{"nrhp_refnum":"10000601","name":"Downtown Selma Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Includes portions of both sides of N and S Raiford, E & W Anderson, E and W Waddell, and E and W Railroad Sts, and W Web","address_restricted":false,"city":"Selma","county":"Johnston County","state":"NC","lat":35.53781997000007,"lon":-78.28295839034735,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2010-08-30","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Transportation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic commercial district of about sixty-eight buildings and one structure in downtown Selma, Johnston County, North Carolina, centered on Raiford Street and Anderson Street north of the Southern Railway tracks. Its buildings are mostly one to three stories of brick, dating from the late nineteenth through mid-twentieth century.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the district is significant under Criteria A and C for commerce, transportation and architecture. It documents Selma's growth as a railroad junction after the North Carolina Railroad and Atlantic Coast Line lines intersected, and it presents the commercial buildings as representative of small railroad towns in the Coastal Plain. The district is described as retaining a high degree of architectural integrity.","narrative":"Selma's downtown commercial core lies along Raiford and Anderson streets in Johnston County, North Carolina, and is made up of brick storefronts, warehouses, a theater, a church and a historic post office built between the 1870s and 1960. The town was platted in 1867 on the North Carolina Railroad and grew sharply after 1886, when a branch line of the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad met the main line there. Its merchants built a varied streetscape, from plain facades to pressed metal cornices, corbelled brickwork and the polychrome Person-Vick Building with its corner loggia. Transportation buildings survive as well, including a former freight depot and an early filling station. The district is significant for the way its buildings record the town's rise from railroad stop to regional trading center, and for the number of contributing buildings that keep their historic form.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1875-1960","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Commercial Style; Classical Revival; Colonial Revival; Art Moderne; Art Deco; Gothic Revival; No Style","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":null,"vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:41.675237-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/2/7210/47721002/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/10000601.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"11000975","name":"West Selma Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/west-selma-historic-district-11000975/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47721002","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downtown_Selma_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19461398"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/johnston-county/downtown-selma-historic-district-10000601/"}