This photo was published about 1972 in a Chamber of Commerce booklet, Wilson, North Carolina: Community Improvement through Citizen Action. Though it dates 20+ years after Black Wide-Awake’s focus period, it depicts a streetscape much closer to that of the first half of the twentieth century than what we see today in the 100 block of East Barnes [now, bizarrely, Barnes Street, S.W.] (An exception: at right, Heilig-Meyers furniture store wears a “modern” false front. It since has been restored to its original brick facade and houses the Wilsonian Event Center.)

At left, we see a vacant lot (formerly home to a series of grocery stores), a white-painted brick building, then a dark brick building. A sign hanging from the darker building reads Star Cafe. In 1948, Greek-American restaurateur Gus Gliarmis announced the opening of Star Cafe “for COLORED ONLY,” and the block became a weekend gathering spot for African-Americans.

Next to this building is a two-story building with a lower facade.  “Picture-taking” George W. Barnes‘ photography studio occupied a space on the second floor from about 1915 to about 1930. The building no longer stands.