Warsaw Historic District

The Warsaw Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996. Portions of the text below were adapted from a copy of the original nomination document. [†] Adaptation copyright © 2011, The Gombach Group.

Description

The Warsaw Historic District combines both the central business area and a portion of the residential quarter of the city of Warsaw, a railroad and agricultural community located within North Carolina's coastal pain in the western extremity of Duplin County near its border with Sampson County. The generally level, well-drained terrain contains a rich clayey loam soil that adapts well for a variety of agricultural uses.

The Warsaw Historic District encompasses the original settlement of Duplin Depot, a crossroads settlement dating to 1838, renamed Warsaw Depot in 1847, and incorporated in 1855. The entire town is largely laid out on an orthographic street pattern on a southeast to northwest axis which preserves intact the 1847 plan drawn by Henry Moore. For purposes of this description, directions will be called north, south, east, and west.

Roughly bounded on the north by the point of the railroad Y, on the east by Frisco Street, on the south by College Street, and on the west the rear lot lines of the properties facing Railroad Street, the Warsaw Historic District is laid out in a grid pattern with north-south streets parallel to the former Atlantic Coast Line Railroad right-of-way which runs generally south to north through the center of the city, with east-west streets crossing the tracks. Like other railroad towns in the region, Warsaw expanded around the rail line, the major transportation link between the port city of Wilmington, New Hanover County, fifty-five miles to the south, and Faison, eight miles to the north. The commercial buildings are arranged along North and South Front streets bordering the east side of the tracks, and North and South Railroad streets adjacent to the west side of the rail line. The grassy plaza through which the train tracks run is attractively maintained by a series of flower beds along the course. This somewhat relieves the monotony of the wide streets and lack of street trees. Hill Street, the east-west principal residential avenue, is greatly enhanced by over-arching trees and landscaped properties. The commercial and most of the residential blocks are provided with concrete sidewalks, curbs and street lighting.

The Warsaw Historic District includes a mixture of one-, two- and three-story, Commercial style, brick buildings ranging in date from 1880 through the mid-1920s. The compact arrangement of the buildings lining Front and Railroad streets form a conspicuous architectural composition because of the mingling of a variety of architectural shapes and sizes interrelated by the use of interesting brick patterns, fenestration, and roof lines. Although there has been very little demolition in the commercial area, a majority of the store fronts were later altered by the installation of modern aluminum frame windows, doors, and fixed awnings. An impressive number of stores retain their original cast iron columns flanking recessed entrances, and the upper walls of virtually all the buildings remain intact and preserve much of the original character of the facades.

The city's strong historic link with the railroad is characterized by the 1886 railroad Y or spur that forms the north end of the commercial district. Rail transportation gave rise to the 1909 Warsaw Inn south of the Y, and the c.1908 Barden Hotel at 112 West Hill Street adjacent to the commercial district. The buildings either face or are in close proximity to the railroad and the agricultural and commercial activities that made the city a marketing center. Although the Warsaw Depot was razed in 1982, its location just north of the mainline tracks and the western spur to Clinton in Sampson County is still a visible presence marked by a plaque on the site.

The adjoining residential neighborhood east of the commercial area includes an array of noteworthy homes dating from the mid-nineteenth to the early-twentieth centuries. Along Hill Street are the late-nineteenth century Seymour Johnson House (106 West Hill Street), 1885 Kennedy-Middleton House (109 East Hill Street), 1894 L.P. Best House (110 East Hill Street), and 1896 Henry L. Stevens House (120 East Hill Street). The Kennedy-Middleton House is a very late example of the Greek Revival style, while the L.P. Best House and the Stevens House represent the then up-to-date Queen Anne style. Interspersed between their large lots are smaller, twentieth century residences that blend well with their larger and more pretentious neighbors. The Gothic Revival style 1884 Warsaw Presbyterian Church (203 East Hill Street) anchors the northeast corner of Hill and Center streets. Sitting across the way from the L.P. Best House, the twin scalloped-shingle steeples of the church form an interesting juxtaposition to the bold corner tower of the L.P. Best House.

