The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-07-31
INCIDENTS
AzaOBsERvATIoNs.
(BY X. T.. GRAY.)

How many people in Raleigh know
what has become Of the old Baptist
School, building, on Park Place, which
up to year or so ago stood in the
middle of ample grounds on North
Blount street? And how many know
or remember-the history of that
old pile?
Originally the structure was built
and lived in as a residence by Col.
William Polk, of Revolutionary fame,
and, facing south, blocked Blount
street at the point of its present in
tersection with North street. at Col.
Andrews corner. For the times it
was a magnificent structure both III
point OF size, designed to fully meet
the needs of the exaggerated hospi-
tally of the day and in the finish
of the work. For years when occu-
pied by Colonel Polk and descendants,
among whom were Mrs. George r..
Badger. Mrs. Montford McGehee, Mrs.
Rayner and the BiShop-General OF the
Confederacy. Leonidas Polk, the old
house was the scene of lavish enter
tainment and the rallying point of the
social life of the Capital of the State
Its grounds, composed of Woodlands
and broad acres under cultivation OIL
his slaves, included practically all of
the present northern end of the CITY,
a district that at the present day is
one of the most popular and closely
settled of Raleigh's residential dis
tricts. And to those who are inclined
to see in the silence of Raleigh peo-
pie a lack of city growth. it should only
he said in refutation of the charge
that as late as 1868 and 1869 the old
Polk residence, with its wide spread
lands behind still stood at the head
Of Blount street, limiting the north
ern confines OF the city at the present
North street line. The house which
was then occupied by Mr.. and Mrs.
Raynor, was finally sold, with its
grounds, to the late Stanhope Pullen,
who sold of the iots on North
Blount Person and North Wilmington
streets to various parties and after
wards himself built up into an at
tractive residential section what is
now called "Pullentown." moving the
old Polk residence around so that its
front faced west on Blount street.
Afterwards sold by Mr.. Pullen to
Messrs Hawkins, Heck and perhaps,
some others the old building was re-
modelled and rented to f. z. Hob
good who undertook to operate it as
the first Baptist school for women es-
tablished in the State. But the time
was not ripe and the school was a
failure. being open as such for only
a few years
The later history of the house was
one of decaying senility. It's wide
parlors and spacious halls We're con-
Verted at one time or another to the
uses of n boarding house and family
apartments. As the great pile grad
uaIly crumbled to it's end, section after
section of rooms and Railways drifted
to the habitation of the bats and
echoed emptily with the memories OF
the past. At length, a mere hull, the
building and the grounds were bought
by air. w. w. Williamson, the timbers
being used for the erection at the
Pilot cotton mills of q large and
modern auditorium and library for
the use OF the factory operatives
there being no outward appearance in
the new and freshly painted building
of the present to the rambling old
palace of the past.
Yet the building at the Pilot mills
is typica; OF four things which have
largely contributed to the brighter day
that has dawned for the State.
1t stood for the courage, the prog
ress and the hospitality of the old
South in every one of its scattered
rooms, the wide eXpanse of its halls,
the old time mantel-emblem of good
cheer-that carved in bas relief sur
mounted the door OF its main enc
trance; it made way for the ctys
need for room and began a work for
woman's enlightenment that is today
commemorated by the modern brick
buildings of one of the largest insttu-
tons of woman's education in the
South; it stands today, adapted to
modern needs, as an example of the
attitude of helDfulness and considera-
ton for employees that is growing
apace in the heart of capital and that,
amid the turmoil of strikes and riots
that are but the bubbles on the tide
of changing conditions, is tending
safely but surely towards the ulti-
mate solution of the vexed questions
that arise between the man who gets
and the man who pays the wages of
work with the hands.
George, who is the janitor of the
Supreme Court building has some
ideas on the future of the negro race
that are somewhat unique. There is
at present in the city one of those
perennial fakes who peddle to the ne
gro hair tonic and face wash war
ranted. in six weeks time-the course
OF treatment sold at a dollar-to bring
the red blush of the whitest skin to
the blacklist face and to unwind the
tightest kinks of hair into long and
waving curlS OF course the facial
artist is booked to disappear just be-
fore his course of treatment reaches
the limit of his guarantee-but there
are always pastures, new and green,
and his victims jump eagerly at the
next bait that comes along. The fakir
in this instance is claiming the credit
of that ''nigger with curls," who did
the flag waving at the Republican
convention and finds it profitable to
degree. There are more than one
pair of colored parents in Raleigh to-
day who, as they annoint their off,
springs face and hair at night see
visions of their babies even on a
presidential knee-but l was going to