Preserving Hickory

A Broader Vision

In 1979 consultant F. Bogue began the first inventory of historic properties in Hickory as part of the Catawba County Historic Inventory project. National Register consultant Kirk F. Mohney and others later added to the inventory list, bringing to the number of recorded properties to over 300.

Of these buildings, eleven were listed individually in the U.S. Department of the Interior’s National Register of Historic Places and over 100 were included within three National Register historic districts. At the time, more than 200 other properties of historical or architectural interest which were recorded in the surveys were not formally designated.  Some have been demolished, some altered substantially, and others have been added to the National Register in subsequent years.

In 1999 a follow up survey of Hickory properties resulted in the recording of an additional 300 properties of interest. As a result, there are now 16 individually listed properties on the National Register of Historic Places, a new historic district added in 2005, and two original National Register historic districts were expanded by 131 properties.

It is a characteristic of such surveys that they are never really completed. As time passes, historical perspectives change.  Demolition, neglect, or alteration never stops. Others take on added significance as the knowledge and appreciation of communities expands.   In 2015 the City of Hickory sponsored a third major survey of our built environment, to update records of existing landmarks and consider additional properties for future landmark designation. 192 previously recorded structures in the State’s records were updated and 162 unrecorded structures were added since the last Survey in 1999.

Hickory’s historic inventory files are maintained at the Survey and Planning Branch File Room, Office of Archives and History, 109 East Jones Street, Raleigh, North Carolina.

The City of Hickory also has its own historic preservation efforts and meetings.