Historic Black Business Series

Historic Black Business Series, no. 25: J. Thomas Teachey’s eating house.

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!

Columbus E. Artis opened his eating house in a space formerly occupied by James Thomas Teachey, a building contractor/carpenter who briefly tried his hand at the lunch counter business.

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

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 24: Henry C. Holden’s barbershop.

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!

Henry C. Holden‘s barbershop briefly occupied the basement level of the Branch Bank building at the corner of East Nash and South Goldsboro Streets.

In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Holden Henry C, barber Branch Banking Co’s Bldg h 115 Pender

The 1908 Sanborn map of Wilson notes “Barber in B[asement]” of Branch Bank at the corner of Nash and Goldsboro Streets (formerly numbered 125.)

However, in the 1912 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory, Holden is listed as a barber at the Mayflower Barber Shop, Levi H. Jones‘ business at 108 West Nash Street.

And in the 1916 city directory, Holden, who lived at 235 West Kenan, was working for Tabron Brothers barbershop. (He had married their sister, Lila Tabron, in 1904.)

When he registered for the World War II draft in 1918, Henry Clay Holden stated he was working for yet another barber, Bill Hines, at 119 South Tarboro Street.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2024.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 23: Goodsey H. Holden’s eating house.

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!

Goodsey H. Holden was primarily a bricklayer (and union man) and building contractor, but prudently diversified into other businesses, including an eating house that operated on South Goldsboro Street between Jones and Hines.

In the 1916 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Holden Goodsy H, eating house 406 1/2 S Spring h 603 S Spring

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.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 20: Coley & Taylor’s barbershop.

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.

1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 18: Neverson Green’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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Neverson Green owned a series of grocery stores in the 400 block of South Spring [now Douglas] Street in the early 20th century. We know he was in business as early as 1906, when he paid $57.50 for a computing scale, but the earliest address for which we have evidence is 410, a location taken over for Agnes Taylor‘s eating house.

On 24 December 1906, Neverson Green agreed to purchase a #10 Computing Scale from The J.H. Parker Co. of Richmond, Virginia, for $57.50 payable in installments. Deed Book 72, page 205.

Neverson Green’s first name was occasionally mistaken as “Nelson.” 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory.

In 1909, Green’s grocery was burgled by the son of a rival grocery storeowner, Jacob Tucker.

City directories appear to show Green’s grocery store sliding up and down South Spring every year, which doesn’t seem probable. In 1912 and 1916, he is at 412 South Spring. In 1920, at 424. (This was also the address of Jacob Tucker’s grocery. The two may have been in the business together for brief periods.) In 1922, he’s at 420, but in 1924, he’s back at 424. In 1925 and 1928, he’s at 400 South Spring.

Detail from 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson.

Remnants of the old Norfolk Southern tracks, seen in the map above, are still visible in the asphalt of Douglas Street. They offer a glimpse of the chaotic landscape of early 20th-century downtown Wilson.

In the 1920 census of Wilson, Wilson County: grocery merchant Neverson Green, 58, grocery merchant; wife Isabella, 54; daughters Lula, 21, Bessie, 16, and Eva, 12; and roomer Willie Ward, 19.

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: grocery store merchant Nelson Green, 72; wife Isabella, 65; daughters Lula, 30, and Eva, 23; and grandchildren Lila R. Barnes, 12, and Lissa Strickland, 12.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Green Nelson (c; Isabella) gro 400 Spring h 502 S Lodge

Historic Black Business Series, no. 17: Jenkins Café.

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.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 16: Paragon Shaving Parlor.

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!

The fantastic Wilson Arts Center now occupies the footprint of New Briggs Hotel. Paragon Shaving Parlor opened in a storefront space of the hotel at what was then 213 East Nash Street. The barbershop was located in the area of the “short,” far-left section of the arts center’s facade.

After apprenticing with barber John A. Gaston, Walter S. Hines joined with Noah J. Tate and Joshua L. Tabron to open Paragon Shaving Parlor in a storefront at the New Briggs Hotel circa 1903. (Not 1912, as my little sign says.) In 1906, Tate, Hines, and Tabron sold the shop’s furnishings to another barber, Richard Renfrow, suggesting a complete upgrade of Paragon’s interior.

Tabron died before 1907, and Hines and Tate continued the business, which was described this way in the 1912 Wilson, North Carolina, Industrial & Commercial Directory: “The Paragon Shaving Parlor is located at 213 East Nash street in Briggs Hotel Block, and it can truthfully be said that it is the most popular Tonsorial parlor in the city of Wilson. It is owned and managed by N.J. Tate and W.S. Hines, both of whom are skilled barbers of long experience. Their genial manner and high class work have won for them the liberal share of the best patronage of the city. Their shop is fully equipped with all the latest appurtenances, and a short visit to this establishment will after passing through their hands, convince you of what the modern, up-to-date barber shops can do to put a man in good humor with himself and the rest of mankind. The shop is equipped with five chairs, each in charge of a professional barber. Go there for your next shave.”

By 1916, the business was known as Tate & Hines.

Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory (1916).

About 1920, Tate and Hines parted company, and Walter S. Hines assumed sole ownership of the barbershop. He briefly reverted to the Paragon Shaving Parlor name, but soon settled on Walter S. Hines Barbershop. His shop and that of his brother, the William Hines Barbershop, were friendly competitors for white custom until the 1970s.

Wilson Chamber of Commerce’s Facts About Wilson, North Carolina, published in 1934, featured a full-page for New Briggs with a photo of the hotel’s street-facing exterior. At lower left, Hines Barbershop is identifiable by its barber pole.

A close-up reveals two African-American men standing in front of the shop’s large window.

Walter S. Hines Barber Shop, early 1940s. Left to right: David H. Coley, Joe Knolly Zachary, Edgar H. Diggs, Roderick Taylor, and Sidney Boatwright.

Contrary to the passage below, which was lifted from the nomination form the Central Business-Tobacco Warehouse Historic District, Hines himself did not move the barbershop from the Briggs Hotel in 1955. Walter Hines died in 1941, and his family continued running the business for nearly 40 more years.

Barbers and bootblacks who worked for Walter S. Hines included Hiram A. Faulk, Walter Mainer, Roderick Taylor, David Barnes, Herman N. Grissom, Floyd Pender, Hubert Mitchner, Lonnie Barnes, Charles C. Chick, Edgar H. Diggs, Mancie Gaston, Elmer Gordon, Golden Robinson, James Smalls, Alonzo Barnes, David H. Coley, Sidney Boatwright, and Joe Knolly Zachary.

Historic Black Business Series, no. 15: Jack Williamson’s blacksmith shop.

The 1872 map of Wilson shows Jack Williamson‘s blacksmith shop on Tarboro Street, west of Barnes Street. The approximate location is now a parking lot.

Williamson, born enslaved in the Rock Ridge area, came to Wilson shortly after Emancipation. His wife, Ann Jackson Williamson, learned blacksmithing and horseshoeing from him and worked alongside him and their son Charles Williamson.

Jack Williamson died in 1899.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, March 2024.