic, and the member hospitals into a system of research, clinical care, and education. Member hospitals Duke ...
are Durham's largest employers. Below is a list of Durham's largest employers. Healthcare and pharmaceuticals continue to grow in importance with many companies based in Durham including
IQVIA IQVIA, formerly Quintiles and IMS Health, Inc., is an American multinational company serving the combined industries of health information technology and clinical research. IQVIA is a provider of biopharmaceutical development and commercial outs ...
,
Aerie Pharmaceuticals Aerie Pharmaceuticals Inc. is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on the discovery, development and commercialization of therapies for the treatment of patients with glaucoma and other diseases of the eye. Aerie's two lead product candi ...
, Chimerix,
BioCryst Pharmaceuticals BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is an American pharmaceutical company headquartered in Durham, North Carolina. The company is a late stage biotech company that focuses on oral drugs for rare and serious diseases. BioCryst's antiviral drug perami ...
,
Bio Products Laboratory The Bio Products Laboratory (BPL) is a company involved in the manufacture of human blood plasma products, located in Elstree in the United Kingdom. It is run as a commercial business and supplies plasma derived products to the National Health S ...
USA,
bioMérieux bioMérieux SA is a French multinational biotechnology company founded and headquartered in Marcy-l'Étoile, France, close to Lyon. bioMérieux is present in 44 countries and serves more than 160 countries through a large network of distributors ...
USA and North Carolina Biotechnology Center. Other prominent companies based in Durham include Center for Community Self-Help,
Liggett Group Liggett Group ( ), formerly known as Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company, is the fourth largest tobacco company in the United States. Its headquarters are located in Durham, North Carolina, though its manufacturing facility is 30 miles to the west in ...
,
North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company NC Mutual (originally the North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association and later North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company) was an American life insurance company located in downtown Durham, North Carolina and one of the most influential A ...
, American Institute of Certified Public Accountants,
Bronto Software Oracle Bronto provides a cloud-based commerce marketing automation platform to mid-market and enterprise organizations. History In 2002, Joe Colopy and Chaz Felix founded Bronto Software in Durham, North Carolina. Bronto Software is currently ...
,
Counter Culture Coffee Counter Culture Coffee is a Durham, North Carolina based coffee roasting company founded in 1995. It has regional training locations in Asheville, NC; Atlanta; Boston; Charleston, SC; Chicago; Durham, NC; Emeryville, CA; New York City; Philadelp ...
,
Burt's Bees Burt's Bees is an American multinational, personal care product company. The company is a subsidiary of Clorox that describes itself as an " Earth-friendly, Natural Personal Care Company" making products for personal care, health, beauty and per ...
,
McKinney (advertising agency) McKinney is an advertising agency based in Durham, North Carolina, with offices in Los Angeles and New York City. History The agency was founded in 1969 as McKinney & Silver by Charles "Chick" McKinney & Mike Silver. The agency was later ren ...
,
Sugar Hill Records Sugar Hill Records is an American bluegrass and Americana record label. It was founded in Durham, North Carolina in 1978 by Barry Poss and David Freeman, the owner of County Records and Rebel Records. Poss acquired full control of Sugar Hil ...
,
Mechanics and Farmers Bank The Mechanics and Farmers Bank (abbreviated as M&F Bank) is an American bank owned by M&F Bancorp, Inc based in Durham, North Carolina. It served as one of the most influential African-American businesses in North Carolina in the 20th century. ...
,
Southern Express Southern Express is an American transportation company dealing with charter bus services and related passenger transportation services. Based in the Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina, Durham area of North Carolina, the compan ...
.


Arts and culture

Durham is the venue for the annual Bull Durham Blues Festival and the OUTsouth Queer Film Festival, the 2nd largest LGBTQ+ film festival in the Southeast. Other events include jazz festivals, plays, symphony concerts, art exhibitions, and a multitude of cultural expositions, including the
American Dance Festival The American Dance Festival (ADF) under the direction of Executive Director Jodee Nimerichter hosts its main summer dance courses including Summer Dance Intensive, Pre-Professional Dance Intensive, and the Dance Professional Workshops. It also hos ...
, Tobacco Road Dance, and the
Full Frame Documentary Film Festival The Full Frame Documentary Film Festival is an annual international event dedicated to the theatrical exhibition of non-fiction cinema. The festival is a program of the Center for Documentary Studies, a non-profit, 501(c)(3) at Duke University. ...
. A center of Durham's culture is its Carolina Theatre, which presents concerts, comedy and arts in historic Fletcher Hall and Independent and repertory film in its cinemas. There is a resurgence of restaurants in and around the downtown area, including several new restaurants in the American Tobacco District. The
Nasher Museum of Art The Nasher Museum of Art (previously the Duke University Museum of Art) is the art museum of Duke University, and is located on Duke's campus in Durham, North Carolina, United States. The Nasher, along with Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Art and Pr ...
opened in October 2005 and has produced nationally recognized traveling exhibitions of global, contemporary art. Durham also boasts an outstanding history museum, the Museum of Durham History. In 2019, the museum hosted several exhibits, including one on journalist and civil rights activist
Louis Austin Louis Austin (1898-1971) was an African-American journalist, civic leader and social activist. Austin purchased ''The Carolina Times'' in 1927 and transformed it into an institution that aided African Americans in their fight for freedom and equa ...
, and in conjunction with the 150th anniversary of the city of Durham, an exhibit titled, "150 Faces of Durham", which highlighted many of the women and men who influenced the history of Durham. The Durham Association for Downtown Arts (DADA) is a non-profit arts organization located in the downtown area. It was founded in 1998 and then incorporated in 2000. The organization's mission is a commitment to the development, presentation and fiscal sponsorship of original art and performance in Durham. DADA strives to support local artists working in a diversity of artistic media. Emphasizing community, DADA helps local residents gain access to these artists by providing free or low-cost venue admission. Movies such as ''
Bull Durham ''Bull Durham'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy sports film. It is partly based upon the minor-league baseball experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor-league baseball team in ...
'' (1988) and ''
The Handmaid's Tale ''The Handmaid's Tale'' is a futuristic dystopian novel by Canadian author Margaret Atwood and published in 1985. It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which h ...
'' (1989) have been shot in Durham.


