Originally part of the Fayetteville & Western Plank Road (built between 1849 and 1854 from Fayetteville to Salem), South Main Street stood as High Point's city center for nearly 40 years. South Main Street reflected High Point's rise from a small Piedmont town to a major industrial center. By the 1960s, however, factory workers had moved out to the suburbs and did their shopping away from Main Street. In the 1970s, the Elwood Hotel was demolished, which left only a few buildings from the earlier decades still standing in this block.

Gift of the High Point Chamber of Commerce.

1998.028.099