I was saddened, but not surprised,* to see this bit in the Wilson Times‘ coverage of Thursday’s Wilson City Council meeting:
309 Elba Street is one of my favorite houses in East Wilson, and I’ve written about it here, here and here, and here‘s a glimpse of it in happy times. Its charmingly quirky details made it a unique addition to the neighborhood, and I would love to know who designed and built it.
I’ve found a bit more about the house’s history. I knew it was built about 1930, and veterinarian Elijah L. Reid and family lived in it briefly around that time. Dr. Reid had owned the lot since 1908. He and his wife Ietta Staton Reid lost the house early in the Depression to Home Owners Loan Corporation, which sold it in October 1938 to Matthew James Smith for $3350. The deed carries this property description:
Deed book 246, page 573, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office, Wilson.
Smith mostly rented the house out, but was living there when he died on 27 November 1949. Per his death certificate, Smith was born 30 May 1889 in Greene County, N.C., to Robert Smith and Ella Harper; was a widower; worked in farming; and lived at “corner of Viola and Elbon Streets.” The house has remained the property of his heirs for the 75 years since.
As no one spoke on 309 Elba’s behalf at public hearing, I offer this post as eulogy.
Talk about site-built — 309 has front doors and porches facing both Elba and Viola Streets. The house is chock-a-block with Craftsman features, including a low-pitched roof, deep eaves, extended rafter tails, brackets, thick tapered porch columns, and shingled gables.
Oh! the unexpected gracefulness of the brackets supporting the oriel window.
If no one else does, I will miss 309 Elba and rue the loss of this remnant of East Wilson’s vibrant early years.
[*133 Tarboro? Yeah, I am pretty surprised about this one. The nomination report for the Wilson Central Business-Tobacco Warehouse Historic District described Tomlinson and Company building at 131-133 South Tarboro as “[t]he only surviving metal-clad building in Wilson, these paired storefronts are impressive examples of the use of metal to commercial buildings in turn of the century North Carolina. They were built circa 1895 ….” In other words, they’re among the oldest buildings in Wilson.]
Photographs by Lisa Y. Henderson, August 2022.