Music

Durham has an active and diverse local music culture. Artists' styles range from jazz, hip-hop, soul, folk, Americana, blues, bluegrass, punk, metal and rock. Popular bands and musicians include
Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed inst ...
,
Iron & Wine Samuel "Sam" Ervin Beam (born July 26, 1974), better known by his stage name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a ...
,
Carolina Chocolate Drops The Carolina Chocolate Drops were an old-time string band from Durham, North Carolina. Their 2010 album, ''Genuine Negro Jig,'' won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, and was number 9 in ''fRoots'' ...
,
The Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the ...
,
John Dee Holeman John Dee Holeman (April 4, 1929April 30, 2021) was an American Piedmont blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. His music includes elements of Texas blues, R&B and African-American string-band music. In his younger days he was also known for ...
,
9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a Red Clay Ramblers The Red Clay Ramblers are a North Carolina-based band founded in Durham, North Carolina, performing continuously since their formation in 1972. The current touring band has been together since 1987, with Jack Herrick (trumpet, bass), Bland Simpson ...
,
The Old Ceremony The Old Ceremony is a Chapel Hill, North Carolina pop-noir musical group fronted by Django Haskins. Formed in 2004, the group has released five full-length albums, ''Our One Mistake'', on sonaBLAST! Records; ''The Old Ceremony'', ''Walk On Thi ...
,
Megafaun Megafaun is an American psychedelic folk band based in Durham, North Carolina.Mongillo, Peter (2010) "Megafaun relaxes into headlining slot", '' Austin American-Statesman'', April 27, 2010, p. D02 History Brothers Brad Cook (bass, guitar) and Phi ...
, Curtis Eller, Mount Moriah,
Hiss Golden Messenger Hiss Golden Messenger is an American folk music band, originating from Durham, North Carolina, led by MC Taylor (born September 9, 1975). History The band was formed by Mike (MC) Taylor and Scott Hirsch in 2007. The band's early recordings were ...
,
Sylvan Esso Sylvan Esso is an American electronic pop duo from Durham, North Carolina, formed in 2013. The band consists of singer Amelia Meath (born July 2, 1988) and producer Nick Sanborn (born March 8, 1983). They made their debut with the single "Hey Mam ...
,
Mel Melton Mel Melton, is an American musician, singer, and chef. Much of his music is in the Zydeco style and his cooking primarily focuses on the culture of southern Louisiana. Biography A native of Gastonia, North Carolina, Roy "Mel" Melton first went to ...
, Hammer No More the Fingers,
Yahzarah Dana Nicole Amma Williams (born June 24, 1978), is known professionally as YahZarah, is a Ghanaian American singer and music producer. She is known for radio hits "Wishing" and "Why Dontcha Call Me No More". In 1997, she began her career as a b ...
, G Yamazawa, and Jim Mills. Members of
The Butchies The Butchies were an all-female punk rock band from Durham, North Carolina, that existed from 1998 to 2005. They reunited from their hiatus to tour with Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls promoting Ray's new album in 2010. The frequent focus of their ...
,
Superchunk Superchunk is an American indie rock band from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States, consisting of singer-guitarist Mac McCaughan, guitarist Jim Wilbur, bassist Laura Ballance, and drummer Jon Wurster. Formed in 1989, they were one of the ...
, Chatham County Line,
Alice Donut Alice Donut is a punk rock band from New York City formed in 1986. The band released six albums before splitting up in 1996. They reformed in 2001. History 1986–1996: Formation to split Alice Donut formed in 1986 after the demise of the Sea B ...
, and the
Avett Brothers The Avett Brothers are an American folk rock band from Concord, North Carolina. The band is made up of two brothers, Scott Avett (banjo, lead vocals, guitar, piano, kick-drum) and Seth Avett (guitar, lead vocals, piano, hi-hat) along with Bob C ...
live in Durham.
Merge Records Merge Records is an independent record label based in Durham, North Carolina. It was founded in 1989 by Laura Ballance and Mac McCaughan. It began as an outlet for music from their band Superchunk and music created by friends, and has expande ...
, a successful independent record label, has its headquarters in downtown Durham. Other independent record labels include Jamla, 307 Knox, Churchkey Records, and Paradise of Bachelors. Roots label
Sugar Hill Records Sugar Hill Records is an American bluegrass and Americana record label. It was founded in Durham, North Carolina in 1978 by Barry Poss and David Freeman, the owner of County Records and Rebel Records. Poss acquired full control of Sugar Hil ...
was founded in Durham, by Barry Lyle Poss, before it moved to Nashville in 1998. In 1996, the
feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...
/
queer ''Queer'' is an umbrella term for people who are not heterosexual or cisgender. Originally meaning or , ''queer'' came to be used pejoratively against those with same-sex desires or relationships in the late 19th century. Beginning in the lat ...
record label
Mr. Lady Records Mr. Lady Records (or Mr. Lady Records and Video) was a San Francisco-based lesbian- feminist independent record label and video art distributor. (Press release of a 2001 art show at the Weisman Art Museum) Artists on the label included Le Tigre ...
was founded and operated in Durham until its demise in 2004. Duke University's radio station
WXDU WXDU (88.7 FM) is a non-commercial campus radio station broadcasting a college radio format. Licensed to Durham, North Carolina, United States, the station serves the Research Triangle area. The station is owned by Duke University. History ...
is an active participant in the community
WNCU
which is supported in part by
NPR National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other ...
, is a jazz focused FM radio station, with broadcast studios on the campus of NCCU. The music album Sandham: Symphony Meets Classical Tamil by composer
Rajan Somasundaram Rajan Somasundaram, best known as Composer Rajan, is a composer, drummer, violinist and music producer based in Raleigh. He is known for making the first ever music album on Tamil Sangam period poetry in association with Durham Symphony and promi ...
made in association with Academy nominated singer
Bombay Jayashri "Bombay" Jayashri Ramnath is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, singer, and musician. She has sung in multiple languages including Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi movies. Born into a family of musicians, Jayashri represents the fourth ge ...
and Durham Symphony (led by
William Henry Curry William Henry Curry (born June 30, 1954) is an American conductor and composer. Since 2009 he has been the Music Director of Durham Symphony Orchestra. Life and career Willam Henry Curry was born in Pittsburgh on June 30, 1954. He started co ...
) became Amazon's Top#10 bestseller under 'International Music album' category in 2020. Durham has a rich history of African American rhythm and blues, soul, and funk music. In the 1960s and 1970s, more than 40 R&B, soul, and funk groups—including The Modulations, The Black Experience Band, The Communicators, and Duralcha—recorded over 30 singles and three full-length albums. Durham was also home to ten recording labels that released soul music, though most of them only released one or two records apiece. A few successful local soul groups from Durham also recorded on national labels like United Artists or on regional labels in the mid-Atlantic and Northeast.


