Jonesboro Historic District

Jonesboro is a small residential neighborhood southeast of Morganton's central business district, laid out along West Concord, Jones, South Anderson, Lytle and Bay Streets. Its 41 buildings, built between about 1895 and 1935, are mostly one-and-one-half story frame cottages, shotgun houses and bungalows, with a few Victorian-influenced details. Two ravines bound the area, several streets wind or remain unpaved, and open lots serve as garden plots, giving it a rural feel close to downtown. It is documented as Morganton's oldest and only intact historic black neighborhood, possibly developed as early as 1880. The most substantial house belonged to Philo Harbison, born a slave in 1856, who became a master carpenter, contractor and builder and owned a planing mill. He built his own two-story home and several rental shotgun houses on Jones and South Anderson Streets. Most other houses were owner-built. The vacant lots are counted as one contributing site because they are part of the district's character.