In summary, the Warsaw Historic District comprises an important assemblage of well-preserved commercial and residential historic buildings that document the development of the railroad town from the mid-nineteenth century through the nineteen twenties, with strong associations with railway, agricultural, and mercantile enterprises. Some resources are non-contributing because of heavy alterations or they date to the post-World War II period. But the majority of structures contribute to the architectural distinction of the Warsaw Historic District because the close massing of commercial buildings are unified by a coherency of noteworthy brickwork and the consistency of scale and setback that forms the residential streetscape. Since later development has been directed to an area east of the city along Interstate Highway 40, the Warsaw Historic District retains the historical ambience and architectural distinction that makes it one of Duplin County's most attractive railroad and market towns. Of a total of seventy-four resources, seventy-seven per cent are contributing and twenty-three per cent are non-contributing.

Significance

The Warsaw Historic District is eligible for the National Register of Historic Places in the areas of commerce and community development. The district is also eligible for architecture. The importance of commerce in the Warsaw Historic District is exemplified by the railroad and by the cohesive, remarkably intact late nineteenth and early twentieth century commercial buildings lining North and South Railroad and Front streets. These one-, two- and three-story brick commercial buildings form a cohesive ensemble that displays especially notable brickwork. The wide variety of residential architectural styles exhibited within the Warsaw Historic District gives testimony to the solid prosperity the railroad brought to the town. Although the railroad depot was razed in 1982, the presence of the railroad is still evident by the preserved railway right-of-way running north-south through town, the Y branch line leading west to Clinton, the former Warsaw Inn and Barden Hotel, and the former Duplin Ice and Fuel Company Building (succeeded by West Skating Rink) that supplied the trains loading perishable produce. Commerce is also represented by banking establishments such as the Beaux Arts Bank of Warsaw and the Romanesque First National Bank. The Slossberg general merchandise store, with its rare original store front featuring cast-iron columns with lotus-bud capitals, the Quinn-McGowan Furniture store, the former Warsaw Theater, and the West Skating Rink attest to the significance of the city as a market and recreational center for the region. Residential architecture throughout Duplin County during this period exhibits popular national types embracing Greek Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Classical Revival, and Bungalow styles. Of these, the Greek Revival continued to hold its place in the rural areas of the county well into the late nineteenth century, underscoring the conservative tastes of the populace and local resources for building. Merchants and professionals in the railroad towns, however, where mass-produced building materials and decorative elements arrived by train or were produced by nearby mills, expressed their progressive tastes by erecting exuberant Italianate and Queen Anne style houses along the tree-lined streets. During the twentieth century, with mass-produced materials and mail-order homes on the rise, Classical Revival and Bungalow styles supplanted the Victorian pretensions and spread throughout the county. In Warsaw, the progression of residential architectural styles is especially evident on Hill Street extending east from the railroad and the business center. In both town and country settings, single and multi-story stores defined the commercial hub of the town or crossroads. Especially notable is Warsaw's four-block business district which retains its contiguous, late nineteenth- and early twentieth century buildings along the railroad corridor and preserves the entire 1847 town plan by Henry Moore intact.

Historical Background/Community Development, and Commerce

Duplin County was first occupied by American colonists after 1735 when a London merchant, Henry McCulloch, received grants from King George II and the Board of Trade for several thousand acres of uncultivated land in the Royal Colony of North Carolina. The grants encompassed territory lying in the area of the headwaters of the Neuse, Pee Dee, Northwest and Northeast Cape Fear rivers (Ainsley, 1983: p.10; Outlaw, 1949, n.p.).

In 1736, McCulloch formed a company of four hundred Scotch-Irish and Swiss settlers who migrated to the new territory and landed at New Town — later renamed Wilmington. In 1738, McCulloch joined the band and led them north along the Northeast Cape Fear River into the heartland of the region (Outlaw, n.p.).

In addition to the river, two early land routes extended from the port of New Bern on the Neuse River west to the upper Cape Fear River at Fayetteville, and south from Goldsboro near the falls of the Neuse River south along the Northeast Cape Fear River basin to port of Wilmington. Warsaw, settled in 1825, grew up where these two routes crossed (Bachman map, 1861).

