ROWAN COUNTY
Updated 12/31/99
The North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office statewide inventory contains information on about 200 prehistoric and historic archaeological sites in Rowan County.
Comprehensive surveys have been conducted in Salisbury (1980-81) and Spencer (1979-80). These surveys were cooperative local-state projects accomplished with grants and staff assistance from the Historic Preservation Office. Historic Preservation Office staff undertook the survey of the rest of the county in the late 1970s, which resulted in a publication. The city of Salisbury received a 1997 state grant to update the citywide survey.
Federal grants of $426,508 and state grants of $250,000 have helped fund restorations of Spencer Shops, Kerr Mill, and the Salisbury Depot, and assisted architectural survey work in Salisbury and Rowan County, preparation of the National Register nomination for the Fulton Heights Historic District in Salisbury, and the re-print of the county architectural survey publication.
NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES
Forty-one individual properties and ten historic districts have been listed in the National Register, including the Spencer Historic District, Livingstone College Historic District, and eight other districts in Salisbury. A federal grant was awarded in 1997 for the preparation of a National Register nomination for the Fulton Heights Historic District in Salisbury. The individual listings include many farms, churches, cemeteries, and schools.
LOCAL PRESERVATION COMMISSIONS
Granite Quarry and Spencer have historic district commissions and Salisbury has a historic preservation commission, all of which receive consultation services from the Historic Preservation Office upon local request. The Historic Preservation Office has reviewed and commented upon designation reports for three local districts in Salisbury and one in Spencer. The City of Salisbury is a Certified Local Government.
Twenty-seven income-producing tax credit projects have been completed in Rowan County at a total construction investment of $5,917,500, including the former Calvin H. Wiley School in Salisbury; eight additional projects are under rehabilitation, including the Cheerwine Building in Salisbury. One residential renovation has been completed to utilize the new state tax credit for non-income-producing historic structures, and twelve residences are currently being rehabilitated under the program. The Historic Preservation Office reviews and provides restoration technical services for all preservation tax credit projects.
PUBLIC EDUCATION AND PUBLICATIONS
The Historic Preservation Office assisted Rowan County in publishing The Architecture of Rowan County, North Carolina by Davyd Foard Hood in 1983.
The Historic Preservation Office has provided technical assistance for the restoration of Union Station, the Josephus Hall House, the Archibald Henderson Law Office, the Wallace Building (The Plaza), Grimes Mill, St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, and the Rowan County Courthouse, all in Salisbury; the Spencer Shops Round House and Back Shop in Spencer; and Kerr Mill and many other buildings throughout the county.