Carrboro Commercial Historic District

Sixteen commercial buildings line the 100 block of East Main Street in Carrboro, North Carolina, forming the town's oldest surviving business district. The stores grew up to serve textile workers at the Alberta Cotton Mill, founded in 1899, and most were built between about 1910 and 1924. A fire in 1924 destroyed the frame buildings at the north end of the block. Owners rebuilt in brick, which became the preferred material. The result is a row of modestly detailed one- and two-story buildings with corbelled brick panels, molded metal cornices, large display windows and transoms. Notable examples include Hearn's Grocery, the triangular Flatiron Building, the two-story trio at 118-120 East Main Street that housed a drug store and a silent movie theater, and the frame Miles Andrews House, the only building to survive from the block's mixed residential and commercial past. Alterations have generally been minor, and the block visually complements the neighboring Alberta Mill Complex.