Visual arts

Durham is home to the
Nasher Museum of Art The Nasher Museum of Art (previously the Duke University Museum of Art) is the art museum of Duke University, and is located on Duke's campus in Durham, North Carolina, United States. The Nasher, along with Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Art and Pr ...
and smaller visual arts galleries and studios. Downtown Durham sponsors a celebration of culture and arts on display every third Friday of the month, year round. The event has come to be known as 3rd Friday. A selection of locally renowned galleries remain in business throughout the city. Galleries include but are not limited to local spots such as the Pleiades Gallery, the Carrack Modern Art, and Golden Belt Studios. Supporting a variety of local, nationwide, and worldwide talent, these galleries often host weekly events and art shows. The Durham Art Walk is another annual arts festival hosted in May each year in downtown Durham. The Durham Art Walk features a variety of artists that come together each year for a large showcase of work in the streets of Durham. A secondary magnet school, Durham School of the Arts, is also located in downtown Durham. It focuses on providing education in various forms of art ranging from visual to the performing arts.


Sports

Collegiate athletics are a primary focus in Durham. Duke University's men's basketball team draws a large following, selling out every home game at
Cameron Indoor Stadium Cameron Indoor Stadium is an indoor arena located on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. The 9,314-seat facility is the primary indoor athletic venue for the Duke Blue Devils and serves as the home court for Duke men's ...
since 1990. The fans are known as the
Cameron Crazies The Cameron Crazies are the student section supporting the Duke Blue Devils men's basketball team and the Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team. The section can hold approximately 1,200 occupants. The section, also deemed "The Zoo" by Al McGu ...
and are known nationwide for their chants and rowdiness. The team has won the
NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...
championship three times since 2001 and five times overall. Duke competes in a total of 27 sports in the
Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
. Durham's professional sports team is the
Durham Bulls The Durham Bulls are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League and the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. They are located in Durham, North Carolina, and play their home games at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which opened in ...
International League The International League (IL) is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in the United States. Along with the Pacific Coast League, it is one of two leagues playing at the Triple-A level, which is one grade below Major League Baseball ...
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
team. A movie involving an earlier
Carolina League The Carolina League is a Minor League Baseball league which has operated along the Atlantic Coast of the United States since 1945. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 unti ...
team of that name, ''
Bull Durham ''Bull Durham'' is a 1988 American romantic comedy sports film. It is partly based upon the minor-league baseball experiences of writer/director Ron Shelton and depicts the players and fans of the Durham Bulls, a minor-league baseball team in ...
'', was produced in 1988. Today's Bulls play in the
Durham Bulls Athletic Park Durham Bulls Athletic Park (DBAP, pronounced "d-bap") is a 10,000-seat ballpark in Durham, North Carolina that is home to the Durham Bulls, the Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays of Major League Baseball. It is also home to the Duke Blue ...
, on the southern end of downtown, constructed in 1994. One of the more successful teams in the minor leagues, the Bulls usually generate an annual attendance of around 500,000. Previously
Durham Athletic Park Durham Athletic Park, nicknamed "The DAP", is a former minor league baseball stadium in Durham, North Carolina. The stadium was home to the Durham Bulls from 1926 through 1994, and is currently home to the North Carolina Central Eagles and t ...
(DAP), located on the northern end of downtown, had served as the Bull's ballpark. Historically, many players for the current and former Durham Bulls teams have transferred to the big leagues after several years in the minor leagues. DAP has been preserved for the use of other teams as well as for concerts sponsored by the City of Durham and other events. The Durham Dragons, a women's fast pitch
softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...
team, played in the Durham Athletic Park from 1998 to 2000. The DAP recently went through a $5 million renovation.


