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.
