114 West Parrish Street

Located at 114 West Parrish Street the Mechanics and Farmers Bank Building has a rich history in the Durham community that spans nearly 100 years. The building was the second home of North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association (after 1919 the North Carolina Mutual Insurance Company). The insurance company contracted the building for $250,000 and moved its headquarters to the new location in late December 1921. Additionally, the site housed two clothing stores, a barbershop, a large drugstore, a tailoring shop, the North Carolina Mutual newspaper, and Mechanics and Farmers Bank.

 "...one of the handsomest buildings in the city...an architectural gem."

According to the Durham Herald, 114 Parrish Street was "...one of the handsomest buildings in the city...an architectural gem." Interestingly, the new structure, standing at six stories high, rose above all buildings in Durham except one. The directors had carefully checked the measurement of the tallest building in town and then had made sure that theirs did not exceed it.

 As one of the only three landmarks listed on the National Registry of Historic Places, the Mechanics and Farmers Bank Building is a testimony to the socioeconomic vitality of black Durham in the first half of the twentieth century. The landmark was added to the registry in December 1974.

Chronology

 1921     

114 West Parrish Street build as headquarters for NC Mutual.

 1975     

Building designated as a National Historic Landmark.

 1999     

Building purchased by NC Institute of Minority Economic Development.

Black Wall Street

As home to North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company, Mechanics & Farmers Bank, and various other black ventures, West Parrish Street in Durham became known as the "Black Wall Street of America" by the 1930s.

In 1906, NC Mutual relocated to Parrish Street at the advice of Washington Duke and Julius S. Carr, two associates of NC Mutual company founders. In the eyes of Duke and Carr, locating the insurance company in Hayti, the hub of black commercial enterprise in the early 1900s, was imprudent due to depreciating land values. Thus, NC Mutual Life Insurance Company moved to West Parrish Street and ushered in an unprecedented era of black middle class prosperity. Ironically, Parrish Street was viewed as a haven for white businesses prior to their relocation.

As the first African-American owned business on the street, NC Mutual built a brick building to house their rapidly growing insurance company.  Along with them came Mechanics and Farmers Bank, another black-owned enterprise chartered in 1907 and associated with NC Mutual. Within two years, Mutual purchased additional lots and added to its offices, forming an African American business complex that included a real estate company, a large drugstore, a tailoring shop, clothing stores, offices of the North Carolina Mutual newspaper, a barbershop, and a cotton mill. With the opening of the Mechanics and Farmers Bank and these other enterprises, the area received the patronage of whites and a large segment of the black population.

Though West Parrish Street became known as the "Black Wall Street" warm sentiments were not shared by all in the local black community. To the working and uneducated masses, Merrick, Moore, and Spaulding, represented "whiteness." In fact, some believed the three men served as puppets for powerful men like Duke and Carr. Nevertheless, the company was able to establish a firm foothold in the black community and provide them with services denied by white companies.

The demise of Jim Crow caused fewer blacks to rely on West Parrish Street institutions. More specifically, white companies offered blacks insurance and there was no longer a need for a blacks-only cotton mill. In 1965 N.C. Mutual moved its headquarters to Chapel Hill Street. It is the opinion of some that the move coincided with the demise of "Black Wall Street."