East Green Street

511 East Green Street.

The one hundred ninety-second in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

This terribly pixelated view of 511 East Green (formerly numbered 514) is taken from a 2003 aerial photograph.

As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, 509 [actually, 511] East Green is: “ca. 1893; 1 story; two-room house with slender chamfered porch posts; aluminum sided.” The house was demolished between 2003 and 2007.

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In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McArthur Edward (c; Mabel) lab Williams Auto Co h 511 E Green

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McLean Della (c) lndrs h 511 E Green

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 511 East Green, rented for $16/month, widow Della McClain, 46, boarding house cook, with roomers Jessie, 30, laundress, and Bruce Campell, 20, filling station laborer

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 511 East Green, barber Samuel Williams, 42; wife Emma, 36; and children Addie, 19, James, 17, Billie, 13, Samuel Jr., 11, and Dazzarine, 9.

In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Williams Saml (c; Emma) barber John Hargrove h 511 E Green

In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Stevens David L (c; Lola; Stevens & Ricks) h 511 E Green [Stevens & Ricks was a grocery at 620 East Nash.]

615 and 624 East Green Street.

I’ve posted several photographs from Richard L. Mattson’s article “The Cultural Landscape of a Southern Black Community: East Wilson, North Carolina, 1890-1930,” but this one threw me. The photo below is decidedly not Dr. Frank S. Hargrave’s house at 624 East Green Street.

And then I saw this and realized what happened. The photo below is Dr. Hargrave’s house. The photo above is the William Hines house at 615 East Green, which has been demolished. Their captions were accidentally swapped.

601 East Green Street.

The one hundred eighty-eighth in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

The house at 601 East Green Street was demolished circa 2000.

As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1950; 1 1/2 story; stone-veneered cottage with Neo-Colonial motifs.”

In 1946, William and Ethel Cornwell Hines deeded the lot at 601 East Green Street to their son, Dr. William C. Hines, and his wife Nan Delaney Hines.

Wilson Daily Times, 4 May 1946. 

In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Hines Wm C (c; M Delane [N Delaney]) physician 534 E Nash h 601 E Green. This entry indicates the Hineses built their house shortly after getting the lot.

In the 1950 census of Wilson, N.C., city directory: at 601 East Green, William C. Hines, 32, general practitioner of medicine; wife Nan D., 28, manager of retail music shop; and son William D., 5.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2023.

600 East Green Street, re-revisited.

Well, I be damn. (As they say around here.) The J.D. and Eleanor P. Reid house at 600 East Green has been snatched back from the brink of collapse.

A new roof has been slapped on, and it’s been painted, and its windows subjected to some slapdash pane repair. All qualify as moves in a better direction, but let’s hope for quality closer to what this once-fine house deserves.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2023.

A request for gasoline for a street lamp.

November 6, 1902

A regular meeting of the Board of Commissioners of the Town of Wilson was held in the Mayor’s office, November 6, 1902.

…

S.H. Vick came before the Board asking that the Town furnish the gasoline for the operation of a Street Lamp on the east end of Green Street. The Lamp to be furnished and cared for by the citizens in that section of Town.

On motion, consideration of the application was deferred until

On motion, the Superintendent of Electric Lights was directed to investigate the cost of putting an Arc Light in the neighborhood of S.H. Vick and others.

…

Minutes of City Council, Wilson, North Carolina, transcribed in bound volumes shelved at Wilson County Public Library, Wilson.

The greatest event of its kind among Afro-Americans.

Wilson Daily Times, 23 November 1913.

[The land was surely purchased from Dr. Frank S. Hargrave, not W.S., and I intend to figure out exactly where it was.]

[Update, 20 February 2023: actually, per deed, Samuel H. Vick sold the hospital the acreage for $5000 in November 1913. He had purchased it several years earlier.]

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801 East Green Street.

The one hundred eighty-third in a series of posts highlighting buildings in East Wilson Historic District, a national historic district located in Wilson, North Carolina. As originally approved, the district encompasses 858 contributing buildings and two contributing structures in a historically African-American section of Wilson. (A significant number have since been lost.) The district was developed between about 1890 to 1940 and includes notable examples of Queen Anne, Bungalow/American Craftsman, and Shotgun-style architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1913; 1 story; aluminum-sided and remodeled L-plan cottage.”