The greatest impetus to the prosperity of the region came during the next century, when, in 1834, the Wilmington and Raleigh Railroad was chartered to traverse the rim agricultural area between the Cape Fear and Neuse rivers. In 1838, the rails reached from Wilmington to Goldsboro, close by the old road. Within two years, the line had completed its destined termination at Weldon, just south of the North Carolina-Virginia border, having been constructed in Warsaw in 1838. The route, 161.5 miles in extent, held the distinction of being the longest rail line in the world and became the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad in 1854 (McGowan: 1975, p.471; Casteen, 1987: p.25).

Notwithstanding the impact of the railroad, the old roadways remained important to the region. In 1849, the state issued a charter to improve the Fayetteville-to-Warsaw route by constructing a plank road. Completed in 1850, remnants of the road still exist, and Plank Road Street derives its name from a section of the road east to New Bern. In 1886, the Warsaw-Clinton railroad spur was built parallel to the western extension of the plank road (McGowan, p.192).

Like other towns in Duplin County, Warsaw's antebellum economy was built on naval stores: tar, pitch and turpentine, and lumber. Situated at the fifty-nine-mile marker of the rail line from Wilmington, the settlement was also an important fueling stop for the trains. First named Mooresville, after Henry Moore who divided the town into still-intact lots within a one-mile square, in 1847, the town became known as Duplin Depot. Shortly thereafter, Thaddeus Love, the railroad conductor aboard the inaugural train through the settlement, dubbed it Warsaw after a popular novel of the time, Thaddeus of Warsaw. The town was incorporated in 1855 (Ainsley, p.12; Powell, 1968; 1982: p.518).

During the Civil War Duplin County suffered from Union army raids. On July 4, 1863, Lt. Col. George W. Lewis leading a contingency of men from the Third New York Cavalry, destroyed the Confederate Arms Factory at Kenansville. They then proceeded northwest to Warsaw where they razed two railroad buildings, twisted and tore up two miles of Wilmington & Weldon Railroad track south of town, and cut down telegraph poles and lines. (McGowan, p.235). But the region held together and in the post-bellum years experienced an increase in population and a shift from naval stores production to agriculture — especially cotton, vegetables, fruit, tobacco, and tuberoses. Tuberoses, introduced into the county in the 1880s, were planted and cultivated, the bulbs dried in special curing houses, then transported by rail to seed houses in the north and abroad — the best markets being New York and Liverpool, England. In addition, the region retained its hold on the lumber industry. In 1911, the J.H. Pierce Manufacturing Company, located along the rail line one mile north of town, provided building materials from sash, doors and blinds to cabinetry, mantels and wainscoting for local and distant markets (Sanborn Insurance Company map of Warsaw, NC, Sept. 1916, p.3; Ainsley, p.13, 14; Duplin Record, 1921).

The close proximity of a building supply house in Warsaw was an impetus for new construction during subsequent years and introduced current, popular architectural styles to the region. The business district expanded along the railroad tracks from Pollock to College streets, and contiguous residential neighborhoods emerged along the cross streets extending outward from the center core of the town. (Ainsley, p.15). Noteworthy commercial structures which illustrate the chronological development of the town include the Beaux Arts style former Bank of Warsaw (106 South Railroad Street, 1880), the Slossberg Store (South Front Street, c.1900) which retains its original intact store front and cast-iron columns, the rock-faced stone and brick former First National Bank (South Front Street, c.1900), the Sheffield Building (North Front Street, c.1915) containing the most elaborate brickwork in the Warsaw Historic District, the three-story Quinn-McGowan Furniture Company (South Railroad Street, 1918), highlighted by decorative brickwork and masonry trim, and two hotels: the frame Warsaw Inn (northwest corner, West Hill and Railroad streets, 1909) and the brick Barden Hotel (112 West Hill Street, c.1908).

