The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1912).
The entire 400 block of South Douglas (formerly Spring) Street is empty, and it’s difficult to determine the exact location of Agnes Taylor‘s eating house. (Or her house-house, which was just down the block.) It was a short-lived business, and both the 1908 and 1913 Sanborn maps show a grocery at 410 South Spring. It’s difficult to say, but per location I’d guess Taylor’s eatery catered to Black customers.
I have not otherwise found Agnes Taylor in Wilson records.
The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!
(I missed last Sunday — I ran out of photographed signs — so you’ll get two this week. Or maybe I’ll just double up every week for Black History Month.)
In 1908, Alexander D. Dawson, a former teacher and local Republican Party stalwart, operated a fish and oyster stall in the city hall and market building in the 100 block of North Goldsboro Street. (Also the present-day site of City Hall.) Dawson was listed as a “dealer in fish” in the 1900 census, but it’s not clear when he been hawking his wares at the city market.
Wilson city hall, market, and fire department, circa 1900.
However, it appears he shut down the stall soon after. In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: restaurant cook Alexander Dawson, 50; wife Lucy, 49; and children Sophie, 25, school teacher, Mattie, 23, stenographer, Virginia, 19, school teacher, Lucile, 17, Alexander, 15, Clarence, 13, Augusta, 11, and Arlander, 1. By 1912, Dawson operated a small eating house two blocks away from the city market at 215 South Goldsboro Street, the heart of Wilson’s tobacco warehouse district.
Though A.D. Dawson lived until 1930, it appears that he closed his restaurant before 1916.
Postcard courtesy of North Carolina Digital Heritage Center’s digitalnc.org.
The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!
I was tickled to find Willie C. Reid‘s Wilson Barber Shop and William Hines Barbershop included in this directory of former businesses at 130 South Goldsboro Street. Kudos to this building owner!
In 1933, Hines announced a barbershop merger with Reid at this location, as well as the opening of a beauty salon. Both Reid and Hines operated earlier barbershops in downtown Wilson catering to white customers. More about those locations later.
Circa 1908, William McCowan and Samuel H. Vick operated a grocery store at 540 East Nash Street, on the first floor of the Odd Fellows building.
Detail, 1908 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C.
Per the 1908 city directory, the company employed at least one clerk, Elmore Stokes.
Home Supply Company was a short-lived venture between two unlikely partners. Neither McCowan, a brickmason, nor Vick, who had broad entrepreneurial interests, had known experience in the grocery business.
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William McCowan
In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: washerwoman Anna McGown, 35, and children William, 16, Emma, 15, Bettie, 10, Margaret, 8, Charles, 6, and Samuel, 2.
In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: brickmason William McCowan, 27; wife Louiza, 25; and daughter Annice, 6.
In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: bricklayer William McCowan, 47; wife Louise, 39; and boarder Calvin Murray, 14.
In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCowan Wm pres Home Supply Co (Inc) h Church nr Pender
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Bill McCowan, 56; wife Louisiana, 45; and lodger Annie Williams, 38.
In the 1922 and 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCowan William (c) brklyer h 513 Church
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCowan William (c, Louisa) brklyer h 513 Church
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCowan J William (c; Louisa) brklyer h 513 Church
William McCowan died 21 February 1940 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 86 years old; was born in Wilson County; lived at 513 Church Street; was the widower of Lou McCowan; worked as a bricklayer; and was buried in Wilson, N.C. [If he, like Vick, were an Odd Fellow, he is likely buried in that cemetery. Otherwise, Vick Cemetery or the newly opened Rest Haven.]
Playing to the negative views of the times about Black women’s hair, Newbro Manufacturing Company of Atlanta, Georgia, marketed Queen Hair Dressing to African-American women across the country.
The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!
Hardy & Holland’s livery stable was wedged, improbably, between a wholesale grocery and a garage with a second floor print shop.
1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., City Directory.
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: livery stable laborer Jim Hardy, 32; wife Lizzie, 31; sons James, 8, and Lovelace, 6; and boarders Lincoln Sellers, 29, widower and brick yard laborer, and [blank] Batts, 37, water works laborer.
Wilson Daily Times, 13 May 1910.
