A history of Kure Beach,
then and now
Postcards, papers and photographs of Kure Beach from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗A post office called Kure Beach has been in operation since 1942. The town was named for a family of settlers.
The Kure Beach Fishing Pier is one of the oldest on the Atlantic Coast. The original pier was built in 1923 and has been rebuilt and restored several times since then due to wear and tear over the years.
On the night of July 24–25, 1943, a German U-boat fired at least three shells to attack the Ethyl-Dow Chemical Company plant at Kure's Beach (post-war: Kure Beach), but instead hit the Cape Fear River. The plant was the only one on the East Coast producing bromine from seawater for use in aviation gasoline.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Finish Kure Beach’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
1 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewFEMA - 788 - Photograph by FEMA N…, 1998: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people close to Kure Beach
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Kure Beach, decade by decade
CommonsFEMA - 788 - Photograph by FEMA News Photo taken on 09-22-1…1998
CommonsFEMA - 12050 - Photograph by Dave Gatley taken on 09-15-199…1999
CommonsFEMA - 25 - Photograph by Dave Saville taken on 10-12-1999 …1999
CommonsFEMA - 27 - Photograph by Dave Saville taken on 10-12-1999 …1999
CommonsFEMA - 447 - Photograph by Dave Gatley taken on 09-18-1999 …1999
CommonsFEMA - 717 - Photograph by Dave Gatley taken on 09-16-1999 …1999
Nothing in Kure Beach is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Kure Beach has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is Fort Fisher in Kure Beach, 2.5 miles away.
Kure Beach and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.
Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (12). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.