The Sanford Railroad House Museum will lead a tour of some of Sanford’s earliest homes and other buildings on Sunday, October 6.
Arnold Lincoln “Link” Boykin built several historic homes in the early 1900s in the area surrounding downtown Sanford, many of which still stand today, as well as Fair Promise AME Zion Church at 712 Wall St. and the original W.B. Wicker School on Vance Street.
The tour is free to the public and will take place at 2 p.m. beginning in the sanctuary at Fair Promise.
According to materials provided by the Railroad House, Boykin – who along with educator W.B. Wicker is memorialized in a mural on Horner Boulevard honoring Sanford’s early African American leaders – was born in Sampson County and moved to the Cameron area early in life. He began working a construction job with the Augusta Airline Railroad, where it’s speculated that he began honing his skills as a builder.
Boykin moved to Sanford about 1895 and built his own first house at 102 Pearl Street in 1912, as well as Fair Promise parsonage at 408 Ramseur Street. A founding member of Fair Promise, he built the existing church building in 1923-24.
He was involved in several other buildings in Sanford including the 1936-37 Sanford Post Office (now La Dolce Vita restaurant), and the early brick tobacco warehouses around town.
He also built in Chatham, Cumberland, Durham, and Harnett counties, including the Regal Theater in Durham. His son, Arnold Edward “Ed” Boykin, attended MIT in the 1920s and ran his father’s business from the early 1940s into the 1950s.
Link Boykin died in 1943.
Stops on the tour include Boykin’s second home, at 705 Wall St., a 1920 Craftsman style home at 318 Cross St., a 1922 Craftsman home at 220 Gulf St., a 1928 Tudor Revival at 506 Sunset Drive, and a 1926 Mediterranean style home at 503 Sunset Drive.
The final stop on the tour is the W.B. Wicker School at 806 S. Vance St.
For more information about the tour, contact Edwin Patterson at pattersonhinton@windstream.net.
All photos are provided by Jimmy Haire.
This is awesome! I would love to participate in this tour. When I returned from college I stayed in the house on Wall Street. Never knew the history of that house! How amazing is that!