Health

Early views of Mercy Hospital.

Even when we narrow our focus to a single place, there’s so much out there to discover about it. Here, a postcard I’ve never seen of Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home (later Mercy Hospital), probably taken circa 1915-1920. It is similar, but not identical, to the Curt Teich postcard in my collection, which I’ve posted below.

I don’t think the images derive from a single shoot, though they clearly were shot within a relatively short timeframe. I cannot identify the nurses, though they may be some of the same women in this photo of hospital staff. If so, my great-great-aunt Henrietta R. Colvert, a native of Statesville, North Carolina, may be among them.

Hat tip to Keith Boykin for the top image.

Recommended reading, no. 18: African-American Hospitals in North Carolina.

I recently was gifted a copy of Phoebe Ann Pollitt’s African American Hospitals in North Carolina: 39 Institutional Histories, 1880-1967. Reading the Wilson entry made me realize I have not adequately set out here the ownership timeline of the hospital commonly thought of just as “Mercy Hospital.” What we think of as a single institution actually comprised three separate hospitals that operated on the same site and mostly in the same building.

(1) In 1905, Dr. Frank S. Hargrave opened a private hospital in a 16-room house on East Green Street.

(2) In 1913, Dr. Hargrave partnered with Samuel H. Vick and J.D. Reid to establish Wilson Hospital and Tubercular Home in a brand-new, purpose-built brick building on the site of the old wooden house. In 1915, Wilson’s Board of Aldermen voted to contribute a small monthly amount to the hospital’s budget. The hospital — the tubercular home was never built — struggled financially and went into foreclosure in 1924. Pollitt’s timeline and facts are a little off concerning this phase of the hospital’s history. She says Commercial Bank failed in the late 1920s “due to the nationwide financial hardships of the Great Depression” and that Dr. Hargrave left Wilson for New Jersey in 1924 after losing the hospital. Hargrave did leave Wilson in 1924, but Commercial Bank did not fail until J.D. Reid and Henry S. Stanback severely and criminally mismanaged its deposits in 1929. Contemporary news accounts say the hospital J.D. Reid had kept the bank afloat with loan from the Commercial Bank secured by the hospital itself. When the bank collapsed, it dragged the hospital down, too.

(3) In 1930, white businessman Wade H. Gardner bought the hospital at auction, and a group of white doctors and businessmen, plus William Hines, set themselves up as trustees and administrators. They renamed it Mercy and commenced operation with city, county, and philanthropic support. Though the hospital’s ownership shifted a couple of times between private and public owners to render it eligible for major grants, Mercy operated continuously until 1964, when it was shuttered for good with the opening of a federally-funded, integrated hospital, Wilson Memorial. (I was born there just a few months before it closed.)

Historic Black Business Series, no. 5: Ideal Pharmacy.

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!

Dr. Frank S. Hargrave, newly arrived in Wilson, established Ideal Pharmacy circa 1905. On 14 September 1906, Dr. Hargrave sold to F.O. Williston “all of the Drugs, Medicines, Sundries, and fixtures of the Ideal Pharmacy,” as well as accounts payable and receivable, but not the soda fountain, tanks, and other apparatus in the shop. Williston, a Cumberland County, N.C.-native who married a Wilsonian, did not remain in town long, and by 1908, Darcey C. Yancey was co-owned of the Ideal with Dr. Hargrave.

1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory.

1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory.

Wilson Daily Times, 11 November 1910.

Per the 1912 Wilson, North Carolina, Industrial & Commercial Directory, “IDEAL PHARMACY — This is the only colored Drug store in Wilson, and it has been established for about seven years. The proprietor, D.C. Yancy, Ph.G., receiving his degree from the Leonard School of Pharmacy, Shaw University Class of 1905-06, has been connected with the store for the past three years and has been sole proprietor for the past year and a half. He reports that the business is constantly growing and he hopes within a very few years to have one of the largest stores in the City. He personally presses over the prescription department and absolute accuracy is his watchword. His motto is ‘Not how cheap but how pure.’ The general stock includes fresh drugs, patent medicines, Tobacco, Sundries, etc, soda fountain in connection. 109 South Goldsboro street, phone 219.”

The 1912 Wilson city directory lists Mark Farmer as a porter at Ideal Pharmacy.

