East Raleigh Street Historic District

East Raleigh Street and part of East Second Street form a quiet residential neighborhood about half a mile east of downtown Siler City. Its large, landscaped lots hold 26 primary buildings, nearly all single-family houses, with garages, sheds and other outbuildings. Development began after the railway arrived in the 1880s, when the town's doctors, attorneys and businessmen built stylish homes outside the commercial center. The houses date mainly from about 1895 to about 1950 and illustrate changing tastes: Queen Anne and Gothic Revival houses, Colonial Revival and Dutch Colonial Revival homes, Tudor Revival, and Craftsman bungalows, including several precut Sears, Roebuck houses shipped by rail. The 1903 Gregson-Hadley House, built by William H. Tippet, was the town's first brick residence. The neighborhood was not planned but grew gradually, and it is regarded as one of Siler City's best preserved early suburbs. Only a few later ranch houses are noncontributing.