North Pender Street

309 North Pender Street.

The one hundred thirty-eighth 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.

In the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, this address is described as a vacant lot. It is currently a garden area for the inhabitants of 311 North Pender.

Per Robert C. Bainbridge and Kate Ohno in Wilson, North Carolina: Historic Buildings Survey (1980), source of the photo above: “This cottage dates between 1880 and 1900. Built in an L-plan, the front cross gable boasts double arched windows. The shed roof porch is supported by turned columns.”

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309 North Pender as drawn in the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map. The narrow street running alongside the house (just visible in the photo above) was once known as “Short Viola” Street. It is now an alley.

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Smith Mattie (c) lndrs h 309 Pender

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Bell Chas (c; Nina) lab h 309 Pender

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 309 Pender, rented for $16/month, Charlie Bell, 48, truck driver; wife Nina, 21; sons Dillon, 4, and Benson, 1; and lodger Rosa Lee White, 22.

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 309 Pender, rented for $12/month, Alice Artis, 56; daughter Pauline Henderson, 39; and children Bessie L., 23, Alice, 20, Joyce, 18, Mildred, 16, Doris, 10, and Robert, 4.

In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Cooper Wm (c; Nellie, 2) lab h 309 Pender

Nellie McLeod Cooper died 2 February 1947 in Wilson, Wilson County. Per her death certificate, she was 46 years old; was born in Robeson County, N.C.; lived at 309 North Pender; was married to Willie Cooper; and worked as common laborer at a tobacco factory.

308 North Pender Street.

The sixty-fourth 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: “ca. 1908; 1 story; two shotguns joined together to form a duplex with unifying hip-roofed, turned-post porch; house appears in 1908 bird’s-eye view of Wilson.”

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In the 1922 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Artis Columbus E propr[ietor] The Delicatessen h 308 Pender

In the 1925 Wilson city directory: Artis Columbus E (A & Flanagan) h 308 Pender

In the 1928 Wilson city directory: Artis Columbus E (c; Ada D), undtkr 571 E Nash and prop[rietor] Smith’s Filling Sta h 308 Pender.

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Artis Columbus E (c) (Ada D), undrtkr 571 E Nash h 308 Pender

In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County:  at 308 Pender Street, valued at $4000, Columbus Artis, a merchant/undertaker, wife Ida, and niece Gladys Adams.

In the 1940 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Cox Leslie (c; Mary) h 308 Pender

In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 308 Pender, rented for $16/month, Leslie H. Cox., 58; wife Mary, 53; and Nancy, 26, Florence, 20, both household servants, Leslie Jr., 18, hotel bellhop, David, 16, and Ardelia, 15, and grandson June Lee, 9.

In 1942, Leslie Robert Cox registered for the World War II draft in Wilson County. Per his registration card, he was born 8 August 1921 in Wilson, N.C.; his address was 308 Pender Street; his contact person was Mary Cox, 308 Pender; and he worked at the Briggs Hotel, East Nash Street, Wilson.

In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Cox Leslie H (c) carp h 308 Pender and Cox Nancy (c) maid h 308 Pender.

Photograph by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2018.

401 1/2 North Pender Street.

The sixty-third 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.

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As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “ca. 1908; 1 story; two-room house with chamfered-post, hip-roofed porch; fine example of the type in the district.”

The 1908 Sanborn map of Wilson shows 401 1/2 as 300 Pender. By 1922, per the Sanborn map, the house had been renumbered 401. 401 Pender Street is a now 1930-era shotgun shoehorned between Vance Street and 401 1/2 Pender.

Vance Street marked a hard boundary on Pender Street. The 300 block of Pender and points south-west were home to African-American families. The 400 block and points north-east were white. This excerpt from the householder’s directory section of the 1930 edition of Hill’s Wilson, N.C., City Directory reveals the line of demarcation plainly:

The parameters of this sharply segregated neighborhood persisted into the 1960s.

Photograph by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2018.