The following properties were reviewed by the North Carolina National Register Advisory Committee and subsequently nominated by the North Carolina State Historic Preservation Officer. They were submitted to the Keeper of the National Register of Historic Places, an official with the National Park Service, for consideration and ultimately approved for listing in the National Register.

“Preserving our past is essential to understanding our present and shaping our future,” said Reid Wilson, Secretary of the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. “The latest North Carolina additions to the National Register of Historic Places reflect our unwavering commitment to honoring our heritage. Each commemorated location enriches our collective narrative, bolsters local economies, and celebrates the diverse tapestry of our state’s history and culture.”

The listing of a property in the National Register places no obligation or restriction on a private owner using private resources to maintain or alter the property. Over the years, various federal and state incentives have been introduced to assist private preservation initiatives, including tax credits for the rehabilitation of National Register properties. As of Jan. 1, there have been 4,308 historic rehabilitation projects with private investments of almost $3.6 billion completed.

In Central North Carolina

Ervin Building, Charlotte, Mecklenburg County, listed 12/15/2023

The Ervin Building is listed in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion B for its association with the productive life of Charles Ervin (1926-2006). Ervin, a builder turned developer, founded the Ervin Company by 1947. He built a full-service real estate and construction company that focused on suburban neighborhoods. Using many progressive practices in his business, Ervin’s company expanded into one of the largest custom-home developers in the Southeast during the 1950s and 1960s. Ervin hired local architecture firm Ferebee, Walters, and Associates to design the building as the headquarters for his company. Completed in 1964, the seven-story Modern style office building is located southeast of downtown Charlotte. All elevations of the Ervin Building are nearly identical with the only deviations occurring on the first and basement levels of the building. The building retains a high level of integrity. The period of significance extends from its completion date in 1964 until the Ervin Company was sold in 1970.

Minneola Manufacturing Company Mill, Gibsonville, Guilford County, listed 12/21/2023

The Minneola Manufacturing Company Mill is locally significant under National Register Criterion A for industry as the largest of three textile mills in Gibsonville and the town’s largest employer for much of the 20th century. The mill is a sprawling industrial complex located in southwest Gibsonville. The histories of the Minneola Manufacturing Company and the Town of Gibsonville are intertwined, with the growth and development of the town a direct result of the success of the mill. The roughly rectangular 18.55-acre tract is anchored on the east end by the Minneola Manufacturing Company Cloth Warehouse, built in 1907 and expanded in 1935 and 1953. The complex extends west from the Cloth Warehouse to include large one- and two-story industrial buildings, smaller support buildings and utilitarian structures, landscape features, and other resources that date from 1889 to ca. 1980. The resources express the continuous operation and physical expansion of the Minneola Manufacturing Company during the period of significance, 1889 to 1973, and continuing to 1988, when the mill closed.

Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, Orange County, listed 2/7/2024

The Navy Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) Naval Armory at the University of North Carolina (UNC) in Chapel Hill is significant at the local level under Criterion A in the areas of military and education. Specifically, the NROTC Naval Armory at UNC-Chapel Hill is significant within the context of “Part One: Mobilization and Its Impact” of the October 2007 National Historic Landmarks Theme Study entitled World War II & the American Home Front. At the time construction began on the Naval Armory in late 1942, the south portion, of the now sprawling campus, was largely undeveloped. The period of significance, 1943 to 1970, corresponds to the years during World War II when the use of the Naval Armory was vitally important to the broader war effort in the United States, the continued use of the NROTC Armory during the Cold War period for the training of NROTC midshipmen, and the anti-war protests associated with the Vietnam War in the 1960s and the Kent State Massacre in 1970. While there are interior alterations, the NROTC Naval Armory as a whole retains sufficient integrity to convey its significance under Criterion A.

Ridge Road School, Hillsborough vicinity, Orange County, listed 12/12/2023

Ridge Road School possesses significance at the local level under Criterion A in the areas of education and Black ethnic heritage and Criterion C for architecture. The school was built in 1932 on land owned by Black farmers. Community members supplied the lumber used by contractor R. J. Forrest to erect the two-classroom building for first- through seventh-grade instruction to African American youth during most of the school’s operation from 1932 until spring 1951. The one-story building is a rare intact example of a rural early-twentieth-century Orange County public school erected to serve African American children, one of only a few remaining in the county. Although original drawings for Ridge Road School have not been located, its form, plan, fenestration, and simple finishes are typical of the one- and two-room frame schools built during the 1930s. The period of significance begins in 1932, when the school was constructed, and ends in 1951, when it ceased being used as a school. Although now owned by a religious institution, it also meets Criteria Consideration A since its significance lies in secular themes.

Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Church, Oxford, Granville County, listed 12/18/2023

Saint Catherine of Siena Catholic Church is listed in the National Register of Historic Places under Criterion C in the area of architecture, locally significant as a rare example of the Spanish Eclectic style in Granville County. The church retains a cream-colored brick exterior, multi-curved parapet with inset rose window, an arcaded entry with red-tile roof, and distinctive round-arch multi-colored stained-glass windows, all characteristic of the style. The interior of the church largely retains its historic configuration, with alterations to the original floor plan limited to the subdivision of the east half of the

rear meeting room into two offices. Designed by the Greensboro, North Carolina, architectural and engineering firm of Andrews and McGeady, the building is nearly identical to two other Catholic churches in the state—indicating the plan may have been disseminated by the Catholic church itself. The period of significance is 1955, the year construction of the church was completed. It also meets Criteria Consideration A due to its architectural significance.

