{"nrhp_refnum":"01000425","name":"Cary Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly along Dry Ave., S. Academy St., and Park St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Cary","county":"Wake County","state":"NC","lat":35.78598142450005,"lon":-78.78194634799411,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-04-25","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of about fifty-five resources in the town of Cary, Wake County, North Carolina, two blocks south of the central commercial district. It is mainly residential, with thirty-nine contributing resources and a former high school building at its southern end.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is significant as an intact ensemble of small-town residential and educational architecture from about 1890 to 1945, reflecting Cary's development as a railroad village and educational center. It also ties the district to Cary High School, founded in 1907 as the first public high school in Wake County and regarded as one of the first public high schools in North Carolina.","narrative":"Cary's historic district lies two blocks south of the town's commercial center and is built around South Academy Street, which runs from the railroad toward a hill at the south end of town. Its thirty-nine contributing resources date from about 1890 to 1945 and include frame and brick-veneered bungalows, period cottages, Queen Anne and Craftsman houses, and outbuildings. The town grew from a railroad depot established in the 1850s and 1860s, and the district reflects that origin. Its visual focal point is the two-story red-brick former Cary High School, built in 1939 by the Works Progress Administration on the site of earlier school buildings. The school was founded in 1907 as the first public high school in Wake County, and nearby houses sheltered its principals, teachers, and students. The district is listed for its architecture and for its association with education in the town's history.","period_of_significance":"Ca. 1890 - 1945","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Late Victorian; Queen Anne; Bungalow/Craftsman; Colonial Revival; Tudor Revival; Classical Revival; Neoclassical Revival; I-house","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Primarily residential; several former dwellings now serve as businesses and offices.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:40.650358-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/35/7186/47718635/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/01000425.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000425/ad4835064e-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000425/ad4835064e-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Pithon314","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cary_Arts_Center.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Pithon314</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cary_Arts_Center.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718635","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cary_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q20203025"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/wake-county/cary-historic-district-01000425/"}