Per the Wilson, North Carolina, Industrial & Commercial Directory, published in 1912, “JAMES HARDY, SUCCESSOR TO HARDY BROS. — Feed and Livery Stables. This business is located on South Goldsboro street between Nash and Barnes streets and the business has been established for the last four years. The proprietor has succeeded in building up a good patronage. He is very prompt in answering calls and his prices for Livery are very reasonable. Telephone Number 9. Hack and Dray work solicited. The proprietor wants your patronage and guarantees the right sort of treatment. He is a colored man and has the good wishes of all.”
Hardy’s business partner was Thomas Holland, a Wake County, North Carolina, native. The brother with whom James Hardy did business earlier may have been John Hardy, who is listed in the 1908 city directory as a livery worker and was a witness to Jim Hardy’s 1901 marriage to Lizzie McCullen in Wilson.
Thomas Holland died 4 January 1914 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 23 November 1882 in Wake County to Benjamin Holland and Charity Jones; lived on Goldsboro Street, Wilson; was single; and worked as a livery stable day laborer. Charity Parker was informant, and he was buried in Wilson [likely, Oakdale, Rountree, Odd Fellows or Vick Cemetery.
James P. Hardy died 20 April 1914 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 27 April 1879 in Greene County to Petter Hardy and Jane Foreman; was married; lived at 508 Vance Street; and was a livery stable employer. Lizzie Hardy was informant.
Both Holland and Hardy died of pulmonary tuberculosis.
Today, the site of Hardy & Holland has been transformed into Bankers Plaza.
The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!
Edgecombe County native William Hargrove arrived in Wilson in the late 1880s. By 1897, he was shoeing horses in Wilson “back of Wiggins’ Prize House.” (J.T. Wiggins’ Tobacco Prize House stood at the southeast corner of Goldsboro and Barnes Streets. It is not clear if Hargrove had his own shop behind the prize house, or he shoed horses in a space belonging to James T. Wiggins and on Wiggins’ property. The 1897 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows a wagon shed and an unidentified outbuilding near the prize house.) By 1900, Hargrove was describing himself as blacksmith and, in the 1908 city directory, lists his workshop address as 206 South Goldsboro.
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In the 1870 census of Cokey township, Edgecombe County: Jerry Hargrove, 29; wife Sarah, 29; and children Anna, 9, Gordon, 6, William, 4, and Marcus, 1.
In the 1880 census of Cocoa township, Edgecombe County: Gerry Hargrove, 39; wife Sarah, 38; and children Gordon, 15, William, 13, Marcus, 11, Farrar, 8, Matthew, 6, Frank, 6, and Henry, 10 months.
On 30 December 1890, William Hargrove, 23, of Wilson, son of Jerry and Sarah Hargrove, and Louvenia Hines, 21, of Edgecombe, daughter of Joshua Bulluck and Harriet Hines, were married at Joshua Bulluck’s in Township #14, Edgecombe County. Hilliard Reid and Bush Dew of Wilson were witnesses.
Wilson Daily Times, 6 August 1897.
In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: blacksmith William Hargrove, 32; wife Leuvenia, 30, washing; daughters Bessie, 6, and Lillie, 3; widowed sister Mary Boddie, 25, cooking; and cousin Julious Heat, 20, farm hand.
In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Hargrove Wm blksmith 206 E Goldsboro h 606 E Green
Detail, 1908 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C.
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 606 Green, blacksmith William Hargrove, 43; wife Louvenia, 40; daughters Bessie, 17, and Willie L., 13; and boarder John Howard, 18. But also, in the 1910 census of Toisnot township, Wilson County: farmer Henry Joyner, 51; wife Annie, 51; and boarder William Hargrove, 40, horse shoer in own shop. Did Hargrove maintain shops in both Wilson and Elm City?
In the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Hargrove Wm blksmith h 606 E Green
The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series.
Annie V. Collins Hunt was one of the earliest documented Black businesswomen in Wilson. By 1897 she had opened a grocery store on Goldsboro Street, most likely in the 100 block south of Nash Street.
This detail from the 1897 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows two groceries in the block of South Goldsboro just below Nash Street. Either might have been A.V.C. Hunt’s business.