West Southern Pines School, Southern Pines, Moore County, listed 12/21/2023

West Southern Pines School possesses significance at the local level under Criterion A in the areas of education and Black ethnic heritage and Criterion C for architecture. The historically African American campus grew from a no-longer-extant two-story, brick, 1925 school to an eleven-building complex occupying a 9.44-acre tract. Six classroom buildings, the cafeteria, three prefabricated storage sheds, and two playgrounds are located on the west side of the service road that bisects the campus. The gymnasium, auditorium, administration building and library, and a classroom building are east of the service road. The nine buildings erected on the campus from 1951 through 1966 manifest the Southern Pines Board of Education’s efforts to “equalize” rather than integrate its Black and white campuses. All display the functional Modernism frequently employed in mid-twentieth-century educational architecture. Buildings erected between 1955 and 1988 allowed for rapid construction, flexible use, and future expansion. The period of significance begins in 1951, when the gymnasium, designed by William Henley Deitrick’s firm, was placed into service, and ends in 1973. The school’s function after 1973 is not of exceptional significance.

Winston Lake Golf Course, Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, listed 12/12/2023

Winston Lake Golf Course at Winston Lake Park is listed in the National Register of Historic Places at the local level under Criterion A due to its significance in the areas of Black ethnic heritage and entertainment/recreation. The facility has played an important role in the recreational, social, and political life of the city’s African American population from its 1956 opening until the present. The creation and expansion of Winston-Salem’s first golf course to which Black players enjoyed unrestricted admittance was a significant achievement for local residents and organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). The National Register boundary encompasses the approximately 221.34-acre portion of the park that contains the eighteen-hole golf course constructed in two phases in 1956 and 1964. The 1968 clubhouse, replacing an earlier one, is a larger Modernist building. In spring 1968, a driving range was constructed. Later enhancements included the 1980s clubhouse addition, maintenance building, cart storage building, and driving range. The period of significance is 1956 to 1973.

Wood-Rains Cotton Gin, Princeton, Johnston County, listed 12/21/2023

The Wood-Rains Cotton Gin stands on the north side of the railroad tracks just west of the small three-block business district of Princeton, Johnston County. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places for its local significance under Criterion A in the area of industry. The main function of a cotton gin is to process a farmers’ seed cotton into a viable commodity – cotton fiber. The gin operated from its construction in 1917 to 1946 as the Wood Cotton Gin, then until 1960 as the Rains Cotton Gin, until cotton production plummeted in North Carolina due to the introduction of synthetic fabric. The cotton gin, now over a century old, tells the story of Johnston County’s role as one of the top producers of cotton in North Carolina during the first half of the twentieth century. It is one of only two known remaining cotton gins in Johnston County. Its period of significance corresponds to its functioning years as a cotton gin from 1917 to 1960. The well-preserved masonry building has a high level of integrity. The interior retains its division into a large one-story space and a two-story loft space, with a significant ensemble of early gin machinery in the loft area.

In Western North Carolina

Walton Street Park and Pool, Asheville, Buncombe County, listed 12/14/2023

Situated at the southern end of the historically African American neighborhood known as Southside, Walton Street Park was established by the City of Asheville and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1939. From the year of its opening until the eventual end of segregation in Asheville, Walton Street Park was the sole municipal park available to the Black population in Asheville. First named Riverview Park, the park was intended to serve primarily as a site for a segregated pool, although that feature was not constructed for another decade. In 1947-1948, a poured-concrete pool and a concrete-block bathhouse were constructed in the southwest corner of the park. A softball diamond was added to the park in the 1950s and an asphalt basketball court in the 1960s. The redesigned basketball courts, walking trail, playground, and picnic pavilion are non-contributing, recent additions to the park. The park complex retains sufficient integrity to convey significance in the areas of African American Ethnic Heritage, Social History, and Entertainment/Recreation within the period of significance from 1939 to 1973.

Woodlawn Mill, Mount Holly, Gaston County, listed 12/18/2023

Built in 1907, the locally significant Woodlawn Mill is listed in the National Register of Historic Places under Criteria A and C in the areas of industry and architecture. This relatively well-preserved cotton mill represents the rise of the textile industry in Mount Holly and Gaston County, between the late nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. During this period, the southern Piedmont region surpassed New England in textile production and Gaston County became a major textile manufacturing center. Incorporated in 1875, Mount Holly developed into a thriving cotton mill community and boasted ten mills by 1930. Today, the Woodlawn Mill is one of only two Mount Holly mills to remain substantially intact, retaining key historical elements of design and construction to represent the importance of the industry to the local economy. Noted Charlotte textile engineer Stuart W. Cramer designed the Woodlawn Mill as a one-story, brick plant powered by electricity. Later additions, primarily between the 1930s and 1960s, occurred during the period of significance, 1907 to 1972, do not significantly diminish the overall integrity.