Samuel H. Vick

The 500 block — at the end of its glory.

Thirty years ago, the north side of the 500 block of East Nash Street was largely intact. In 2024, however, all of these buildings, except the one at far left, are long gone.

The three-story brick building at left is, of course, the Odd Fellows hall that Samuel H. Vick erected in 1894, when he was barely in his 30s. The lodge met on the top floor, and the Globe Theatre occupied the second floor for decades. In the 1920s, Camillus L. Darden built the two-story building at right and the two one-story buildings between it and the Odd Fellows lodge.

Photo courtesy of Richard L. Mattson, “The Cultural Landscape of a Southern Black Community: East Wilson, North Carolina, 1890-1930,” North Carolina Historical Review, January 2011.

Sam Victorious! (From the mouths of babes.)

I spent the morning with the third, fourth, and fifth graders of Samuel H. Vick Elementary School, talking about the hometown hero for whom their school was named. My father was a Vick alum, which made the day even more special. The kids were curious and attentive and engaged, and their hands shot in the air when they recognized neighborhood landmarks like the Vick house and Mercy Hospital.

I’m grateful to Principal Annette Faison, Rev. H. Maurice Barnes and Gentleman’s Agreement, and Winstead United Methodist’s Hand in Hand partnership for the invitation, and to the students for being an awesome audience.

The current Vick Elementary building sits in the footprint of the old Charles H. Darden High School (my father’s alma mater) and briefly bore its name.

This young scholar gave a reporter an interview after. My heart nearly burst.

Photos by Lisa Y. Henderson, February 2024.

Home Supply Company.

Circa 1908, William McCowan and Samuel H. Vick operated a grocery store at 540 East Nash Street, on the first floor of the Odd Fellows building.

Detail, 1908 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C.

Per the 1908 city directory, the company employed at least one clerk, Elmore Stokes.

Home Supply Company was a short-lived venture between two unlikely partners. Neither McCowan, a brickmason, nor Vick, who had broad entrepreneurial interests, had known experience in the grocery business.

——

  • William McCowan

In the 1870 census of Wilson, Wilson County: washerwoman Anna McGown, 35, and children William, 16, Emma, 15, Bettie, 10, Margaret, 8, Charles, 6, and Samuel, 2.

In the 1880 census of Wilson, Wilson County: brickmason William McCowan, 27; wife Louiza, 25; and daughter Annice, 6.

In the 1900 census of Wilson, Wilson County: bricklayer William McCowan, 47; wife Louise, 39; and boarder Calvin Murray, 14.

In the 1908 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCowan Wm pres Home Supply Co (Inc) h Church nr Pender

In the 1910 census of Wilson, Wilson County: Bill McCowan, 56; wife Louisiana, 45; and lodger Annie Williams, 38.

In the 1922 and 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCowan William (c) brklyer h 513 Church

In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCowan William (c, Louisa) brklyer h 513 Church

In the 1930 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: McCowan J William (c; Louisa) brklyer h 513 Church

William McCowan died 21 February 1940 in Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was 86 years old; was born in Wilson County; lived at 513 Church Street; was the widower of Lou McCowan; worked as a bricklayer; and was buried in Wilson, N.C. [If he, like Vick, were an Odd Fellow, he is likely buried in that cemetery. Otherwise, Vick Cemetery or the newly opened Rest Haven.]

  • Elmore Stokes

Vick and Cheatham certified as convention delegates.

In May 1904, Rocky Mount postmaster George W. Robbins and John D. Grimsley certified former United States Congressman Henry P. Cheatham and Samuel H. Vick as delegates to the National Republic Convention in Chicago. Cheatham and Vick represented North Carolina’s Second Congressional District.

An anonymous reader shared this image. Thank you.

Lane Street Project + Seeds of Hope Wilson: ’tis the season!

Seeds of Hope Wilson has been a fantastic friend to Lane Street Project, and we want to return the love. Seeds of Hope occupies a nearly 115 year-old house on Viola Street and tends a teaching garden on adjoining lots. Located across from the current Samuel H. Vick Elementary, down the street from the original Vick school, and around the corner from the Vick house, Seeds of Hope feeds the community body and soul.

