“A Worthy Place”: Durham, Duke, and the World of the 1920s-1930s

Durham in the 1920s was full of plans for its own expansion as a hub of industry and trade. The Chamber of Commerce published illustrated guides to the city to boost its stature, pointing towards its favorable location and growing populace. Herbert S. Swan, a New York-based authority on urban planning, was commissioned by the Durham Chamber of Commerce to develop first a zoning ordinance and then a comprehensive plan for the city. The zoning ordinance was adopted in 1926, codifying a mix of residential and industrial uses. The following year, Swan's "The Durham Plan” imagined a city re-engineered to better accommodate automobile transit and parking. Together, these documents sought to optimize different parts of the city for discrete purposes, reinforcing class and racial boundaries and paving the way for more widespread suburbanization.