Government

The area is predominantly Democratic, and has voted for the Democratic Party's presidential candidate in every election since the city's founding in 1869. Durham County is the most liberal county in North Carolina, measured by the percentage of voters aligning with the Democratic party in the last several presidential elections , such as 2008. The shifting alliances of the area's political action committees since the 1980s has led to a very active local political scene. Notable groups include th
Durham Committee on the Affairs of Black People
the Durham People's Alliance, and th
Friends of Durham
The first two groups tend to be affiliated with Democratic party progressive activists, while the third group tends to attract Republican activists. Compared to other similarly sized Southern cities, Durham has a larger than average population of middle class African-Americans and white liberals. Working together in coalition, these two groups have dominated city and county politics since the early 1980s. Durham operates under a council-manager government. The mayor, since 2017, was
Steve Schewel Stephen M. Schewel (born 1951) is an American politician, businessman, and academic. A Democrat, he is the former Mayor of Durham, North Carolina and formerly served on the Durham City Council and as the Vice Chair of the Durham Public School Bo ...
, who was elected with 59.45% of the vote. The seven-member City Council is the primary budgetary and lawmaking authority. In November 2021,
Elaine O'Neal Elaine O'Neil may refer to: * Elaine Hamilton-O'Neal (1920–2010), American abstract painter and muralist * Elaine O'Neal (photographer) (born 1946), American photographer *Elaine O'Neal (politician), American politician and judge {{hndis, Oneal ...
was elected as the new mayor of Durham, becoming the first
black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
female mayor in the city. Key political issues have been the redevelopment of Downtown Durham and revival of other historic neighborhoods and commercial districts, ending cash bail, ending mandatory sentencing minimums, decriminalization of marijuana, raising minimum wage for city employees to $15, the fluoridation of public drinking water, a 45% reduction of crime, a 10-year plan to end homelessness, initiatives to reduce truancy, issues related to growth and development. Naturally, a merger of Durham City Schools (several
inner city The term ''inner city'' has been used, especially in the United States, as a euphemism for majority-minority lower-income residential districts that often refer to rundown neighborhoods, in a downtown or city centre area. Sociologists some ...
neighborhoods) and Durham County Schools in the early 1990s has not been without controversy. More recently, the Durham City Council's 2018 statement opposing militarized policing that mentioned Israel has drawn its third lawsuit. In 2018, Durham appointed its first
Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...
council member Javiera Caballero. Durham has had majority female county boards since the 1980s, and in 2020, Durham elected, for the first time, an all female Durham County Board of Commissioners and the first Muslim-American woman to win elected office in the history of North Carolina. Federally, Durham is in
North Carolina's 4th congressional district The 4th congressional district of North Carolina is located in the central region of the state. The district includes all of Durham County, Orange County, Granville County, and Franklin County, as well as portions of Chatham County, northern ...
, which is represented by Democrat David Price. Since 2003 the city has had a policy to prohibit police from inquiring into the citizenship status of persons unless they have otherwise been arrested or charged with a crime. A city council resolution mandates that police officers "...may not request specific documents for the sole purpose of determining a person's civil immigration status, and may not initiate police action based solely on a person's civil immigration status ..." Since 2010, the Durham police have accepted the Mexican Consular Identification Card as a valid form of identification. In 2006, racial and community tensions stirred following false allegations of a sexual assault by three white members of the Duke University lacrosse team in what is now known as the
2006 Duke University lacrosse case The Duke lacrosse case was a widely reported 2006 criminal case in Durham, North Carolina, United States in which three members of the Duke University men's lacrosse team were falsely accused of rape. The three students were David Evans, Collin ...
. The allegations were made by Crystal Gail Mangum, a young female African-American student and mother of two children. She and another young woman had been hired to dance at a party that the team held in an off-campus house. In 2007, all charges in the case were dropped and the players were declared innocent. Durham County District Attorney
Mike Nifong Michael Byron Nifong (born September 14, 1950) is an American former attorney and convicted criminal. He served as the district attorney for Durham County, North Carolina until he was removed, disbarred, and jailed following court findings concer ...
was dismissed from his job and disbarred from legal practice for his criminal misconduct handling of the case, including withholding of
exculpatory evidence Exculpatory evidence is evidence favorable to the defendant in a criminal trial that exonerates or tends to exonerate the defendant of guilt. It is the opposite of inculpatory evidence, which tends to present guilt. In many countries, including ...
. There have been several other
results A result is the outcome of an event. Result or Results may also refer to: Music * ''Results'' (album), a 1989 album by Liza Minnelli * ''Results'', a 2012 album by Murder Construct * "The Result", a single by The Upsetters * "The Result", a song ...
from the case, including lawsuits against both city and Duke University officials. The new
Durham County Justice Center The Durham County Justice Center is a civic building in downtown Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange Coun ...
was completed in early 2013.


Education


Primary and secondary schools

Public schools in Durham are run by
Durham Public Schools The Durham Public Schools district is a public school district in Durham, North Carolina. Formed in 1992 with the merger of Durham's previous two school districts, it is 8th largest school system in North Carolina as of November 2020. There ar ...
, the eighth largest school district in North Carolina. The district runs 46 public schools, consisting of 30 elementary, 10 middle, 2 secondary, and 12 high schools. Several magnet high schools focus on distinct subject areas, such as the
Durham School of the Arts Durham School of the Arts (DSA) is a secondary magnet school located in downtown Durham, North Carolina, United States, housing 1,890 students. Its focus is on the visual and performing arts. Arts offerings include 3D and 2D art, chorus, da ...
and the City of Medicine Academy. Public schools in Durham were partially segregated until 1970. The
North Carolina School for Science and Mathematics The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM) is a two-year, public residential high school located in Durham, North Carolina, that focuses on the intensive study of science, mathematics and technology. It accepts rising juniors ...
is a boarding high school operated by the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
in central Durham. The residential school accepts rising juniors living in North Carolina with a focus on science, mathematics, and technology. There are several
charter school A charter school is a school that receives government funding but operates independently of the established state school system in which it is located. It is independent in the sense that it operates according to the basic principle of auto ...
options as well, including
Research Triangle High School Research Triangle High School, commonly abbreviated RTHS, is a charter school with a STEM fields, STEM focus located in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. The school opened in August 2012 with an initial class of 160 freshmen, and now enroll ...
(a STEM school in Research Triangle Park),
Voyager Academy Voyager Academy is an elementary, middle, and high school in the northern part of Durham, North Carolina, United States, and is located in Independence Park. It was founded in 2005. Current enrollment is approximately 1350 students across grades ...
(K-12), Kestrel Heights School (K-12), Maureen Joy Charter School (K-8), and most recently Excelsior Classical Academy (K-8). Several private schools operate in Durham, such as
Durham Academy Durham Academy refer to: *Durham Academy, North Carolina Durham Academy is an independent, coeducational, day school in Durham, North Carolina, whose 1,237 students range from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The school has four divisions, each w ...
, Triangle Day School, and The Duke School. There are also religious schools, including
Carolina Friends School Carolina Friends School is an independent, co-educational Quaker school located in Durham, North Carolina. It enrolls students from age 3 and pre-kindergarten through grade 12. The school was founded in 1962 by members of the Durham Friends ...
,
Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill Trinity School of Durham and Chapel Hill is a private, college preparatory, Independent, Christian school located in Durham, North Carolina in the United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United ...
, Cristo Rey Research Triangle High School, Immaculata Catholic School, and Durham Nativity School. In December 2007,
Forbes.com ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family (publishers), Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing ...
ranked Durham as one of the "Top 20 Places to Educate Your Child;" Durham was the only MSA from North Carolina to make the list.


Colleges and universities

Duke University has approximately 14,000 students, split evenly between graduates and undergraduates. Duke's 8600 acre campus and Medical Center are located in western Durham, about from downtown. Duke forms one of the three vertices of the
Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to ...
along with the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States ...
and
North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...
. The university's research, medical, and teaching efforts are all among the highest-ranked in both the United States and the world.
North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a public historically black university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliation with the Chautauqua movement in 1909, it was supported by private funds from ...
is a public,
historically black university Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...
located in southeastern Durham. It was ranked the number 1 Public HBCU in the nation by ''U.S. News & World Report'' in 2010 and 2011. It was ranked the 10th best HBCU overall. The university was founded by James E. Shepard in 1910 as the National Religious Training School and Chautauqua to address the needs of the region's black population, and now grants baccalaureate, master's, professional and doctoral degrees. NCCU became a university in 1969 and joined the University of North Carolina system in 1972.
Durham Technical Community College Durham Technical Community College (Durham Tech) is a public community college in Durham, North Carolina. The college serves Northern Durham County at its Northern Durham Center, and in Orange County at its Orange County Campus completed in 20 ...
is a two-year public institution that grants associate degrees.


Media

The major daily newspaper in Durham is ''
The Herald-Sun ''The Herald-Sun'' is an American, English language daily newspaper in Durham, North Carolina, published by the McClatchy Company. History ''The Herald-Sun'' began publication on January 1, 1991, as the result of a merger of ''The Durham Mor ...
'', which began publication in 1893. The Durham-based ''
Independent Weekly ''Indy Week'', formerly known as the ''Independent Weekly'' and originally the ''North Carolina Independent'', is a tabloid-format alternative weekly newspaper published in Durham, North Carolina, United States, and distributed throughout the Res ...
'', noted for its progressive/liberal perspective, provides political and entertainment news for the greater
Research Triangle The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to ...
; it began publication in 1983. Duke's independent student newspaper, '' The Chronicle'', also provides local coverage. Durham is part of the Raleigh-Durham-Fayetteville designated market area, the 24th largest broadcast television market in the United States. ABC owned and operated
WTVD WTVD (channel 11) is a television station licensed to Durham, North Carolina, United States, broadcasting the ABC network to the Research Triangle area. Owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division, it maintains pr ...
is licensed to and based in Durham, while the studios for statewide public television service
UNC-TV The University of North Carolina Center for Public Media, branded on-air as PBS North Carolina or commonly PBS NC, is a public television network serving the state of North Carolina. It is operated by the University of North Carolina system, whic ...
are based in Research Triangle Park. All major U.S. television networks have affiliates serving the region. The city is part of the Raleigh-Durham Arbitron radio market, ranked No. 37 nationally. National Public Radio affiliate WUNC, based in Chapel Hill, has significant operations in Durham.


