Downtown Selma Historic District
Why it's listed
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.
Significance in brief: 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.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 10000601, listed August 30, 2010. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-haiku-5-5, prompt v1.1-2026-10-29, confidence medium).
Key facts
| 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, Selma |
|---|---|
| County | Johnston County |
| Listed | August 30, 2010 |
| Reference number | 10000601 |
| Resource type | District |
| Period of significance | ca. 1875-1960 |
| Architectural style | Commercial Style; Classical Revival; Colonial Revival; Art Moderne; Art Deco; Gothic Revival; No Style |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Commerce, Transportation, Architecture |
| Level of significance | Local |
| Within district | West Selma Historic District |
| Coordinates | 35.53782, -78.28296 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
This is a historic district. Buildings within its boundary are either contributing (they add to the district's significance) or non-contributing. Owners of contributing income-producing buildings can claim the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit; homeowners should look at state credits. National Register districts impose no design review by themselves; a local historic district ordinance, if one exists, does (the difference explained).
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 10000601.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q19461398
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.