527NEastSt

Howdy All! I just learned of this site from a friend. We both grew up in Raleigh in the Mordecai and Oakwood neighborhoods in the '40s and '50s. I realize that I'm coming to the party very late, but I believe that I can add a few morsels to the conversation. I left Raleigh in '92; so all that's happened in the intervening years is news to me. In this thread, there was a question as to where the Sasser home is on Wake Forest Road. It is (or was?) the white frame house about third down from corner nearest the old Mary Elizabeth Hospital (later Raleigh Community) building. It sits back from the road a bit before you get to the apartments that were built in the '60's or '70s just before you get to Frank Street. In the mid '50's the Raleigh City Limits were just past Mary Elizabeth Hospital; however the area was well developed out to the Y where Louisburg Road and Wake Forest Road split. There was a Dairy Queen in the lot formed by the split. The city limits came down Glasscock Street to Grassy Branch and followed Grassy Branch back toward Oakwood Cemetery. They fell on Brookside Drive at the point where Grassy Branch crossed coming out of Oakwood Cememtery just past the end of North Boundary Street. North Boundary was paved but pavement ended at Watauga Street (which was not paved) and Brookside Drive was gravel surfaced all the way to Wake Forest Road. The school building on Person Street, now used as a retirement community facility, was Murphey School, named after Archibald Murphey, an early Raleigh public school teacher and administrator. Emma Conn was principal there until about 1951 or 52 when she retired only to be called in as a substitute teacher when needed. The school on Brookside Drive was named after her. Her successor was Mr. Russell Jefferson, who later was principal at other Raleigh schools. He was succeeded by Mr. Donald Weed, "The Tall Grassy Kind", who came to Murphey as principal in about 1954. He actually introduced himself with the quoted modifier. He stood well over 6 feet and was thin. Hugh Morson graduated its last high school class in 1955; thereafter it was junior high school until its demise. I was class president of the 9th grade (and of the Jr. Honor Society) there in 1956-57. The location of Hugh Morson High School has been resolved by others here. All nine of us siblings attended that school at one time or another in its history. My brother and another classmate of his from the Class of '53 retrieved the gargoyles and brick and built the memorial that stands as noted in another post. They actually did all this work by their own hands, not caused it to be built. The discussion of Falls of Neuse Road and Bland Road: Although I don't recall when the roads were paved, I do recall travelling on the road in front of Eastgate SC when it was gravel. Of course, the whole area was wooded then. Falls of Neuse turned to the left off Wake Forest Road but did not cross it. It intersected where the Bland Road cut off now exists. There was a Pure Oil station and country grocery store where the Wendy's now stands. I have many fond memories of growing up in Oakwood. You might guess by my username where I lived from birth to age 22. I knew Raleigh when one could walk across it in an afternoon and it was safe for 6-year old children to go downtown alone and marvel at all the magical things in the five and dime stores or Briggs Hardware or attend the western flicks and serials at the Capitol or Wake theater on Saturday morning for 7 cents. For that you got a double feature, cartoons, newsreels, and a serial adventure chapter. Popcorn and drink were a nickel each. Busfare was also a nickel. I will be happy to try to answer questions about Raleigh of that period through 1990. I can call on the collective memory of a rather large family, too. Just email me at [email protected] and put "Raleigh" somewhere in the subject line.\