The City of Fayetteville is wrapping up the first phase of renovations to the Market House this week.
The first phase focused on restoring the structure of the nearly 200-year-old, controversial historic landmark, where enslaved people were sold in the 1800s.
Updates included replacing the building’s woodwork and roof. A new clock is scheduled to be installed on Oct. 20. American Woodworkery, a Cumberland County contractor specializing in historical preservation, is completing all the restoration work.
Once installed, the city will be 25% finished with its Market House repurposing project, which began in 2021 when the Fayetteville City Council asked the Fayetteville-Cumberland Human Relations team to develop a renovation plan.
The direction came after an online petition called for the Market House to be torn down because of its association with slavery and lynching, and it was set on fire amid Black Lives Matter protests in May 2020. The protests were in response to the killing of George Floyd, who was born near Fayetteville, by a Minneapolis police officer in May 2020.
Ultimately, the city council decided to paint “Black Lives Do Matter” and “End Racism Now” in yellow text around the landmark.
In 2022, the city council approved the repurposing plan, which was composed using community feedback and perspectives from multiple city departments. The renovations are being paid for through a $1.5 million state grant.
Construction on the Market House updates began in May and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2026. In total, there are four phases of the repurposing project. In the next phase, crews will install LED lighting around the landmark that “will enhance the building’s aesthetics and allow the space to be illuminated with different colors for special community recognitions,” the city said in a Sept. 23 press release. Installation is expected to take up to 90 days, according to David Scott, communications manager for the city’s marketing and communications department.
Upgrades to signage, new pedestrian islands and improved crosswalks will come in the repurposing project’s third phase. The goal is to improve pedestrian safety and access for residents with physical disabilities, the press release states.
The final phase will be installing interactive kiosks around the Market House, which is tentatively scheduled for September 2026. The kiosks will feature historical information about Fayetteville and the Market House.
“Upon completion of the upgrades to the space, the Market House will be a venue for historical information and multicultural exhibits and activities,” the city said.
The upgrades would be critical to the Black Voices Museum and Centers for Equity, a proposed project dedicated to the history of Fayetteville’s Black residents. The museum’s location at 122 Person St. is just a few hundred feet away from the Market House. The museum project leadership team planned to use the landmark as a way to tell a portion of the city’s history, it announced at a public information session last week.
“Since a project like this would be in close proximity to the Market House, there is an opportunity to retell the story in a different way on what the Market House means to Fayetteville,” Dauv Evans, community outreach coordinator for the museum, said at the Sept. 30 meeting. “I know it’s a very contentious topic, but it’s a very important topic to tell as the city kind of reconciles this idea of race.”
Roads leading to the roundabout entrances surrounding the Market House will be closed throughout this week to remove the scaffolding used during the first phase of renovations. Closures, which are scheduled for 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. through Oct. 10, include:
- Hay Street from Donaldson and Anderson Street to the Market House
- Green Street from Maiden Lane to the Market House
- Person Street from Otis Jones Parkway and Bow Street to the Market House
- Gillespie Street from Otis Jones Parkway and Franklin Street to the Market House
Similar closures can be expected later this month once the new clock is installed.
CityView Reporter Morgan Casey is a corps member with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists into local newsrooms. Morgan’s reporting focuses on health care issues in and around Cumberland County and can be supported through the News Foundation of Greater Fayetteville.