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The house appears as an unnumbered dwelling on the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson, N.C. This detail from page 32 of the 1922 Sanborn maps of Wilson, shows the house numbered 801 East Green Street. (As detailed below, for many years owners of this house operated a small grocery around the corner and behind the house, on North Vick. That store was built between 1922 and 1928.)

In the 1928 and 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directories: Faison Grant J (c; Charlotte) gro 502 N Vick h 801 E Green

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 801 East Green, Grant Faisson, 46, grocery store merchant, and wife Charlotte, 42, trained hospital nurse. 

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 801 East Green, Grant J. Faison, 58, retail grocery operator, and wife Charlotte, 52, saleswoman in grocery store.

Wilson Daily Times, 28 December 1940.

In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Faison Grant J (c; Charlotte M) gro 502 N Vick h 801 E Green

In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Foster Carter (c; Estelle W) gro 502 N Vick and County Farm Demonstration agent h 801 E Green

In the 1950 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 801 East Green, county farm agent Carter W. Foster, 36; wife Estelle, 34; daughter Bobbie J., 7; and nephew Dannie Jones, 8, born in Pennsylvania.

Carter Washington Foster died 17 February 1955 in Saratoga township, Wilson County. Per his death certificate, he was born 15 January 1914 in Wilson to Walter Foster and Rosa Parker; was married; resided at 801 East Green; and worked as a county agricultural agent.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, November 2022.

810 East Green Street, revisited.

Arsonists set fire to two East Wilson houses on 17 August 2022, resulting in the demolition of one. After putting out an early morning blaze at 804 East Vance Street, firefighters were dispatched to 810 East Green, one of an original set of five identical rental houses William Hines built in the mid-1920s. Fire damaged the house extensively, and it had to be torn down.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2022.

George and Ella Green and the development of East Green Street, pt. 1.

By the late 1800s, the area of present-day Green Street east of the railroad tracks — largely farmland — was held by a handful of large landowners, notably George D. and Ella M. Green and Frank I. and Annie Finch. We’ve seen here how the Samuel H. and Annie Washington Vick sold parcels in the 600 block to their friends and family to solidify a middle-class residential district for African-Americans. The Vicks themselves bought fifteen acres from the Greens, which they later divided into the lots they sold to others.

These transactions disclose more early settlers on East Green:

  • On 20 July 1887, for $250, George D. and Ella M. Green, as trustees for F.I. and Annie Finch, sold Leah Battle a one-third acre lot at Green and Pender Streets near Mrs. Procise. The deed was registered 3 January 1889 in Deed Book 27, page 85.
  • On 31 December 1890, for $150, George D. and Ella M. Green sold Short Barnes a one-fourth acre lot on “the  extension of Green Street near the corporate limits of Wilson” adjoining George Green and J.M.F. Bridgers. The deed was registered 1 January 1891 in Deed Book 29, page 150. [Barnes’ house was at 616 East Green.]
  • On 24 February 1891, for $300, George D. and Ella M. Green sold Samuel H. Vick “a lot on the extension of Green Street near the corporate line of Wilson” next to a lot now occupied by Alex Barnes. The lot was irregularly shaped and measured about one and one-half acres. The deed was registered 23 February 1891 in Deed Book 29, page 396.
  • On 24 October 1890, for $150, George D. and Ella M. Green sold Lewis Battle and his wife Jemima a one and one-quarter acre lot fronting on Green Street and adjacent to J.W.F. Bridgers, Samuel H. Vick, and G.D. Green. The deed was registered 21 March 1891 in Deed Book 29, page 488.
  • On 11 December 1891, for $1300.75, George D. and Emma M. Green sold Samuel H. Vick a parcel containing 13 and three-quarter acres adjacent to Sallie Lipscombe’s property, Vance Street, F.I. Finch, G.D. Green, and Samuel H. Vick. The deed was registered 28 December 1891 in Deed Book 30, page 454.

Detail of T.M. Fowler’s 1908 bird’s eye map of Wilson. Green Street slices diagonally across the frame. Samuel H. and Annie Vick’s new multi-gabled mansion is at (1). The church he helped establish, Calvary Presbyterian, is at the corner of Green and Pender at (2). At (3), Pilgrim Rest Primitive Baptist Church, which bought its lot from the Vicks. At (4), the original location of Piney Grove Free Will Baptist Church.