20
With an increasing need for space and money, the College decided to divide the Calvin Jones farm into lots and sell them for $100 each, with those on the east side of “Main Street” selling for $150. Eighty, one-acre lots north of the campus and west of the railroad were put on the market in 1839. The central street became known as Faculty Avenue and is North Main Street today. This street constitutes the majority of the locally designated “Wake Forest Historic District”. When the Civil War began in 1862 the students and at least one faculty member left to enlist, causing the College to close. Wait Hall later became a hospital for wounded soldiers, as did some of the Faculty Avenue homes. When the college reopened in 1865, much de- pleted, there were still very few buildings on and around the campus. The Railroad The Raleigh and Gaston Railroad was constructed in 1840 along the eastern border of the growing school. The closest
Original Town Plat of Wake Forest. 1839. (Paschal, History of Wake Forest College , I, 189)
depot was in Forestville, as was the post office, so students and professors often got off the train there and walked the dusty mile. The location and distance of the station was a controversial subject for Wake Forest College because the station was in Forestville. The Railroad refused to finance two stations so close together, so the College paid $2,000.03 to move the depot from Forestville to Wake Forest. Although Forestville, circa 1760, predated both Raleigh and Wake Forest the railroad station was relocated in 1874 even though there were no buildings in Wake Forest east of the railroad tracks. In a futile attempt to protect itself Forestville became incorporated as a town in 1879, maintaining its incorporation until 1915. In 1984 the Wake Forest town board voted to annex a substantial area, including Forestville. After controversy and court battles the area historically known as Forestville became part of the Town of Wake Forest in 1988.
Faculty Avenue, Wake Forest College
Documentary photograph of the depot in downtown
Made with FlippingBook - professional solution for displaying marketing and sales documents online