The United States Geological Survey’s 1904 topographic map of Wilson Quadrangle offers clear detail of Wilson just after the turn of the 20th century.
East Wilson’s streets are clearly recognizable to anyone who knows them today:
A few observations:
- The long diagonal at top right is now Ward Boulevard and, once it crosses U.S. Highway 301, Lipscomb Road.
- Crowell, Vance, Viola and Green Streets terminated at the town limits, just west of present-day Vick Street. Elba is the tiny street between Green and Viola.
- Church Street runs parallel and south of Green.
- Though Manchester appears to continue north across Nash Street, it in fact doglegged slightly to become Ash Street.
- The street I’ve identified as East may have been Narroway.
- Once it crossed city limits headed east, Nash Street became the Plank Road. It is now known as Martin Luther King Parkway east of U.S. Highway 301.
- Pender Street became Stantonsburg Street when it crossed Nash. Now, just past Cemetery Street, the street is Black Creek Road. Another road branches off to join Lane Street. Just south of what is now Lincoln Street, the road branches again. The eastern branch (below the number 133) is now Stantonsburg Road.
- The map shows a couple of houses on the north side of Lane Street, located on land that is now part of Rest Haven cemetery. The map also shows a tee intersection at elevation 131. One may still turn left toward Rountree cemetery on the continuation of Lane Street, but there is no road to the right.
- The waterway in the top right corner is Toisnot Swamp. The smaller waterways south of Toisnot are branches of Hominy Swamp.
On the other side of town, Grabneck is also clearly visible at upper left:
