Maps

The ghosts of downtown alleys.

The edges of Wilson’s downtown warehouse and industrial district were once shot through with tiny alleys lined with duplexes built to house workers and their families. Most that remain have been paved and renamed as “Lane.” In what was once the mill village of Wilson Cotton Mills, however, a couple of dirt tracks remain as Cedar Street and Holly Street. These houses, which have been converted to single-family, were occupied by white families only, but offer a glimpse of what would have been a familiar streetscape to African-Americans living in similar alleys nearby.

Cedar Street, formerly Factory Alley.

Holly Street, formerly Jones Street Alley.

Detail from 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson. South Factory Street is now Layton Avenue. Lodge Street Alley (Warehouse Alley) is now Wayne Street. At (A), the house visible above on Cedar Street/Factory Alley. At (B), the house on Holly Street/Jones Street Alley.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2025.

Holy Temple Church.

In March 1934, Mechanics and Farmers Bank filed a plat of eight lots for it owned on Moore Street between Contentnea [now Cemetery] Street and Suggs Street. (Samuel H. Vick owned bordering property to the rear, and Daniel C. Suggs the corner lot at Contentnea.) Lot 3 included a 20 foot by 40 foot frame building — a church.

Plat Book 4, page 85, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson, N.C.

The church appears in the 1930 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson, but not in 1922, providing a rough date for its erection. The records currently available to me roughly sketch its early history. Holy Temple Church’s trustees — Josh Neal, Lee M. Hinnant, Mitchell Hinnant, Nero Oliver, Isiah Israel, and Dock Cooper — bought the building from the bank in April 1934, and the church held it until 1982, when it sold this and a Cemetery Street tract to Whole Truth Church of the Lord Jesus Christ of the Apostolic Faith.

Wilson Daily Times, 22 June 1946.

In 2013, Whole Truth sold the building, which has been bricked and otherwise modernized, to Mission of Faith Free Will Baptist Church.

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  • Josh Neal

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Mercer Street, Josh Neal, 39; wife Pearlie, 36; and children Easley, 18, Joshua, 17, Mary, 15, Willie, 10, Louisa, 8, Jessie, 5, Mattie, 4, Charlie, 1, and Essie, 3.

  • Lee M. Hinnant
  • Mitchell Hinnant
  • Nero Oliver

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 705 Stantonsburg Street, A.C.L. Railroad flagman Nero Oliver, 32, born in South Carolina; wife Annie, 23; and adopted daughter Bessie M., newborn.

  • Isiah Israel
  • Dock Cooper

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: tobacco factory laborer Dock Cooper, 29; wife Jennet, 27; relative Ammie, 37, Standard Oil Company plumber; and roomer Ora Bradshaw, 13.

Additional evidence of Rosenwald school sites.

I went down a whole rabbit hole today at North Carolina State Historic Preservation Office’s HPOWEB 2.0 GIS mapping tool. Inching my cursor across Wilson County, I found locations (or approximate locations) for several Rosenwald schools I’ve only been able to guess at.

This location, labeled “approximate,” places Barnes School a little further south on Airport Boulevard than my guesstimate.

As identified by former students and confirmed by deed, Barnes School was here:

 

  • Williamson School

As I’d believed, the original two-teacher Williamson School was on the premises of Williamson High School, built in 1941. [Update: this is incorrect. Williamson School was on present-day Willing Worker Road.]

  • Lucama School

Confirmation that Lucama School was adjacent to First Baptist Church of Lucama.

  • Kirby’s Crossing School

Earlier sources indicated two possible sites for Kirby. The information below places the school adjacent to Saint Delight Free Will Baptist.

The pin dropped to mark Saint Delight is misplaced below. The church actually is further north, visible at the right edge of the oval I added to represent the approximate location of Kirby’s School.

[UPDATE: actually, the school was on the other side of the church in a area now wooded.]

  • Ferrell’s School

I only knew Ferrell’s was somewhere near Black Creek. In fact, it was a couple of miles southwest, on Perry Road, which runs roughly parallel to present-day I-795 and US 117.

  • Evansdale School

I knew Evansdale School was on or near the railroad south of the crossroads that marked Evansdale community proper. This information places it on the far side of the tracks paralleling Graves Road, about halfway toward Grimsley Store Road. The school’s lot description mentions a “corner of Church lot,” which was likely Jackson Chapel A.M.E. Zion Church.

  • Jones Hill School

I had assumed that Jones Hill School was adjacent to Jones Hill Primitive Baptist Church, but, per this information, it was located a little further west on Old Raleigh Road. In fact, it “stood in what is now [right-of-way]; Old Raleigh Rd. was moved slightly to the N[orth.]”

Aerial images via Google Maps.

Map of June Artis subdivision.

Plat book 9, page 21, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

June Scott Artis began buying lots in the town of Stantonsburg in the early 1900s. This 1961 plat map shows the subdivision of a chunk of his land between Main and Travis Streets. Landowners included June Artis, his wife Ethel B. Artis, their son Edgar Artis, Hadie B. Ham, Oscar Ellis, Tom Braswell, James Ham, Will Harper, Minnie Best, Scott Ward, Arthur Winstead, Howard Daniel, and Oscar Edwards.

Google Maps aeriel view of June S. Artis’ former property.

Washington Place.

Plat book 1, page 119, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.

With a little imagination, this 1916 plat map of Washington Place is easily transposed on a modern map of East Wilson. A few street names are different: Pitt Street never received that name, but instead was laid as the continuation of Wainwright Street, and Doris Street, initially named for Samuel H. Vick’s second-to-youngest daughter, was renamed Powell. The lots, when actually laid out, were considerably wider than those on the plat. The biggest difference, however, is that since the mid-1950s, the four lanes of Ward Boulevard/U.S. Highway 301 have sliced through the middle of the blocks between Doris and Tuskeegee [as it is locally spelled] Streets.

Aerial courtesy of Google Maps 2024.

Lane Street Project: Rocky Mount’s Displaced Cemetery.

Last summer, I was so caught up in awe and amazement at Rocky Mount’s support of Union Cemetery that I completely missed this.

On 27 June 2023, Rocky Mount’s Historic Preservation Commission presented to city council a request to designate as a Local Historic Landmark a small city-owned African-American cemetery active from about 1915 to about 1981. The overgrown cemetery contains, among others, graves of several prominent African-Americans, including W. Lee Person and Charles H. Darden‘s brother Peter Darden. The packet submitted in support of the request is top-tier, starting with the declaration in “I. General Information” that “one goal of this application is to recover history that has been largely erased.” The history and significance of Displaced Cemetery are then set out in detailed context.

I have included here the text portions of the packet. For more, see here. It is not clear to me whether the City of Rocky Mount accepted the recommendation. The Commission’s website appears to need updating and does not list the Displaced Cemetery among the City’s Local Historic Landmarks.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 22: Jacob Tucker’s grocery.

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!

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Jacob Tucker‘s grocery was among the cluster of groceries and cafes on the west side of the 400 block of South Spring [now Douglas] Street. Soon, the footprints of all will lie beneath the baseball stadium that just broke ground in downtown Wilson.

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

Tucker ran into a spot of trouble at his store in the fall of 1912.

Jacob Tucker’s grocery and dwelling as shown in the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson.

Though its address shifted to 424 South Spring, Jake Tucker operated his grocery store at the same location for nearly 40 years. (424 was also occasionally the address, per city directories, of Neverson Green‘s grocery. The two may have been in the business together for brief periods.)

Tucker’s will, dated 1 September 1942, disposed of both the store and his neighboring house at 422 South Spring. He died in 1946.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024; Jake Tucker Will (1942), North Carolina Wills and Estates, 1665-1998 [database on-line], http://www.ancestry.com.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 21: Robert Kearney’s grocery.

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!

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The 1912, 1916, and 1920 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directories list Robert Kearney as proprietor of a grocery store at 330 South Street. The site, at the corner of South and Lodge, is now a vacant lot.

The 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows Kearney’s store in the Little Washington neighborhood near a church we’ve studied before and across Lodge Street from Imperial Tobacco Company. Saint Mark’s Episcopal Church and school stood across South, off this map.

Detail from 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C.