Who or What was on the Island?
This is the island that is sandwiched in between Hillsborough St., West St., and Edenton St. I’ve often driven by and been puzzled as to why there is a chain link fence around a section of it. I’ve even walked by on a few occasions and poked around, and I didn’t see any evidence as to what the fence is currently or was formerly protecting. The only thing on the island is a sign that says something like “parking for sight and sound only”.
Does anyone know what used to be here? It seems a bit out of place currently.
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04/17/2008
That triangle of land is what’s left of the city block that used to occupy the site. When the Edenton St./Hillsboro St. connector was put in back in the ’80s that block was reduced to what you see today. Formerly it was occupied by storefronts like those across Hillsboro St. from it. The chain link fence was probably put up by the property owner to keep the vagrants out. Incidentally, the connector also took out the building that had once been Raleigh’s streetcar barn (ca. 1920s). If you look closely, you can see remnants of one of its brick walls, just across the Edenton/West St intersection, in that little area of pavement by the tracks and adjacent to the power substation parking deck.
09/30/2022
Sight & Sound was a large electronics distributor located on the NE corner of Hillsborough St and West St – back in the day when electronic devices like stereo systems & televisions could be repaired that was where you went to get the necessary parts.
Next door to Sight & Sound at 400 Hillsborough St was the old Canton Cafe, which was the only Chinese restaurant in Raleigh when I arrived here in 1967. They served “family style”.