Infrastructure


Transportation

Most travel in Durham is by private motor vehicle on its network of public streets and highways. Important arteries for traffic include
NC 147 North Carolina Highway 147 (NC 147) is a primary List of state highways in North Carolina, state highway in the U.S. state of North Carolina. The highway is an Controlled-access highway, freeway through Durham, North Carolina, Durham ...
, which connects Duke University, downtown, and Research Triangle Park, U.S. 15-501 between Durham and
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...
,
I-85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with Interstate 65, I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with Interstate 95, I ...
, connecting Durham to Virginia and western North Carolina cities, and I-40 running across southern Durham County between the Research Triangle Park and Chapel Hill. The I-40 corridor has been the main site of commercial and residential development in Durham since its opening in the early 1990s. Over 95% of commuters use a car to get to work, with 14% of those people in carpools. Durham maintains an extensive network of bicycle routes and trails and has been recognized with a Bicycle Friendly Community Award. The
American Tobacco Trail The American Tobacco Trail (ATT) is a long Rails-to-Trails project located in the Research Triangle region of North Carolina, running along an abandoned railroad bed originally built for the American Tobacco Company in the 1970s. The route cross ...
begins in downtown and continues south through Research Triangle Park and ends in Wake County. The city is also considering furthering the progress on the Triangle Greenway System. Air travel is serviced by
Raleigh-Durham International Airport The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to th ...
, 12 miles southeast of Durham, which enplanes about 4.5 million passengers per year. Frequent service (five flights a day or more) is available to Boston, Charlotte, Philadelphia, New York LaGuardia, New York Kennedy, Newark, Washington Reagan, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas, Houston, and Atlanta, GA. Non-stop daily service is provided to approximately 30 destinations in the United States and daily international service is also available to London Heathrow, Toronto-Pearson and Paris Charles de Gaulle.
Amtrak The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, Trade name, doing business as Amtrak () , is the national Passenger train, passenger railroad company of the United States. It operates inter-city rail service in 46 of the 48 contiguous United Stat ...
operates a daily train between Charlotte and New York City (the Carolinian) which stops in downtown Durham. The State of North Carolina, in cooperation with Amtrak, operates three additional daily trains between Raleigh and Charlotte which also stop in Durham. A new Amtrak station was built in 2011 in a former tobacco warehouse. Some of the downtown streets cross the tracks at grade level, while other intersections have grade separation. One downtown railroad underpass has attracted national media coverage, because it provides only 11 feet-8 inches of clearance, and has damaged the roofs of many trucks. As of October 26, 2019, the underpass was closed down to both automotive and train traffic in preparation for raising it to 12 feet and 4 inches, so as to provide clearance underneath to reduce large vehicle damage. National bus service is provided by
Greyhound The English Greyhound, or simply the Greyhound, is a breed of dog, a sighthound which has been bred for coursing, greyhound racing and hunting. Since the rise in large-scale adoption of retired racing Greyhounds, the breed has seen a resurge ...
and
Megabus Megabus may refer to: *Megabus (Europe), a low-cost coach service with services in Europe owned by ComfortDelGro. *Megabus (North America) Megabus, branded as megabus.com, is an intercity bus service of Coach USA/ Coach Canada operating in the ...
at the Durham Transit Station in downtown Durham, which opened in 2009. GoDurham provides municipal bus service.
GoTriangle The Research Triangle Regional Public Transportation Authority, known as GoTriangle (previously Triangle Transit and Triangle Transit Authority or TTA), provides regional bus service to the Research Triangle region of North Carolina in Wake, Durha ...
offers scheduled, fixed-route regional and commuter bus service between Raleigh and the region's other principal cities of Durham,
Cary Cary may refer to: Places ;United States * Cary, Illinois, part of the Chicago metropolitan area * Cary, Indiana, part of the Indianapolis metropolitan area * Cary, Miami County, Indiana * Cary, Maine * Cary, Mississippi * Cary, North Carolina ...
and
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...
, as well as to and from the
Raleigh-Durham International Airport The Research Triangle, or simply The Triangle, are both common nicknames for a metropolitan area in the Piedmont region of North Carolina in the United States, anchored by the cities of Raleigh and Durham and the town of Chapel Hill, home to th ...
, Research Triangle Park and several of the region's larger suburban communities. GoTriangle also coordinates an extensive
vanpool Vanpools or Vanpooling is an element of the transit system that allow groups of people to share the ride similar to a carpool, but on a larger scale with concurrent savings in fuel and vehicle operating costs and thus usually a lower cost to the ...
and rideshare program that serves the region's larger employers and commute destinations. From 1995, the cornerstone of GoTriangle's long-term plan was a rail corridor from northeast
Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...
, through downtown Raleigh,
Cary Cary may refer to: Places ;United States * Cary, Illinois, part of the Chicago metropolitan area * Cary, Indiana, part of the Indianapolis metropolitan area * Cary, Miami County, Indiana * Cary, Maine * Cary, Mississippi * Cary, North Carolina ...
, and Research Triangle Park, to Durham using DMU technology. There were proposals to extend this corridor to
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...
with light rail technology. However, in 2006 Triangle Transit deferred implementation indefinitely when the
Federal Transit Administration The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...
declined to fund the program. Government agencies throughout the Raleigh-Durham metropolitan area have struggled with determining the best means of providing fixed-rail transit service for the region. The region's two
metropolitan planning organization A metropolitan planning organization (MPO) is a federally mandated and federally funded transportation policy-making organization in the United States that is made up of representatives from local government and governmental transportation authorit ...
s appointed a group of local citizens in 2007 to reexamine options for future transit development in light of Triangle Transit's problems. The Special Transit Advisory Commission (STAC) retained many of the provisions of Triangle Transit's original plan, but recommended adding new bus services and raising additional revenues by adding a new local half-cent sales tax to fund the project. Duke University also maintains its own transit system, Duke Transit operates more than 30 buses with routes throughout the campus and health system. Duke campus buses and vans have alternate schedules or do not operate during breaks and holidays. In an effort to create safer roadways for vehicles, bicyclists, and pedestrians, drivers can enroll in Durham's
Pace Car Program Pace Car Programs are initiatives that aim to reduce traffic speeds and encourage safe driving in neighborhoods and cities in the United States and Canada. Willing drivers register an intention to abide by a safe driving code. Origin David Engwic ...
and agree to drive the speed limit, stop at all stop signs, stop at all red lights, and stop to let pedestrians cross the street.