Sometime in 1914, the Wilson Times published a three-page insert highlighting the achievements of the town’s African-American community. Not surprisingly, many of the businesses touted placed ads in the pullout, including Ideal Pharmacy: “Any physician’s prescription will be filled at Ideal Pharmacy exactly as it would be by the best drug stores of the country. We guarantee the quality of drugs, accuracy of compounders, reasonableness of charges, and unexcelled service. Give us a trial.” By then, though, the drugstore had moved from Goldsboro Street to 546 East Nash, nearer Yancey’s clientele.

Wilsonians on the hospital staff.

Wilson Daily Times, 16 January 1943.

Eastern North Carolina Sanatorium, circa 1945. Asheville Post Card Co., Asheville, North Carolina.

Read how Cora Rountree Farmer helped my grandmother get a job at sanatorium.

  • Hatty Perry — in the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Perry Hattie (c) pract nurse ENCS r [ditto]. In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 309 Reid, Minnie Baines, 71; husband Roscoe, 72, building contractor; and daughter Hattie Perry, 46, practical nurse at local hospital.
  • Cora Farmer — in the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Perry Hattie (c) pract nurse ENCS r [ditto] [In fact, Cora Farmer did not live at the Sanatorium, but at 1201 Queen Street.]
  • Christina Currie — in the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 1208 East Nash, Colon Currie, 39, truck driver for local lumber company, and wife Christine, 35, practical nurse at local T.B. hospital.
  • Irene Farmer — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Jeff Farmer, 48, truck driver; wife Rena, 36, private nurse; and children Marvin, 15, and Irene, 13.
  • Lula Sims
  • Nancy Farmer
  • Priscilla Bullock — in the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 516 Smith Street, Hilda [sic] Bullock, 36, laborer; wife Percilla, 35, housekeeper; roomer Evelynia Martin, 18, tobacco factory hanger; and children Bettie J., 9, and Hilda J. Bullock, 7.
  • Bessie Gaston — in the 1940 census of Elm City, Toisnot township, Wilson County: on Dixon Street, barber Roscoe Gaston, 58, and wife Bessie, 46, housekeeper.

The obituary of Herman O. Marshall, international public health officer.

MARSHALL, HERMAN OLIVER On Saturday, September 3, 2005, of Washington, DC. Born September 9, 1918, in Wilson, NC to John Marshall and Annie Perrington Marshall. Beloved husband of the late Catherine Powell Marshall (deceased December 1997). Survived by five children and two grandchildren.

He was an educator, public health officer who touched and enriched the lives of millions of people in Asia and Africa.

Educated at St. Augustine College in Raleigh, NC (BS, 1941) and Columbia University Teachers College (MA, Public Health, 1949). Postgraduate degrees from the School of Public Health, University of California at Berkeley (1960) and University of Chicago (1970). Desk assistant, Columbia Medical Center and graduate research specialist, Health Council, Greater New York (1948-1950); staff member, Executive Secretariat, Mutual Security Administration, Washington, DC (1950-1952); health educator, Foreign Operations Administration, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (1952-1953); regional health educator, Foreign Operations Administration/ International Cooperation Administration, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos (1953-1955); chief health educator, United States Overseas Mission/Agency for International Development, Vietnam, Nepal, Upper Volta, and Chad (1955-1968); public health/family planning advisor, Agency for International Development, Tunisia (1968-1971); health officer, Office of Central and West Africa Regional Affairs, Africa Bureau, Agency for International Development, Washington, DC (1971-1976); health development officer, Office of Regional Affairs, Africa Bureau, Agency for International Development, Washington, DC (1976-1977); assistant mission director Tunis, Tunisia, Agency for International Development (1977-1979); advisor, Office of Intragovernmental and International Affairs, United Nations Relations, Agency for International Development, Washington, DC (1979). Retired from federal government service in 1979.

A Memorial Service will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, September 10, at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, 1514 15th St., NW, Washington, DC.

The family wishes to thank Georgetown University Medical Center for the heartfelt care. The family requests that in lieu of flowers, Mr. Marshall’s memory be honored through individual efforts to respond to the health needs of those in exigent circumstances.

Published by The Washington Post on Sep. 8, 2005.

Wilson Daily Times, 3 October 1962.

Many thanks to La Verne Reid for sharing her uncle’s obituary.

Christmas Seal volunteers.

Wilson Daily Times, 6 December 1949.

Two African-American women and six African-American men volunteered to sell Christmas Seals in their community in 1949. Christmas Seals were special holiday “stamps” sold to raise money for certain charities.

The committee may have sold these 1949 Christmas Seals.