The New Briggs Hotel replaced the old Briggs Hotel in the 200 block of East Nash Street in 1873. This O.V. Foust photograph, taken circa 1906, reveals the multiple storefronts on the hotel’s ground floor, which included a succession of barbershops owned in whole or part by Walter S. Hines. The hotel was demolished in 1955 to make way for P.H. Rose’s Department Store. Wilson Arts Center now occupies the site.
Wilson Daily Times, 16 August 1918.
Over its 80+ years of operation, the Briggs undoubtedly employed hundreds of African-Americans as bellmen, porters, cooks, and cleaners. This running list captures only a few.
- Pearce Allen, bellman, 1928
- John Arrington, porter in poolroom, 1916
- John Artis, porter, 1917
- Ed S. Atkinson, cook, 1912
- Allison Atwalter, bellboy, 1918
- Charles Barnes, 1916
- Dave Barnes, porter, 1893
- Pattie Battle, maid, 1912
- George Batts, bellboy, 1917
- Charles Blount, floor boy, 1912
- Charles Bolden, bellboy, 1916
- Charles Branch, bellman, 1912
- Edna Brown, domestic, 1916
- Henry Bryant, laborer, 1917
- Albert R.L. Bullock, cook, 1917
- Ernest Bullock, porter, 1917
- Lizzie Bullock, domestic, 1916
- Overly Bullock, dishwasher, 1916
- Petrola Bullock, domestic, 1916
- John Burke, bellman, 1928
- Rose Carnes, domestic, 1916
- Robert Carroll, cook, 1916
- Jasper A. Coley, bellboy, 1916
- E.D. Evans, 1918
- James Fagan, bellman, 1928
- Albert Gay, bellboy, 1916; chief bellman, 1920
- Annie Graham, maid, 1924
- Frank Griffin, porter, 1916
- Lonnie Hall, bellboy, 1917
- William S. Hines, bell boy, mid-1890s-1898
- Charles C. Johnson, cook, 1916
- Lavinia Pierce Johnson, maid, 1930
- John H. Joyner, porter, 1917
- David McPhail, porter, 1916
- Ethel Mack, domestic, 1916
- Benjamin Mincey Jr., cook, 1930
- Amos Moore, bellman, 1928
- Henry Reaves, bellhop, 1917
- Furness Speight, bellboy, 1916
- Joe Tutle, yardboy, 1917
- Offie Tart, bellboy, 1916
- Paul White, 1928
- Henry C. Wilson, cook, 1917
Foust, O.V., New Briggs Hotel, Wilson, N.C., 1900-1920, Frank M. Wooten Jr. Papers, 0126-b36-fe-i78, East Carolina University Digital Collections.