Notable people

*
Blind Boy Fuller Blind Boy Fuller (born Fulton Allen, July 10, 1904February 13, 1941) was an American blues guitarist and singer. Fuller was one of the most popular of the recorded Piedmont blues artists, rural African Americans, along with Blind Blake, Josh Wh ...
(Fulton Allen), musician *
Louis Austin Louis Austin (1898-1971) was an African-American journalist, civic leader and social activist. Austin purchased ''The Carolina Times'' in 1927 and transformed it into an institution that aided African Americans in their fight for freedom and equa ...
(1898–1971), journalist, civil rights leader *
Ernie Barnes Ernest Eugene Barnes Jr. (July 15, 1938 – April 27, 2009) was an American artist, well known for his unique style of elongated characters and movement. He was also a professional football player, actor and author. Early life Childhood E ...
, artist/painter * Kara Medoff Barnett, theater producer, arts director * Samuel Beam, singer/songwriter from
Iron & Wine Samuel "Sam" Ervin Beam (born July 26, 1974), better known by his stage name Iron & Wine, is an American singer-songwriter. He has released six studio albums, several EPs and singles, as well as a few download-only releases, which include a ...
, current resident *
Ben Brantley Benjamin D. Brantley (born October 26, 1954) is an American theater critic, journalist, editor, publisher and writer. He served as the chief theater critic for ''The New York Times'' from 1996 to 2017, and as co-chief theater critic from 2017 to ...
, ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' theater critic *
Andrew Britton Andrew Paul Britton (January 6, 1981 – March 18, 2008) was a British-born spy novelist who immigrated to the United States with his family at age seven. He published his first novel at age 23, his books were translated for international sales ...
, novelist *
Mic'hael Brooks Mic'hael Goubron Brooks (born August 28, 1991) is a former Canadian football defensive tackle. He was most recently a member of the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at East Carolina Universit ...
,
NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
player * Little Brother, hip-hop group * Kelly Bruno, world-record holding amputee runner and athlete; contestant on reality TV show '' Survivor: Nicaragua'' *
Dan Bryk Dan Waldemar Bryk (born September 23, 1970) is a Canadian-born singer-songwriter and recording artist. Originally from Toronto, Bryk is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. A songwriter and keyboard player, Bryk has released five full-leng ...
, singer, rock star *
Shirley Caesar Shirley Ann Caesar-Williams (born October 13, 1938), known professionally as Shirley Caesar, is an American gospel singer whose career has spanned seven decades. She has won 11 Grammys in addition to Dove Awards and Stellar Awards; Caesar is kno ...
, pastor and gospel recording artist *
Carolina Chocolate Drops The Carolina Chocolate Drops were an old-time string band from Durham, North Carolina. Their 2010 album, ''Genuine Negro Jig,'' won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, and was number 9 in ''fRoots'' ...
, folk band who cite their hometown as Durham *
Anthony Roth Costanzo Anthony Roth Costanzo is an American countertenor, actor, and producer who has led performances at opera companies around the world. Beginning his career in musical theatre at the age of 11, he has since been featured at the Metropolitan Opera ...
, countertenor known for his performance as the title role of the opera Akhnaten (opera) * Crystal Cox, track and field athlete; member of national team for the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics; contestant on reality TV show ''Survivor: Gabon'' * Roger Craig (baseball), Roger Lee Craig, Major League Baseball pitcher and manager * John Darnielle, musician and novelist best known as the primary (and often solitary) member of the American band the Mountain Goats, for which he is the writer, composer, guitarist, pianist, and vocalist * Betty Davis, funk and soul singer * Reverend Gary Davis, musician * The Duffer Brothers, creators of the Netflix series ''Stranger Things'' * Benjamin Newton Duke, tobacco, textile, and energy industrialist and philanthropist *
James Buchanan Duke James Buchanan Duke (December 23, 1856 – October 10, 1925) was an American tobacco and electric power industrialist best known for the introduction of modern cigarette manufacture and marketing, and his involvement with Duke University. ...
, industrialist, founder of The Duke Endowment and Duke University * Victor Dzau, scientist and academic *
Sylvan Esso Sylvan Esso is an American electronic pop duo from Durham, North Carolina, formed in 2013. The band consists of singer Amelia Meath (born July 2, 1988) and producer Nick Sanborn (born March 8, 1983). They made their debut with the single "Hey Mam ...
, grammy-nominated dance and electronic music duo * Rapsody (Marlanna Evans), Grammy-nominated female rappe

