Another Memorial Marker Returns (Sort of)
The marker above denoting the birthplace of President Andrew Johnson hasn’t recently returned, but I don’t think it has been here for that long either. According to Raleigh Boy, it was originally located in front of the Ambadassor Theater at the north end of the 100 block of Fayetteville Street and was removed in the mid-1970s during the conversion of that street into a pedestrian mall.
When meeting up to have drinks at the Raleigh Times, he mentioned that he noticed it for the first time since it was removed from its original location. Until he pointed it out, I had never noticed it. I do know it has been in this location since at least late 2007, as it is visible to the right of the light post in Google Street View.
The inscription reads:
125 feet east of this point Andrew Johnson seventeenth president was born Dec 29, 1808.
Now that the marker is no longer in its original spot, the inscription is now somewhat inaccurate.
Have you noticed this particular marker? Was it put here in 2005 when the trees and greenery were uprooted in the process of reopening the street to vehicular traffic?
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01/09/2009
Hey guys. I’ve been working on Fayetteville Street off and on since 2001, and I’m pretty sure I remember it being there the whole time, except for a brief period of time, I think, when they were making Fayetteville Street a real street again.
01/09/2009
There was a storefront on the site of the marker up until that parking deck was built, but I don’t remember when that was, though. I guess it was moved there when that building was torn down and that footpath put in, ya reckon?.
01/09/2009
That sounds about right. I can’t remember when the footpath was put in but that’s got to be what happened.
02/21/2009
Where is the marker now located?
02/21/2009
It is located, rather obscurely, on the east side of the first block of Fayetteville St. next to the Empire Properties Building, along a footpath that runs between the EPB and the parking deck next door. At its original location, up the block in front of the Ambassador Theater (gone), there was a highway marker too, which is now on the Morgan St. side of the the Justice Building.