The following spring, Hunt placed an ad in The Great Sunny South, a newspaper published in neighboring Greene County. “Go to Mrs. A.V.C. Hunt WILSON, N.C.,” it exhorted. “The first colored merchant to open a cheap grocery store uptown. She will sell you a pound box of baking powder, worth 10c, for 5 cents. Tobacco at 25 cents per pound. Soap at 3 1/2 cents per cake, ginger snaps at 5 cents per pound, coffee from 10 cts to 20 cts per pound, sugar from 4 1/2 to 5 1/2 cts per pound and many other things too numerous to mention. All good as cheap as can be bought. Call and examine her goods before buying elsewhere. All goods delivered in the city. Be convinced by calling to see Mrs. A.V.C. HUNT. Dealer in a first-class and reliable line of heavy and fancy groceries, Wilson, N.C., on Goldsboro street, next door to A. Katz’ market.”
The Great Sunny South (Snow Hill, N.C.), 29 April 1898.
Unfortunately, Annie Hunt’s mercantile success uptown was brief. Tragedy struck in 1899. First, her grocery was destroyed by fire — a crime her husband James Hunt was accused, and acquitted, of committing. Then, James Hunt was murdered, shot down in the street by the man who owned the grocery store building. Annie V.C. Hunt never recovered and died impoverished in 1903.
The 500 block of East Nash Street is justly remembered as the 20th century epicenter of Wilson’s African-American-owned businesses. However, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Black entrepreneurs and tradespeople also operated across the tracks. As Wilson’s downtown experiences a resurgence, let’s rediscover and celebrate these pioneering men and women.
Check in each Sunday for the latest in the Historic Black Business Series!
More than a hundred years before Larema Coffee House set up shop on the bottom level of Gig East Exchange, Moses Brandon ran an eating house in a livery business whose building occupied roughly the same footprint. Like other downtown eateries in the early 1900s, Brandon would have catered largely to people working in nearby tobacco warehouses and factories. Most likely, his clientele were white.
Detail from Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C., 1908.
Moses Brandon, son of Frances Terry of Virginia, married Amie Hilliard on 22 May 1895 in Wilson. A.M.E. Zion minister L.B. Williams performed the ceremony, and Charles H. Darden, Braswell R. Winstead and L.A. Moore served as witnesses.
In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Virginia-born Moses Brandon, 50, day laborer; wife Emmie, 45, washerwoman; and son Marvin, 12.
In the 1908 Wilson city directory, Moses Brandon’s listing shows his “eating house” at 127 South Goldsboro Street and his home at 125 Ashe Street.
In 1909, Branson was also operating an “ice cream joint” on the East Side, i.e. east of the railroad tracks. In May of that year, he was brought up on charges of selling ice cream made from the milk of a tubercular cow.
News and Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), 16 May 1909.
It’s not clear how long Brandon operated at 127 South Goldsboro. In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County, Moses Brandon, 55, is listed as the proprietor of boarding house, with wife Amy, 51, as laundress.
In 1912, the city directory shows that Brandon had moved his eating house to 411 East Nash, across the street from the Atlantic Coast Line railroad station.
The Wilson Daily Times reported Moses Brandon’s death on 4 March 1914, noting that he “had conducted a restaurant in this city for a great many years and is one of Wilson’s best known colored citizens.”
Deed book 1, page 46, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
Received of Willie Daniel payment in full for the following Negroes viz for Harry Aged about nineteen years Eight hundred & seventy five Dollars Alfred aged about Eighteen years Eight hundred & Seventy five Dollars Elias aged about Eighteen years Eight hundred Dollars Jensey aged about Seventeen six hundred & Seventy five Dollars Gray aged about fourteen Seven hundred Dollars amounting in all to the sum of three thousand nine hundred & thirty five Dollars, And I hereby bind myself my heirs and assigns to warrant and defend the right and title of all of the above named Negroes to Willie Daniel his heirs and assigns forever in testimony of which I hereunto set my hand and Seal this the 27th June 1855 Burket Barnes Test Amos Horn Larry Newsom Wilson County N.C. A.D. 1855
The Execution of the foregoing Bill of Sale is duly proven Before me W. Barnes Clk of the County of please & Quarter Sessions by the Oath of Amos Horn one of the subscribing witnesses thereto & is ordered to be Registered July 30th 1855. W. Barnes Clk
This bill of sale was received for Registration the 31st day of July 1855. L.J. Sauls Register
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I have not been able to trace Harry, Alfred, Elias, Jensey, or Gray forward.