The adjacent residential streets contain examples of houses dating from the 1880s to the 1940s. Among these are the Greek Revival style Kennedy-Middleton House (c.1885), and the former Kenansville Post Office (1850-60) moved to Warsaw in 1955 and adapted for use as a law office; the Queen Anne style Seymour Johnson House (c.1885) a one-story dwelling with T-shaped plan, the L.P. Best House (110 East Hill Street, c.1894) — the most exuberant dwelling in Warsaw and one of two towered houses in Duplin County, the Henry L. Stevens House (120 East Hill Street, 1896) faced with German siding and patterned shingles, and the Herbert Best House (211 East Hill Street, 1909) with cross-gable roof and a variety of window types; the Neoclassical Revival style F.L. Faison House (209 East Hill Street, 1910), the W.L. Hill House (201 East Hill Street, 1915) featuring a wraparound porch and clustered columns, the Earl Wall House (311 East Hill Street, c.1920) in an unusual bungalow form; the Bungalow/Craftsman style John Carter House (112 East Hill Street, c.1910) capped by a hipped roof, and the Middleton House (c.1920) with gable-front roof and triangular brackets; the Colonial Revival style C.W. Surratt House and Shed (220 East Hill Street, 1935) built by a local lumber dealer, and the A.J. Jenkins House (210 East Hill Street, c.1940); and, finally, the Ranch style E.C. Thompson House (214 East Hill Street, 1935-40) and the Leslie Brown House (302 East Hill Street, 1945).

The progressive attitude of the town was demonstrated not only by its architecture but also by its engineering. In 1917, Warsaw boasted the first city water, electric, and sewer systems in the county, had paved the commercial and residential streets and operated an accredited high school.

During the 1920s Warsaw was the center of railroad activities for passengers and freight with four daily trains along the main line from Wilmington to the North Carolina-Virginia border, and two daily trains serving the Duplin county seat of Kenansville eight miles to the east and the Sampson county seat of Clinton fourteen miles to the west. Later in the decade and into the 1930s, the national depression curtailed the growing agricultural pre-eminence of Warsaw and the surrounding region. The slumping economy and exodus of people from the county slowly rallied during the post World War II era when the town regained its position as an agricultural and manufacturing service center for grocery, meat packing, feed, textile, and building supply industries. The improvement of roads throughout the state lessened the role of the railroad in providing transportation for passengers and goods. In Warsaw, U.S. Highway 117 (Center Street) cut apart the commercial and residential districts, spurred construction of new banks, fast-food stores, and gas stations along the new corridor, yet enabled the adjacent historic blocks to remain intact, still attached to the railway. In the late twentieth century, Warsaw retains the character of a small but prosperous agricultural and railroad town while preserving many architectural resources that are significant in both quality and quantity. As expressed by Dr. Frank Ainsley, "The variety of styles and types of architecture make Warsaw an excellent example of the spatial patterns, relationships, and social geography to be found in towns which were nurtured and thrived on the umbilical cord of the railroad" (Ainsley, p.9). Community interest has now focused on the identification, recognition, protection, and enhancement of the Warsaw Historic District.

Architectural Context

The Warsaw Historic District, laid out in an orthographic plan dating to 1847, contains a significant number of architectural resources dating from the late nineteenth century to the 1940s which represent popular commercial and residential styles of each successive period. These styles, which are represented throughout the county in both rural and town contexts, exhibit Greek Revival, Italianate, and Queen Anne style elements such as porches and porticos, square or turned posts and balustrades, brackets, and patterned shingles. Dating from the antebellum period through the late nineteenth century, the consistently high quality of the architecture is attributable to the presence of the railroad which brought building materials from urban factories to regional sites, and by local manufactures such as the J.H. Pierce Company situated along the railway line just north of Warsaw.

Stores and other business properties, like other towns in the western portion of the county, border both sides of the railroad right-of-way. Although only three blocks long, Warsaw boasts a variety of one- to three-story brick buildings in a close-knit pattern of brick facades containing exemplary masonry work comparable to similar commercial buildings in other railroad towns in the county such as Wallace and Faison.

The earliest structure in the Warsaw commercial district is the 1880 Beaux Arts style former Bank of Warsaw which combines patterned brick and stone trim as well as original fenestration within a triple-arch facade. The c.1900 former First National Bank has rock-faced stone at the first level and molded-cap pilasters and cornices in the upper story. The c.1900 Slossberg Store features mouse-tooth belt courses framing a brick panel above the second story windows plus extremely rare cast-iron columns with lotus bud capitals framing the store front and a pressed metal cornice. The c.1915 Sheffield Building has the most elaborate brick work in the city combining paneled bays, a pierced-brick belt course, consoles highlighted by stepped chevrons and recessed squares, and denticulated cornices.