* Pura Fé, Native American singer * Rick Ferrell, Major League Baseball catcher; member of the National Baseball Hall of Fame * John Wesley Fletcher, pastor * Tate Fogleman, NASCAR driver * Nnenna Freelon, jazz singer/composer * Philip Freelon (1953–2019), architect, designer of the National Museum of African American History and Culture * Penny Fuller, award-winning actress in numerous Broadway theatre, Broadway, film, and television productions *Julian Gamble (born 1989), basketball player in the Israeli Basketball Premier League * David Garrard, NFL quarterback from 2002 to 2013 * David Gergen, advisor to presidents Gerald Ford, Ford, Ronald Reagan, Reagan, and Bill Clinton, Clinton * Heather Gordon (born 1967), artist * John H. Hager, former Virginia lieutenant governor (1998–2002) and the father-in-law of former First Daughter Jenna Bush Hager * Mary Katharine Ham, Conservative journalist; grew up in Durham * Michael Hardt, philosopher and theorist of globalization, politics and culture *Jay Huff, college basketball player for Virginia Cavaliers men's basketball, Virginia Cavaliers * Brandon Hargest, singer for Jump5 * Brittany Hargest, singer for Jump5 * Heather Havrilesky, author, essayist, and humorist raised in Durham * Biff Henderson, ''Late Show with David Letterman'' comedian and television personality * Wilbur Hobby, labor leader and former president of the North Carolina AFL-CIO * Alexander Isley, designer and educator * Fredric Jameson, literary critic and Marxist political theorist * Big Daddy Kane, hip-hop artist and actor * John P. Kee, pastor and gospel recording artist * Stuart Krohn (born 1962), professional rugby union player * Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of the Duke men's basketball team and former head coach of Team USA * Patrick Kypson, professional tennis player * Mur Lafferty, podcaster and writer * Caitlin Linney, singer/songwriter * John D. Loudermilk, songwriter (Tobacco Road (song), "Tobacco Road", "Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye") * John Lucas II, NBA player and coach * David Lynch, film and TV director; lived in Durham as a child; parents met at Duke University * John Malachi, jazz pianist * Crystal Mangum, accuser in the 2006 Duke lacrosse case, who was later found guilty of fatally stabbing her boyfriend * Leo Mangum, Major League Baseball pitcher * John H. Manning, lawyer, officer and Adjutant General of North Carolina * Pigmeat Markham, comic actor and novelty musician * Doug Marlette, Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist; lived in Durham as a child *
Branford Marsalis Branford Marsalis (born August 26, 1960) is an American saxophonist The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed inst ...
, resident of Durham for several years. The Branford Marsalis Quartet's 2006 album ''Braggtown'' was titled after Braggtown Baptist Church, located in northeastern Durham, just north of Highways 70/85. * Frank Matthews (drug trafficker), Frank Matthews, drug trafficker during the late 1960s and early 1970s * Tracy McGrady, attended Mount Zion Christian Academy his senior year, NBA player * Clyde McPhatter, singer/songwriter, founding member of The Drifters * LeRoi Moore of the Dave Matthews Band, contemporary jazz musician * Anita Morris, actress (''Ruthless People,'' ''The Hotel New Hampshire (film), The Hotel New Hampshire'', nominated for a Tony Award, Tony for her work in ''Nine (musical), Nine'') *
The Mountain Goats The Mountain Goats are an American band formed in Claremont, California, by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. The band is currently based in Durham, North Carolina. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle, despite the ...
, indie rock band * Pauli Murray (1910–1985), civil rights and women's activist, attorney, author, poet and priest, lived here as a child with grandparents; in 1977 was the first black woman to be ordained as an Episcopal priest; in 2012 was named as an Episcopal saint (one of its "Holy Women, Holy Men") *
Mike Nifong Michael Byron Nifong (born September 14, 1950) is an American former attorney and convicted criminal. He served as the district attorney for Durham County, North Carolina until he was removed, disbarred, and jailed following court findings concer ...
, Durham County district attorney disbarred in 2006 for actions in Duke lacrosse case, Duke University lacrosse case that year * David Noel, NBA player for the Milwaukee Bucks * Wye Oak (band), Wye Oak, musical duo composed of Jenn Wasner and Andy Stack * Ike Opara, Major League Soccer defender for Sporting Kansas City * Robert Martin Patterson, United States Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient * Sidney Powell, prosecutor and attorney * Brian Roberts (baseball), Brian Roberts, Major League Baseball player, second baseman for the Baltimore Orioles * Disappearance of Leah Roberts, Leah Roberts, former
North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...
student who abruptly left Durham in March 2000 and has remained missing ever since * Rodney Rogers, NBA power forward from 1993 to 2005 * Benjamin S. Ruffin, Jr., Ben Ruffin, civil rights activist, educator, and businessman * Don Schlitz, songwriter (Kenny Rogers's The Gambler (song), "The Gambler") * James E. Shepard (1875–1947), educator, founder and president of North Carolina College for Negroes (now North Carolina Central University) * Robert K. Steel, former Undersecretary of the Treasury * Jamie Stewart (musician), Jamie Stewart, art-pop musician best known as the frontman of Xiu Xiu * Andre Leon Talley, (1948-2022) ''Vogue'' editor, fashion luminary, and current judge of ''America's Next Top Model'' * Grady Tate, American musician and singer * Justin Tornow, dancer and choreographer * Emilie Townes, dean of Vanderbilt Divinity School, former president of the American Academy of Religion * Teresa Trull, singer, songwriter, and record producer * LeRoy T. Walker (1918–2012), former United States Olympic president; former chancellor of North Carolina Central University (NCCU) * Dewayne Washington, NFL cornerback from 1994 to 2005 * Seth Wescott, Olympic Games, Olympic champion snowboarder *Josh Whitesell, Major League Baseball first baseman of the Arizona Diamondbacks * T. J. Warren, NBA player for the Indiana Pacers *Bull City Red (birth name George Washington), blues musician * Harvey D. Williams (1930–2020), African-American U.S. Army major general * Walter Lee Williams, one of the FBI Ten Most Wanted Fugitives * Morgan Wootten, head basketball coach at DeMatha Catholic High School and member of the Basketball Hall of Fame * James B. Wyngaarden, American physician, researcher and academic administrator. * Freekey Zekey (Ezekiel Giles), rapper; spent almost three years in jail at Durham Correctional Center on drug charges before being released on November 20, 2006


Sister cities

Durham's sister cities are: * Arusha, Tanzania * Celaya, Mexico *
Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...
, County Durham, England, United Kingdom * Kavala, Greece * Kostroma, Russia * Sibiu, Romania * Tilarán, Costa Rica * Toyama (city), Toyama, Japan * Zhuzhou, China


See also

* List of municipalities in North Carolina * List of tallest buildings in Durham, North Carolina * Norfolk Southern–Gregson Street Overpass * Triangle J Council of Governments * List of U.S. cities with large Black populations


Notes


References


Further reading

* *


External links

* *
Durham Convention and Visitors Bureau

Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce
{{Authority control Durham, North Carolina, Cities in North Carolina County seats in North Carolina Duke family Planned cities in the United States Populated places established in 1853 Research Triangle Cities in Durham County, North Carolina Cities in Orange County, North Carolina Cities in Wake County, North Carolina