Downtown receives historical designation

It is official. Wake Forest's downtown is historic.

Everyone here has already agreed on that, but word came Monday that most of South White Street has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The new district, the third in Wake Forest, stretches from the CSX Railroad underpass to The Cotton Company on the west side of the street, and back up the east from the former post office to Roosevelt Avenue.

The original Wake Forest Historic District, which includes North Main Street, the seminary campus and four houses along South Avenue, was created in 1979. The Glen Royal Mill Village district came to life in the late 1990s.

The National Register designation includes 27 downtown buildings or objects. The objects are the underpass bridge built around 1935 and the Wilkinson cast-iron gas pump (circa 1915) that still stands near the entrance to Las Margaritas in the historic Wilkinson Building, circa 1899.

Despite the cachet or distinction, "It's more for bragging rights," said Agnes Wanman, the town planner who worked with the town's Historic Preservation Commission to nominate the buildings and district and pursue the national designation.

There are federal and state tax credits available to owners who want to rehabilitate or renovate the properties, and Wanman said Bob Johnson is already in the process of securing some credits for renovations at The Cotton Company.