 The Edgemont Neighborhood community developed out of a pocket in east Durham called Smoky Hollow, which was notorious for its rowdiness and crime in the late 19th century.The area had alternating black and whites neighborhoods because of the nature of the land, a source of the tension in the era, with blacks purchasing the cheap housing at the bottom of hills and whites at the top.A campaign rose to combat the rowdiness, newspapers threatened landlords in this area "to oust their unruly tenants" or their names would be published for all to read.