{"nrhp_refnum":"12000581","name":"Mount Airy Historic District (Boundary Increase)","other_names":["Spencer's"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Willow & W. Oak Sts.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Mount Airy","county":"Surry County","state":"NC","lat":36.50088378300006,"lon":-80.61008906199999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2012-08-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Industry"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A boundary increase of about five acres to the Mount Airy Historic District in Mount Airy, Surry County, North Carolina, centered on Willow and West Oak streets. It contains thirteen buildings, mostly industrial and commercial, dating from about 1888 to 1978.","why_significant":"The area preserves the surviving core of Mount Airy's late-19th and early-20th-century tobacco district, whose buildings were later converted to textile manufacturing. It shows the shift from tobacco to the knitting and apparel industry, notably the Spencer's infants' and children's wear company. The period of significance is ca. 1888 to 1962.","narrative":"This five-acre addition to Mount Airy's historic district centers on the intersection of Willow and West Oak streets, just west of Main Street. It holds thirteen mostly brick buildings, ranging from one to four-and-a-half stories. The four oldest, built between about 1888 and 1905, were tobacco leaf houses and warehouses, including buildings of the Sparger Brothers Tobacco Company with stepped end gables and segmental-arched windows. From the 1920s they were converted to textile use. Smaller commercial buildings from the 1920s and 1940s were later absorbed into the same complex. The Mount Airy Knitting Company, founded in 1926 and renamed Spencer's Incorporated in 1962, expanded across the block with additions and enclosed walkways over Willow Street, becoming a leading maker of infants' and children's wear until it closed in 2007. Five buildings contribute to the district, and eight do not. The area was added because it keeps the massive industrial buildings that show a tobacco complex becoming a textile complex. The buildings are now largely vacant.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1888-1962","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Other: Heavy Timber Mill Construction","criteria":[],"status_note":"All thirteen buildings stand largely vacant, awaiting rehabilitation and adaptive re-use; Spencer's, Inc. closed in 2007.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:57:53.12057-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/20/7223/47722320/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/12000581.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000581/e0287c9f92-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/12000581/e0287c9f92-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"G Keith Hall","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Airy_Historic_District.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">G Keith Hall</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mount_Airy_Historic_District.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"85002931","name":"Mount Airy Historic District (Additional Documentation)","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/north-carolina/mount-airy-historic-district-additional-documentation-85002931/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47722320","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Airy_Historic_District_(Mount_Airy,_North_Carolina)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19987209"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/surry-county/mount-airy-historic-district-boundary-increase-12000581/"}