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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Though they spent most of the careers working for Walter S. Hines, David H. Coley and Roderick Taylor Sr. briefly joined forces to open their own barbershop in the mid-1920s. They set up at 105 South Goldsboro Street, as shown in the 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory. By 1928, however, the partnership had dissolved.
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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WhirliDogs Café, which sells fancy hot dogs and empowers young people who have disabilities, opened a couple of weeks ago in downtown Wilson in the space once occupied by Jenkins Café.
The Jenkins (brothers? father and son?), James and Wesley, operated their restaurant only briefly.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1920).
The directory lists James Jenkins‘ address as 713 Viola and Wesley Jenkins‘ as 705 Viola. Webster Jenkins, who also lived at 705, was listed as a cook. Webster Jenkins was in Wilson as early as 1910, and his occupation is listed as cook in the 1912 and 1916 city directories, but I have found no other trace of James and Wesley.
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!
Of more than a dozen cleaning and pressing clubs operating in Wilson in the first few decades of the twentieth century, only a few set up business west of the tracks. AlonzoTaylor‘s Citizens Pressing Club at 124 South Goldsboro Street (and later 213 South Goldsboro) was one.
1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory.
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On 20 November 1907, Alonzo Taylor, 23, son of Jane Taylor, married Annie Henry, 21, daughter of George Hines and Mary Henry, in Wilson. Rev. N.D. King performed the ceremony in the presence of Henry Tart, Samuel Plummer, and Leroy Brown.
In the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Taylor Alonzo propr Citizens Pressing Club h 547 E Nash
On 5 November 1912, Alonzo Taylor, 23, son of Jordan and Jane Taylor, married Maggie McRae, 20, daughter of Samuel and Diana McRae, in Wilson.
In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Taylor Alonzo cleaning and pressing 213 S Goldsboro h Hotel Union
Alonzo Taylor died 15 April 1917 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 17 February 1889 in Wilson County to Jordan Taylor and Mary Lane; was married; worked in “close cleaning”; and was born in Wilson [likely, Masonic, Vick, or Odd Fellows Cemeteries.] Mary Jane Sutzer [his mother] was informant.
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!
By 1910, Wayne County native Columbus E. Artis operated a small grocery store in Stantonsburg. Less than two years later, he had set up an eatery in a narrow brick building on South Goldsboro Street. (Alexander D. Dawson, having closed his fish and oyster stall in the city market, ran a rival eatery across the street. The directory listed eight eating houses — all downtown, all African-American-owned.)
In the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Artis Columbus E eating house 214 Goldsboro h 304 Jones.
By 1915, Artis had gone into business as an undertaker and in time would establish a funeral home that rivaled Darden & Sons. He did not completely abandon the restaurant business, though, as, in 1917, Will Barnes reported on his draft registration card that he was a cook for C.E. Artis, and the 1922 city directory lists Artis as proprietor of The Delicatessen at 559 East Nash Street.
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.
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.
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.”
