Goodnight Raleigh - a look at the art, architecture, history, and people of the city at night

The Tornado and the Three Day Celebration

An 1892 replica of the Tornado, the first train to arrive in Raleigh. Currently housed in a museum in Hamlet, NC

1840 was a big year for Raleigh. In fact, it’s one of the most important in the city’s history. On March 21, 1840, the first steam locomotive came roaring and screeching into Raleigh on wooden tracks (the iron strips to cover them would come later). That same year would see the construction of the city’s most recognized and celebrated architectural treasure: the new State Capitol.

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Fayetteville Street, looking North, Raleigh, N.C.

This week for Flashback Friday — yet another astonishing postcard find. Our lovelorn ‘Cullen’ continues to pine for his distant sweetheart Emmie.
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Morning View 061511

Is that dog food I smell ? No, it’s the Cargill soybean processing plant on S. Blount St. Most people I know still call it the Purina plant. Drive by on a hot day and you won’t be disappointed by the smell.


Want a tiny physical reminder of Raleigh? City-Blox are 2"x3" photographic prints mounted directly to wood blocks. You can support this blog by buying them at Etsy.


Discuss Raleigh

  • Recent Comments:

    • hollywoodgirl: I was thinking about the downtown hotels and how their purposes had changed over the decades, and how...
    • jayare: A lunchtime internet search for Ed V. Bedney resulted in the fact that he was a collector of matchbooks and...
    • jayare: LOL that message typed on the post card sounds like an international drug deal!
    • Raleigh Boy: Hollywoodgirl — Thanks for sharing your recollections of the Andrew Johnson Hotel with our...
    • Jimmy G: Moved to Raleigh in 1956. worked at Chiips 1966 later Hardee’s, Emma Conn to Morson to Enloe. Lived in...
    • Debbie McGhee Saelens: I went attended Hugh Morson the first part of the 9th grade (1965) before we moved to Aycock....
    • Matthew Brown: Another great article, Raleigh Boy! Thank you
    • Curt: Interesting post, Raleigh Boy. I wonder if the flag in the postcard was artistic license. Here are two Flickr...


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