Contentnea Guano opened about 1909 between the railroad tracks and Oakland Cemetery southeast of downtown Wilson. Over the course of more than fifty years, hundreds of African-American men labored in caustic conditions to produce the fertilizer cotton and tobacco farmers needed to replenish their worn-out soil. Among them:
- Tobe Bellamy, laborer, 1909
- William Clark, mechanical helper, 1950
- Alfred Cook, laborer, 1910
- Georgie Crutchfield, helper, 1930
- Silas Edwards, laborer, 1918
- Augustus Ellis, employee, 1917
- Samuel Hargett, laborer, 1918
- Dave Harris, laborer, 1930
- Lonnie Hopkins, laborer, 1910
- Moses Hoskins, laborer, 1917
- James Johnson, laborer, 1920
- James T. Jones, laborer, 1945
- Wesley Jones, laborer, 1917
- Daner Marshall, laborer, 1917
- John McCoy, laborer, 1930
- Robert McNair, laborer, 1920
- Charlie Morris, laborer, 1917
- Lee Palmer, laborer, 1930
- Coney Rodgers, laborer, 1930
- Millard Smith, laborer, 1917
- Ellis Suggs, laborer, 1930
- John H. Swinson, laborer, 1940
- Ed Sykes, laborer [killed in factory accident], 1921
- Basil B. Tyler, laborer [killed during construction of factory], 1909
- George Vinson, sack sewer, 1917
- Roosevelt Weaver, laborer, 1940
- Wilson Webb, laborer, 1930
- William White, wagoner, 1920
- Henry Williams, laborer, 1918
- Garfield Williams, making guano, 1918, 1920
- Junius Woodard, carpenter [died as a result of injuries during construction], 1909
- Charlie Younger, laborer, 1930
Wilson Times, 24 October 1911.