How have I missed this? On the 1930 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, tucked behind a duplex at 504 A & B Stantonsburg [now Pender] Street, a small wooden building is marked “Volunteer Fire Dep’t (Colored) 300′ 2 1/2″ hose.”
This was not Ben Mincey‘s backyard. He lived at 712 [formerly 651] Wiggins Street, just visible at the top of the image. Mincey’s brother Jack Mincey, a tobacco factory worker, lived next door at 500 Stantonsburg, but rented his house. The duplex at 504 was also a rental property.
So who maintained this building? It does not appear in the 1922 Sanborn map. Where there others scattered about the East Side? I’ll keep looking for answers.
Born in 1952, I grew up on Manchester St. which was one street over from Stantonsburg St. where I played as a child. There was a Fire Dept., if I can recall , at the corner of Pender and Cemetery St.
Thank you for this info!