1Base Bldg

Tobacco Warehouse – Base Building Team
IDSN 4600 Research
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During the late Nineteenth & early twentieth centuries, a
large decline in the price of cotton followed by an
increasing demand for tobacco produced an
unparalleled expansion of tobacco farming that
propelled Greenville to prominence as a large &
important marketing & processing center for tobacco.
Greenville’s population grew from less than 2,000 to an
estimated 15,000 people.
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The district occupies 10.4 acres
located south of the City’s
Central Business District at the
intersections of Ninth, Tenth,
Eleventh, & Ficklen Streets with
the CSX Railroad tracks.
The district is comprised of six
major contributing
warehouses/factories:
• CB#1- Prichard-Hughes Warehouse
• CB#2- Dail-Ficklen Warehouse
• CB#3 & #4- Export Leaf Factory
• CB#5- Gorman Warehouse
• CB#6- The Star Warehouse
http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/exhibits/tobacco/imagesFiles/NREG/3NREGmap.jpg
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The Greenville, NC Tobacco Warehouse Historic District
is additionally eligible for the National Register under
Criterion C for the local significance of the eclectic
architecture of its early twentieth century tobacco
buildings.
Tobacco-related architecture in North Carolina was
based on slow-burn construction developed in 1822 in
New England by Zachariah Allen.
• Heavy plank floors, massive structural timbers, brick walls, and metal
clad doors were utilized to contain the spread of fires.
• Industrial Italianate and Art Deco stylistic features were employed to
break the mass of long exterior facades.
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The earliest record of the
company was found in The
1902 North Carolina Year
Book.
The company has since then
gone by four different names:
• Hughes & Co.
• Prichard & Co.
• Hughes, Thomas & Co.
• Prichard-Hughes & Co.
http://digital.lib.ecu.edu/exhibits/tobacco/imagesFiles/YB02/3YB02425.jpg
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The Prichard-Hughes Warehouse was built in 1905. It was
originally a stemmery and prizery.
An addition was constructed in 1923.
In 1947 artificial siding and replacement windows were
installed.
In 1964 the warehouse was sold to the Bostic-Suggs
Furniture Company
• Became a furniture warehouse in association with that firm’s sales rooms
on Tenth Street.