Hillsborough Street is a business and cultural thoroughfare through Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. The street serves as a center for social life among North Carolina State University and Meredith College students.
Bars, restaurants, coffee shops, convenience stores and banks are located along a strip of Hillsborough Street that borders the university. The road is also a busy transport corridor, linking the town of Cary with downtown Raleigh. Additionally, the road passes by the North Carolina State Veterinarian School, North Carolina State University Centennial Biomedical Campus, the North Carolina State Fairgrounds, Sacred Heart Church, and Raleigh's Pullen Park.
Route description
Hillsborough Street begins at the Cary/Raleigh line in west Raleigh as a continuation of Chatham Street. Traveling east closely alongside the CSX railroad tracks it passes through a mixed-use area with small industries, older neighborhoods, and restaurants and other small businesses alongside the road. At about , the roadway splits as Hillsborough Street meets Western Boulevard; Hillsborough Street follows the westbound lanes and Western follows the eastbound lanes. This arrangement continues for about , at the middle of which is the northern terminus of Jones Franklin Road. Hillsborough Street turns off the roadway on a two-way road due north, while Western Boulevard continues east on the same roadway.
After Hillsborough Street merges on to NC 54 (west of this interchange, NC 54 continues as Chapel Hill Street), and turns east, now on the opposite side of the CSX tracks. The road passes the North Carolina State Fairgrounds and the North Carolina State University College of Veterinary Medicine before an interchange with Interstate 440 (exit 4 on I-440), at which NC 54 reaches its eastern terminus. After I-440 the road passes to the south of the main entrance of Meredith College. After an intersection with Faircloth Street and Gorman Street, the roadway passes through a small commercial district with restaurants and small shops before entering the main campus of North Carolina State University, crossing Dan Allen Drive. Commercial buildings continue on the north side of the street, while several campus buildings line the right side, dominated by the main tower of the D.H. Hill Library. The route through campus features a wide, pedestrian-friendly median and several traffic circles that serve as traffic calming devices. At the east end of campus is a larger traffic circle that serves as the intersection between Hillsborough Street, Pullen Road, and Oberlin Road, just to the south of this lies the North Carolina State University Memorial Bell Tower. Leaving campus, the road passes through a medium density residential district, with townhouses lining the street. There's a traffic circle with Morgan Street as the road passes by Saint Mary's School, before entering Downtown Raleigh.
At Glenwood Avenue the road splits into two one-way streets, with Hillsborough Street continuing eastbound, and Edenton Street westbound. Within downtown, the road passes by a number of new high-rise office buildings, interspersed with older businesses, such as restaurants and hotels. Sacred Heart Church, the former cathedral for the Roman Catholic Diocese of Raleigh, lies on the north side of the road in between the one-way Dawson and McDowell Streets, which carry US 401, US 70, and NC 50, while on the south side of the same block is the Norman Adrian Wiggins School of Law. First Baptist Church lies on the north side of the next block, just as Hillsborough Street reaches its western terminus at Salisbury Street, facing the west façade of the North Carolina State Capitol.
History
Hillsborough Street takes its name from the city Hillsborough, a former capital city of North Carolina. Like many downtown Raleigh streets, the street's name is derived from a city of the same name in the state; though, initially the street was named Hillsboro Road and was a country road many people used to drive to Hillsborough. The street was first constructed in 1792 as part of the capital city's initial layout.
The land comprising Hillsborough Street was once the site of the plantation of David Cameron. Cameron established St. Mary's College on Hillsborough Street; the school later became a private girls' school, St. Mary's School. A streetcar traversing Hillsborough Street connected North Carolina State University to Raleigh shortly after the college was built.
The street was the site of North Carolina's largest anti-Vietnam War marches, with 10,000 people, including UNC and Duke students, protesting the war.