Historic District in Wilmington in New Hanover County, North Carolina — The American South (South Atlantic)
Curtis-Foster House
c. 1866
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, November 23, 2024
1. Curtis-Foster House Marker
Erected by Historic Wilmington Foundation, Inc.
Topics and series. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: Architecture • Government & Politics • Industry & Commerce. In addition, it is included in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and the North Carolina, Historic Wilmington Foundation series lists. A significant historical year for this entry is 1866.
Location. 34° 14.253′ N, 77° 56.519′ W. Marker is in Wilmington, North Carolina, in New Hanover County. It is in the Historic District. It is on North 6th Street north of Princess Street, on the right when traveling north. Touch for map. Marker is at or near this postal address: 110 N 6th St, Wilmington NC 28401, United States of America. Touch for directions.
Regionally, this marker is in North Carolina’s Coastal Plain and on the Cape Fear Coast. It is also in the American South, specifically in the Upper South, and in the Tidewater. Globally, it is in the North Atlantic Region, North America, the Western Hemisphere, the Western World, and the Anglosphere. Historically, it finds itself in what was once the territory of the Mississippian Culture, one of the original Thirteen Colonies, one of the Confederate States of America, and the Antebellum South.
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker: Bagg House (a few steps from this marker); Goodman House (within
this page online
Also see . . .
1. Historic Real Estate: Revival of the Curtis-Foster House. Neighbors cheer as award-winning preservationists help restore the black sheep of the block to its original beauty. (CB Johnson, "Luxury Flooring" blog, June 2, 2016) (Submitted on January 20, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)
2. Wilmington Historic District (PDF). National Register of Historic Places nomination for the district, which includes this property and was listed in 1974. (Prepared by Survey and Planning Unit, North Carolina Division of Archives and History; via North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office) (Submitted on January 20, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)
Photographed by Duane and Tracy Marsteller, November 24, 2024
2. Curtis-Foster House Marker
3. Wilmington Historic District Boundary Expansion and Additional Documentation (PDF). National Register nomination that expanded the district in 2003. (Prepared by Sherry Joines Wyatt and L. Robbie King; via North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office) (Submitted on January 20, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.)
Additional commentary.
1. Flavel Wright Foster
Excerpt from A Biographical Dictionary of New Hanover County, NC Commissioners, published by the New Hanover County Public Library (2010):
Flavel Wright Foster was born in Canton, Bradford County, Pennsylvania, on 18 February 1840. A Union soldier, he enlisted in Company D, 106th Regiment, Pennsylvania Infantry and was stationed on the North Carolina coast and participated in several Army scrimmages including the Battle of Fort Fisher in 1865.
After the Civil War, he went to Elizabethtown, NC, where he was a merchant and was elected to the legislature for two terms from Bladen County. He came to Wilmington in 1870 where for a time he was an internal revenue agent. Later, he managed his extensive real estate holdings. In 1886, he incorporated with J. A. Fore & Foster Planing Mill, Sash and Blind Co. that was located at Sixth and Campbell streets. The firm became one of the largest wood industrial plants of its kind in the state. Later, the company established a large sawmill at Castle Hayne.
In 1881, he married Gertrude S. Hall (1859-1930) of Winston, NC. They were parents of one son, Daniel Russell Foster. Active in civic affairs, he was a member of the Wilmington Lodge, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks; the Wilmington Lodge, I.O.O.F. and the Stonewall Lodge No. 1, Knights of Pythias. He was an honorary member of the Wilmington Division, Naval Reserves.
Foster was a member of the City of Wilmington Board of Alderman from 1880 to 1884. A Republican, he served as Chairman of the New Hanover County Board of Commissioners for one term, 1896-1898. In May 1898, Foster, F. J. Dempsey and Jordan Nixon were deposed from the Board of Commissioners by a ruling of the North Carolina Supreme Court in a case originating in Bladen County. The three had accepted positions on the Board of Education in addition to their commissioners' seats which was in violation of the state constitution.
He died 5 December 1902 and is interred in Oakdale Cemetery.
Foster also resigned from the school board in 1898, retiring from politics to concentrate on business. Those moves along with personal, professional and political goodwill he had accumulated over three decades in the city allowed Foster to remain in Wilmington after white supremacist Democrats forced out the biracial, Republican-controlled city government that year. The coup d'etat was accompanied by the deaths of numerous African Americans (estimates range from 15 to the hundreds) at the hands of armed white mobs, causing African American residents to flee the city in terror. Most never returned, and those who remained were soon subjected to Jim Crow laws and forced racial segregation.
— Submitted January 20, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Credits. This page was last revised on January 20, 2025. It was originally submitted on January 20, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee. This page has been viewed 239 times since then and 31 times this year. Photos: 1, 2. submitted on January 20, 2025, by Duane and Tracy Marsteller of Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