As you gear up for the holidays, please remember our neighbors in the heart of historic East Wilson. Unopened, unexpired, non-perishable foods, as well as basic toiletries, are much-needed and greatly appreciated. You can drop donations at the Seeds of Hope House, 906 Viola St East on Tuesday and Saturday mornings between 8 A.M. and 10 A.M. (Or place small quantities of food items directly in their pantry facing Carroll Street.)

Thank you!

Vick is a worthy appointment.

The Star of Zion (Charlotte, N.C.), 3 October 1889.

The African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church began publishing The Star of Zion in 1876 and continues today as the longest continuously published African-American newspaper in North Carolina. In October 1889, it ran a small piece recognizing 25 year-old Samuel H. Vick‘s historic appointment as postmaster of Wilson, North Carolina.

Recommended reading, no. 16: “Black Tip, White Iceberg.”

For an in-depth understanding of the context and significance of Samuel H. Vick‘s service as Wilson postmaster, please read Benjamin R. Justesen’s “Black Tip, White Iceberg: Black Postmasters and the Rise of White Supremacy in North Carolina, 1897-1901,” published in The North Carolina Historical Review, Volume 82, Number 2 (April 2005), pp. 193-227. (If you don’t have a JSTOR subscription, you can sign up for 100 free article views.)

Notes on Booker T. Washington’s visit.

As we’ve discussed here and here, Booker T. Washington visited Wilson in October 1910 with a who’s who of educators, businessmen and A.M.E. Zion clergymen.

Certain documents from Greensboro History Museum’s A.H. Peeler Collection have been digitized by Gateway, a collaborative community history portal hosted by the University Libraries of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Peeler was a long-time principal and community leader whose personal archive is rich with resources related to African-American education in early 20th-century North Carolina, especially in Greensboro. Somewhere along the way, Peeler obtained a sheaf of lined note paper on which someone — perhaps Washington’s secretary Emmett J. Scott? — jotted brief notes about their stops.

Wilson was the ninth stop on the tour, and the local delegation received high marks for content and presentation. The city’s mayor, W.W. Briggs, met with Washington’s retinue, as did Charles L. Coon, who was basking in the heat of his controversial 1909 address, “Public Taxation in Negro Schools,” which argued that funding the education of Black children did not create a drain on white taxpayers.

The Colored Graded School was lauded as the “best public school facilities seen[,] suppose best in state[, with a] chapel for exercises.” [This is the first I’ve heard of the Graded School having a chapel. It’s too bad no architectural drawings of the building exist.] “Washington’s happy here,” the amanuensis continued, presumably because of quality of agricultural products grown by African-American farmers in the area, including “pumpkins, cotton, corn.” “Swellest banquet” speaks for itself. “One man rule — Vick: 400 houses” speaks to a recognition of the immense wealth and political influence Samuel H. Vick wielded in the city.

Wilson photographer O.V. Foust captured this grouping of Booker T. Washington, seated at center, his Tuskegee party, and leading North Carolina educators seated on Sam Vick’s front lawn. An unknown man in a slouch-brimmed hat photobombed them at far left. The photograph is part of the Peeler Collection.

Hat tip to former Congressman G.K. Butterfield Jr. for alerting me to this find!

The curious bid of Walter S. Hines.

Deed Book 86, pages 570-571, Wilson County Register of Deeds Office.

What is happening here? Why did Walter S. Hines intercede to bid for this parcel at auction?

The land had been the property of Frank W. Barnes, who died in May 1910. His widow Mattie Bynum Barnes was administratrix of his estate; Alice Barnes Harriss was their daughter. Per a judgment of Superior Court (effectively, probate court), the parcel went up for public auction on 10 December 1910. Walter S. Hines was highest bidder at $3000. However, on 19 December 1910, he transferred his bid to Alice Harriss, who paid the money and received the deed for a 71-acre tract adjoining “J.D. Farrior, S.H. Vick, the Clark heirs, the Amerson place, and others.”

The tract appears to be the land later known as the Wright Farm, which wraps around two sides of Vick Cemetery. Here’s the ever-helpful plat map of the farm, which comprises now comprises two tracts with different (but related) owners. Vick Cemetery is the rectangle just above and right of center. The corner vicinity map shows the original parcel, which I believe to be that which Walter Hines bid upon.

Plat book 38, page 198.

Why was he part of this transaction?