Wilson Bottling Company stood at the corner of East Nash and South Vick Streets in a building originally occupied by a grocery. This stretch of East Nash Street was a small commercial district featuring several groceries and the Elks Club’s lodge building.
Here’s the area in the 1930 Sanborn map, before the Elks Club was built:
We read here of Cockrell’s Grocery, which stood at the corner of Green and Pettigrew Streets one block east of the railroad and served a largely African-American clientele. Above, a clearer view of the photograph accompanying an article about the store, with William White, at center, and Billy Strayhorn, at far right.
The one hundred-fifty-fifth 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, this building is: “ca. 1913; one story; L-plan cottage with turned-post porch.” [Note: per tax records, the house was built in 1925. It does not appear on the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map.] The 1950 Wilson city directory reveals the original house number was 516.
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Graham David (c; Golda) h 516 N Carroll; also Graham Theola (c) 516 N Carroll
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Taylor Green (c) h 516 N Carroll; also, Taylor Green jr (c) h 516 N Carroll
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 516 Carroll Street, high school janitor Green Taylor, 57; wife Rebecca, 54; stepdaughters Lillie, 26, Wauline, 18, and Julia, 11; and son Robert Taylor, 19.
In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Edwards Julia (c) cook Rosa R Lupe h 516 N Carroll
In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Edwards Julia (c) gro h 516 N Carroll h do [home ditto]
Wilson Daily Times, 8 July 1976.
Julia Edwards died 3 December 1989 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was born 14 February 1904 in Wilson County to John Henry Edwards Sr. and Nealie Farmer; was never married; had a fifth grade education; and operated a restaurant. Informant was Annie Edwards, Stantonsburg.
The one hundred-fifty-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.
Perhaps the oldest commercial structure in the District, the facade of the grocery’s parapet is spitting bricks out onto the sidewalk.
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, this building is: “ca. 1908; 1 story; Mercer’s Grocery; brick, parapet-front grocery; one of the major groceries in the district.”
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513 East Green Street was originally numbered 518. Like all of the large grocery stores in East Wilson, none of its owners were African-American.
Jesse J. Amerson is the first known owner, commuting from his home on West Green Street nine blocks to the store.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1908).
Four years later, the city directory showed Samuel D. Moody as the owner. Moody lived at 301 Pender, just beyond the Vance Street boundary between Black and white sections of Pender.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1912).
Moody sold wood from a lot on the Green Street side of the grocery. Detail from Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C., 1913.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1916).
Circa 1921, Larry Giles Boyette and Bernon S. Holdford took over the grocery and operated it together for most of the decade.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1922).
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1925).
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1928).
The 1930 city directory shows that Boyette operated the store solo and had renamed it with his middle name, Giles.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1930).
However, this 1932 ad reverts to Boyette & Holford. [What curious exhortations — “Stop Hoarding!” “Put Your Slacker Dollars to Work.”]
Wilson Daily Times, 21 March 1932.
In the summer of 1940, Giles advertised Onslow County pork products. (I have not been able to determine if there was something special about ham and bacon from the Jacksonville area.) As we’ll see below, this iteration of Giles likely had a different owner than the earlier.
Wilson Daily Times, 20 August 1940.
In 1947, W.R. Lang and A.R. Lafferty filed a notice of dissolution of their partnership, which had operated Giles Grocery at 513 East Green.
Wilson Daily Times, 16 August 1947.
Per the 1950 city directory, the store continued to operate under the name Giles Grocery. In the 1957 directory, it was named Jim Mercer’s Grocery and remained known as Mercer’s for the next three decades.
In the mid-1980s, Harrell’s Grocery added 513 East Green to its small stable of corner groceries.
Wilson Daily Times, 21 January 1986.
However, the store was once again known as Mercer’s in the late 1980s and remained so until at least 2001.
The one hundred thirty-sixth 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.
718 East Green Street, formerly numbered 649, is now an empty lot. Any buildings on the lot were demolished prior to the survey of the East Wilson Historic District. In the early 20th century, however, it was the site of a small Black-owned grocery, one of the earliest in East Wilson. City directories reveal the store’s existence, under an ever-changing series of proprietors, as early as 1908 and as late as the 1940s.
John H. Miller and John H. Lewis are the earliest identified grocers at the location in 1908.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, 1908.
Four years later, the city directory shows Jacob C. Speight as the owner. He lived two houses down Green Street.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, 1912.
Detail of page, Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C., 1913.
By 1916, Selly Rogers was the operator of this grocery, as well as another on Stantonsburg Road (now Pender Street South).
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, 1916.
By 1922, several houses had been built around the store, and its number had changed from 649 to 718.
Detail of page, Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C., 1922.
Grant J. Foster is listed as the owner in 1925, but within a few years he was operating a grocery on Viola Street.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, 1925.
The ownership of the grocery during the 1930s is not yet known. By 1941, Green Street Grocery and Market had a white owner, however, John M. Coley.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, 1941.
Sometime during or after World War II, the building at 718 ceased use as a grocery and became a residence, perhaps as a result of intense post-war housing shortages. By 1947, it was the home of photographer John H. Baker and his wife Rosalee.
Cross-referencing the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory and the 1913 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson reveals the specific locations of Black-owned businesses just after the turn of the century. Above, the intersection of East Nash Street and Stantonsburg Road (now Pender Street.)
The most well-known is Charles H. Darden & Son‘s cast-iron double-storefront at 611-613 East Nash.
Wiley Oates and Cain Artis operated a grocery in the large brick building occupying the entire tip of the intersection of Nash and Stantonsburg.
Across the street from Oates & Artis, white grocer David C. Braswell had a small wooden store. A third grocery faced Braswell’s on the other side of Nash, but I have not identified its operator.
