Cotton Exchange of Wilmington

The Cotton Exchange of Wilmington, North Carolina, is a shopping complex consisting of over eight historical buildings dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

After visiting several other cities that had undergone renovations, including Charleston, Savannah, Atlanta, and San Francisco, Reaves and Murray developed a business plan for their new space.

Reaves and Murray exposed walls made from old ships ballast, and wooden beams 40 feet long and hand-hewn.

They imported period furniture to go along with the group of buildings, and placed gigantic lamps once belonging to Wilmington’s old customs house at the entrance to the stores.

[citation needed] Much of the historical importance of what is now called the Cotton Exchange is derived from the eight buildings of which it was originally composed.

• 308-308 ½ Nutt Street comprised a wholesale grocer and a warehouse used by the Boney and Harper Mill (the dominant industry on the block).

• 310 ½ Nutt Street was a warehouse used for flour by 1900, though it had originally (1893) been part of an outdoor beer garden adjacent to a saloon.

Expansion since the original purchase added buildings such as the previously mentioned Sprunt Cotton Exchange, and the former pub and brothel known as Paddy’s Hollow.