Two frame commercial buildings that stand in contrast to the brick construction of the town are the rambling, 1909 Warsaw Inn, a rare surviving railroad hotel adjacent to the site of the depot, and the 1850-60 Robert West Law Office at 202 South Pine Street, an exemplary composition in the Greek Revival style that now is a rarity in the region.

Residential architecture is well represented by most of the popular late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century styles, including Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Neoclassical Revival, Bungalow/Craftsman, and Colonial Revival types which find parallels throughout the county. But unlike other towns, Warsaw contains no examples of Italianate architecture, although it was especially favored in Wilmington and Faison. The Queen Anne style is exhibited at its best in four homes — all on Hill Street. The c.1885 Seymour Johnson House (106 West Hill Street) has a front porch enlivened by turned posts and balustrades, and sawn spandrels. The 1896 Henry L. Stevens House (120 East Hill Street) incorporates German siding and patterned shingles, a porch with elaborate turned work, and a sunburst-pattern pediment above the porch entrance. The c.1908 Herbert Best House (211 East Hill Street) has an asymmetrical plan, a variety of window arrangements, and cross-gables containing multi-light attic windows. The 1894. L.P. Best House (110 East Hill Street) is a landmark example of the Queen Anne style and the most effusive residential design in the county, combining hipped and cross-gable roofs, porches carried by Ionic columns and turned posts, a wealth of fenestration patterns comprising crisscross and diamond-shaped muntins, a Palladian attic window, and a three-stage octagonal corner tower. The only other towered residence in the county is the John and Maggie McMillan House in Teachey, eighteen miles south of Warsaw along the railway line.

Two Neoclassical Revival style residences are the 1910 F.L. Faison House (209 East Hill Street) and the c.1920 Earl Wall House (311 East Hill Street). The former features a pedimented front portico, entrances with tripartite transoms and paneled, patterned-glass sidelights at the first and balconied second levels, and a hip-roofed porte-cochere. The latter is encompassed by a broad porch supported by Tuscan columns, arched entrance, and a Palladian window in the front gable.

The Bungalow/Craftsman style which became prevalent in the both urban and rural contexts in the county before and after World War II have two models are in Warsaw. The c.1910 John Carter House (112 East Hill Street) has a hipped roof extending over a wraparound porch; paneled porch posts supported by brick piers; tripartite windows with multi-light upper sash flanking the front entrance, and a glazed upper-panel door framed by sidelights. The c.1920 Middleton House (315 East Hill Street) has a gable-front roof supported triangular brackets, and a wraparound porch featuring paired and tripled Tuscan columns on brick bases.

Finally, the 1935 Colonial Revival style C.W. Surratt House (220 East Hill Street), built for a local lumber dealer, is an important example of a traditional design that has continued popularity well into the twentieth century. The symmetrical dwelling has a steep gable-end roof with quarter-lunette attic vents flanking exterior end chimneys, a small front entrance porch, and balancing end porches in the side elevations. A picturesque, Colonial Revival style outbuilding occupies the southeast corner of the property.

References

Martin, Jennifer, "Historic and Architectural Resources of Duplin County, NC, ca.1790-1943." Multiple Properties Documentation Form.

Faison Wells McGowen and Pearl Canady McGowen, editors. Flashes Of Duplin's History and Government. (Kenansville, N.C.: 1971).

William S. Powell, The North Carolina Gazetteer: A Dictionary Of Tar Heel Places. (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1968; 1982).

Sanborn Insurance Map of Warsaw, Duplin County, North Carolina. (New York: Sanborn Map Company, September 1916).

Bill Sharpe, A New Geography of North Carolina. Raleigh, NC: Sharpe Publishing Co., 1965).

Survey and Planning Branch, North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office. Survey files for the Warsaw Commercial District created by Jennifer Martin September 1994.

† Ed turberg, Architectural Historian, Warsaw Historic District, Duplin County, NC, nomination document, 1996, National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places, Washington, D.C.

See Map

Street Names: Front Street North, Front Street South, Hill Street East, Hill Street West, Pine Street South, Railroad Street North, Railroad Street South