The one-hundred-twenty-sixth 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 encompassed 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.
1922 Sanborn fire insurance map, showing a grocery store at 1000 East Nash
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, this building is: “ca. 1922; 1 story; Progressive Primitive Baptist Church; brick-veneered former grocery and bottling plant; parapet front with spire added.”
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Higson Bros (B H and V H) gros 1000 E Nash [The Higsons — owners Booth H. and Velborn H., clerk William B, and his wife Sidney S. — lived at their shop. Like all who operated businesses at 1000 East Nash, the Higsons were white.]
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Pridgen Babe D (Mattie) gro 1000 E Nash and 513 Stantonsburg h 506 Pender
In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Pilot Beverage Co (Roger J Crawley Andrew C Byrd) 1000 E Nash
In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Wilson Bottling Co Moffett L Carson Mgr, Bottlers of Nesbitt’s California Orange 1000 E Nash tel 2408
Ad, 1947 city directory.
In the 1950 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Wilson Bottling Co Moffett L Carson Mgr, Bottlers of Nesbitt’s California Orange 1000 E Nash tel 2408
In its 30 July 1953 edition, the Wilson Daily Times announced the opening of a new grocery business, Super Duper, at 1000 East Nash. Thus, the building returned to its original use.
Wilson Daily Times, 31 May 1956.
In the 1963 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Super Duper Market No 1 (Lerby Bryant Odell C Tant) gros 1000 E Nash
These food stamp credit tokens for Super Duper No. 1 date from the 1970s. For an interesting history of this currency, see this 2015 CoinWeek digital article.
In 1978, the owners of the building advertised it for rent in the Daily Times.
Per mentions in the Wilson Daily Times, from 1982 to 1988 and possibly longer, Goodwill Progressive Primitive Baptist Church operated from 1000 East Nash Street.
Per mentions in the Wilson Daily Times, from 1995 to 1999 and possibly longer, Brotherhood of Deliverance Pentecostal Church operated from 1000 East Nash Street.
The building has been demolished.
1000 East Nash Street now, per Google Street View.
The settlement of Joseph C. Palmer‘s estate in 1924 required a survey and subdivision of the property he owned on South Lodge and Banks Streets. A large lot containing Palmer’s Lodge Street home and grocery store, as well as a smaller four-room house, was divided into six lots. Around the corner on Banks, he owned another lot with a ten-room apartment house.
These blocks were surveyed just two years earlier for an update to the Sanborn fire insurance maps. The Sanborn map’s scale appears to be slightly off, but it’s easy to find Palmer’s grocery at 700 South Lodge and home at 702 South Lodge, as well as the smaller house at 408 East Banks. There was also a narrow house at 410 East Banks that apparently was demolished prior to 1924.
On the other hand, the ten-room apartment building had not been built yet, and its lot is shown empty.
The site today. The blocks below South Lodge Street were cleared for a public housing project, Whitfield Homes, in the 1960s.
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Joe Palmer, 20, married Ella Moore, 21, on 4 December 1879 at Saint Timothy’s Church.
In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Joseph Palmer, 20, works on farm; wife Ella, 21; daughters Pearl, 9, and Mattie, 6; and mother Mariah Moore, 60, cook. [These were Ella Palmer’s daughters and mother.]
In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: South Carolina-born Joseph Palmer, 42, carpenter; wife Estel, 41, confectioner; and son Joseph C., Jr., 9.
In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: on Lodge Street, house carpenter Joe Palmer, 50, and wife Ella, 49.
In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 710 Lodge Street, grocery store salesman Joe Palmer, 60, and wife Ella, 61, a general merchant.
Ella Palmer died 21 September 1921 in Wilson. Per her death certificate, she was 59 years old; lived at 702 Lodge; and born in Hyde County, North Carolina, to Mariah Moore. J.C. Palmer was informant.
Hill’s Wilson, N.C., City Directory (1922).
Joseph C. Palmer died 12 December 1923 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was a native of Columbia, South Carolina; lived at 702 South Lodge; was a widower; and worked as a store proprietor. Mrs. Mattie E. Moore was informant.
On 14 January 1924, Camillus L. Darden (with his father Charles H. Darden as surety) applied for and received at Wilson County Superior Court letters of administration to handle J.C. Palmer’s estate, which he valued at $8000.
Plat book 2, page 14, Register of Deeds Office, Wilson; aerial view courtesy of Google Maps.
The one hundred-tenth in a series of posts highlighting buildings inEast 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, 109 North Vick Street is “ca. 1922; 1 story; double-pile, hip-roof cottage with wraparound porch; intact classical porch posts; fine local example of late Queen Anne cottage” and 111 North Vick (formerly 109 1/2) is “ca. 1950, 1 story; Vick St. Grocery; concrete-brick corner grocery.”
The 1922 Wilson, N.C., Sanborn fire insurance map shows the house at 109 standing alone. The store was essentially grafted onto the northern edge of the front porch. I have never been inside either building, but I assume there was an interior entrance from the house into the grocery.
Though labeled 213, this is the house now known as 109 North Vick depicted in the 1922 Sanborn map.
In 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Burton Hazel (c) student 109 N Vick and Burton Sadie sch tchr h 109 N Vick
In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Farmer Wm (c; Eula) bellman Hotel Cherry h 109 N Vick
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson county: Will Farmer, 43, hotel “bell bob”; wife Eula, 40; and daughters Annie D., 19, nurse, and Sadie, 14.
In the 1941 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Moore Linwood (c; Ruth; 4) gro 102 N Vick h 109 d[itt]o. Moore is also listed at this address in the 1947 and 1950 city directories. Neither indicates an adjacent grocery. However, the 1951 directory lists Moore’s Grocery at 109 1/2 North Vick:
