John, Donald, and Aaron are pictured above at RFD Station Five. A local historian, Mike Legeros (who also publishes my favorite online Raleigh read – Hidden Raleigh) has the following information on RFD Station Five:

Fire Station 5 opened on November 18, 1926 at the corner of Oberlin Road and Park Drive. The two-story, single-bay station was addressed 1914 Park Drive. By the late 1950s and due to the need of an aerial ladder at the station, planning for a replacement facility was underway. On July 24, 1961, Engine 5 relocated to Station 6 as construction of a new Station 5 was nearly complete on the same lot. On September 26, 1961, Station 5 opened at 300 Oberlin Road. Demolition of the old station was performed by firefighters and the bricks were saved and later used to build a smokehouse next to the training tower.

Be sure to check out his site as it has many photos of Raleigh you won’t find anywhere else.

According to the plaque in the lower right corner of the third image, the old North Carolina National Guard building was built by the Works Progress Administration during the years of 1935-1937. The Ira David Wood III Theatre In The Park web site says that

Theatre In The Park is located in the northern end of Raleigh’s scenic Pullen Park and is internationally acclaimed for its outstanding theatrical achievements—more than 40,000 people attending our programming last year alone. TIP is second only to the celebrated Louisville Actor’s Theatre in original works premiered— producing over 40 original plays during the last two decades (two of which moved to off-Broadway).

Originally chartered in 1947, TIP started out as The Children’s Theatre of Raleigh, Inc. During the early 70s, its name was changed to Theatre In The Park in order to reflect its expanded programming, location and new “home” in The National Guard Armory building located in scenic Pullen Park. In 2004, the building was renamed as “The Ira David Wood III Pullen Park Theatre,” to reflect the decades of work done by Executive and Artistic Director, Ira David Wood III.

The facility includes a beautiful garden (named for its caregiver, John Bento, a fellow City of Raleigh employee), Season Member Lounge, administrative offices, costume shop, technical workshop, dressing rooms, lobby and totally flexible (black box) performance space. The theatre is in-door, air conditioned and has a seating capacity of approximately 250. Year-round programming includes no less than four mainstage productions, classes, workshops and independent productions.

Between TIP, Stewart Theatre, and The Raleigh Little Theatre, this little patch of Raleigh sure has quite an array of performing arts options.

107 Pullen Road
Raleigh, NC 27607
(919) 831-6936
Get directions

This building is located across from the Days Inn on Dawson Street. It’s obviously very old, but I couldn’t find any evidence of what this building is going to become after restoration is complete. Does anyone know its future is or what business or other entity once existed here?

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