Best Web Design in Durham, NC (2026)

Web Design for Durham, North Carolina

Durham is a former tobacco and textile boomtown that reinvented itself as a research and medicine powerhouse anchored by Duke University and the adjacent Research Triangle Park. Brick warehouses that once packed Bull Durham tobacco now hold restaurants, startups, and a nationally ranked food scene, earning the city a reputation as one of the South's tastiest towns. It is one point of North Carolina's Research Triangle, alongside Raleigh and Chapel Hill.

AppWT works with Durham, NC businesses from Livonia, Michigan, mostly online and travelling as needed.

About Durham

Also known as. Bull City. City of Medicine. Durm.

History. The 'Bull City' name traces to Bull Durham Smoking Tobacco from the Blackwell Tobacco Company; the brand's bull logo was reportedly inspired by Coleman's Mustard, which the founder mistakenly thought was made in Durham, England. Near the end of the Civil War, Union and Confederate troops sampled the region's Brightleaf tobacco during the Bennett Place ceasefire, helping launch the tobacco fortune of Washington Duke and his family. James B. Duke consolidated Blackwell and other producers into the American Tobacco Company in 1890, and Bull Durham became one of the most famous trademarks in the world. Durham's Parrish Street became known as 'Black Wall Street,' home to the North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company (the nation's largest Black-owned insurance company) and Mechanics and Farmers Bank, led by entrepreneurs John Merrick, Dr. Aaron Moore, and C.C. Spaulding. Construction of the Durham Freeway (NC 147) and 1960s-70s urban renewal demolished much of the historic Hayti neighborhood, a community founded by freedmen after the Civil War. Research Triangle Park was established in 1959 and grew into one of the largest research parks in the country.

Local economy. Duke University and Duke Health form the largest employer in Durham; Duke is the second-largest private employer in North Carolina. Research Triangle Park hosts more than 190 companies and tens of thousands of workers, including IBM, Cisco, Bayer, and GlaxoSmithKline, plus federal agencies like the EPA. The economy was historically built on tobacco (American Tobacco, Liggett & Myers) and textiles before shifting to research, biotech, and healthcare. Life sciences and pharmaceutical-services firms such as IQVIA anchor the modern economy alongside Duke University Hospital, ranked among the best in the state. The Durham City Council designated the city the 'City of Medicine' in 1981 to reflect its concentration of medical and research institutions.

Culture and community. Durham's food scene punches above its weight, recognized by the MICHELIN Guide and producing James Beard Award winners such as chef Ricky Moore of Saltbox Seafood Joint (Best Chef: Southeast). Magnolia Grill's Ben Barker won a James Beard Best Chefs award in 2000, and his wife Karen Barker won Outstanding Pastry Chef in 2003. The Durham Bulls, Triple-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays, play at Durham Bulls Athletic Park and gained fame through the 1988 film 'Bull Durham' with Kevin Costner. The Durham Performing Arts Center (DPAC), opened in 2008, hosts touring Broadway shows and ranks among the top theaters in the United States by attendance. The American Tobacco Campus, a revitalized million-square-foot former factory complex, is a hub of restaurants, offices, and events beneath the iconic Lucky Strike smokestack.

What makes Durham distinct. Much of Duke University's campus and its landmark Chapel were designed by Julian Abele, a prominent African American architect, during the era of segregation. Durham's exhibit at the 1982 World's Fair in Knoxville promoted its new 'City of Medicine' identity. The 'Bull Durham' brand name arose from a mix-up: the founder thought the mustard-brand bull logo came from Durham, England. North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance, headquartered on Durham's Black Wall Street, was the largest Black-owned business in the United States.

Durham, known as the Bull City, grew from a tobacco and textile manufacturing center into a research and healthcare hub anchored by Duke University and Research Triangle Park.

Durham Landmarks and Local Life

• Duke University - Private research university with the neo-Gothic Duke Chapel
• Durham Performing Arts Center - Large downtown performing arts venue
• American Tobacco Historic District - Former tobacco warehouses redeveloped into shops, offices, and dining
• American Tobacco Trail - Rail-trail greenway for walking, running, and cycling
• Eno River - River through northern Durham with parks and recreation access

Durham at a Glance

U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2023.

• Median household income: About $79,234
• Adults with a bachelor degree or higher: About 55.7%
• Housing: About 51.8% of housing units are owner-occupied
• Housing: Roughly 51.3% of housing units are single-family detached homes