West Salem National Historic District

[Myles Away]

I am reposting photo tours of Winston-Salem from other forums for viewers of this forum to enjoy. This is historic West Salem and is the neighborhood that borders my own neighborhood of Brookstown heights. I'll let Matt tell you about it.

Built on farmland west of Salem, West Salem grew from 1782 to about 1925. The oldest house is the George Stockberger House built on Walnut Street in 1782 (sorry, no photo). The older houses from the late 1700's and early 1800's are on the southeast corner of West Salem. I could've focused on the older stuff, but as you know, I'm researching the Victorian streetcar developments in the city! The Victorian side was filled with factory workers houses. Very rare neighborhood to find in the South at that time. During the height of Salem Mills, Salem Flour Mill, Arista Cotton Mill and Wachovia Flour Mill around 1840-1905, this neighborhood grew fast.

I'll start with some of the "older stuff", just to let you see how old the neighborhood is, then we'll look at nothing but Victorian architecture.

Ackerman-Reich House

Built in 1840 for Allen Ackerman, the manager of Salem Cotton Mills.

Tesh-Butner-Bryant House

Built in 1854 for Christian David Tesh. The house was later owned by Salem mayor Samuel Butner, who expanded the home.

Pfohl House

Built in 1858. One of my favorite houses from the trip.

One of my favorite houses in West Salem!

This house features the Moravian Star. One of Winston-Salem's city symbols.

This is the house next door.

Look how small it is! These houses have very small yards and are densely packed!

It was a cold and cloudy morning in West Salem when I visited. I think Tom's "cloud" was following me on most of this trip. Of course any day you spend surrounded by historic houses is a happy day! Just ask this young lady.

This house has a very colorful fence. I would guess this house is from the 1850's or 1860's. Most of the homes in that area were from the 1850's or 1860's.

Green Street United Methodist Church, built in 1902. It's 102 years old! I had to photograph it!

Let's see the streetcar developments!

Folk Victorian was made possible by railroads. Mass-produced wood features could be transported quickly and cheaply almost anywhere. Home builders often simply added trim and ornament to traditional folk houses. Older folk homes were often updated with new ornamentation, now available everywhere due to pattern books and mass production and sale of wood features. A very common style found in turn-of-the-century "western" towns settled during that time.

Pan African Imagery (Art Gallery)

One of many art galleries in West Salem.

The Baha'i Faith (Church) believes in equality among all races.

Bah

[Neo]

Great scott those are great!! I know it took a lot of time to post that many photos so we really appreciate it! Those are great! Some awesome homes in the WS area!

[Myles Away]

Thanks for checking the thread out. I didn't do the work. I just copied and pasted it from another forum. I'll be reposting another great thread soon so be on the look out for it if you like old buildings and houses.

[Danny 4 Peace]

I wish Old Salem Inc., would buy all the old houses in West Salem and restore them as an expansion of Old Salem. The Ackerman House is in need of restoration. This was originally part of Salem, NC., and should be part of their tour. I also would like to see one of the oldest standing Jewish landmarks in the southeast restored and that is the Stockberger House in West Salem, built in 1782. Stockberger House is not in these pictures but it should be.

[bobliocatt]

Great pics! What was the population of W-S in 1900?

[eddard]

Hi,

This is my first post here.

My wife and I just moved to West Salem in June and we love it! We had lived in King (just north of Winston) but really wanted to be in the downtown area. We purchased a 1925 bungalow that had just been redone. It had been a duplex but now is a single family residence. Our yard is behind the Green Street United Methodist Church pictured in your tour. Here's a pic of our house:

Thanks for posting those great photos. I'm glad I found this forum.

[Danny 4 Peace]

Welcome to the forum!

West Salem is a hidden gem. I'm glad you found it! I've lived in Washington Park and now Holly Avenue. The southern side is the best in my opinion. The best architectural diversity, lots to see and do and we are right at downtown. I just love the strollway too.

Matthew should write a book on Winston-Salem. His threads are well researched and the pictures are outstanding. He needs to visit my neighborhood and take some pics for the forums. For someone from a small mountain town over 150 miles away near South Carolina he knows Winston-Salem better than us locals. Too bad Matthew and TwinCity aren't on this forum. Have you told them about Urban Planet Myles? If you haven't could you ask them to join over here?

[Myles Away]

Hey welcome to the forum! This is also my forum of choice. I just wish everyone would post over here. What would it take for him to get a book published? I love that idea and Matt is the one to do it! Its something we need and something I know would sell very well. It could be our way of thanking him for letting us use these photos. Do we need to preorder copies? I would order one and so would half the old neighborhoods in this city. Something like that would make a great coffee table or reference book. I would like to see the cloudy day photos reshot if he writes a book with pictures on Winston-Salem. The sunny day photos are much better for coffee table books.

[monsoon]

These are nice photos of Winston.

[JunktionFET]

Those are some nice photos, I guess I missed this thread before