In the late 1880s, a young African-American named George Wall bought the land to establish Walltown after he moved to Durham with his employer, Trinity College, now Duke University. The neighborhood stands just north of East Campus.

Workers moving into Durham for jobs in the tobacco industry rented Walltown’s shotgun houses and cottages into the 1990s, but now home ownership is rising.

Walltown residents have a tradition of community involvement. For many years, Walltown had its own "mayor" and council, and the successor Walltown Community Association initiated neighborhood revitalization in the 1980s. In 1998, the association received nonprofit status, and it works hard to improve housing, create employment opportunities and solve problems.

The Neighborhood Partnership has helped more than 55 families buy their first homes in Walltown through an affordable housing partnership with the Self-Help Community Development Corporation. As a result, the percentage of homeowners in the neighborhood has risen from 19 percent to 26 percent from 1990 to 2000. The Neighborhood Partnership also works with Walltown Neighborhood Ministries, the St. James Family Life Center, Carter Community Charter School and Walltown Children’s Theatre.

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