I regularly mine Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps of Wilson for information, but only now have discovered the 1923 maps of Elm City. Sheet 4 covers the town’s historic African-American east side. Three inserts show streets beyond the borders of the map.
Though the street grid has not changed much in a hundred years, the names of Elm City’s streets have.
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Elm City, N.C. (1923).
Tarboro Road is now East Langley Road. The “First Baptist Church (Colored),” founded 1875, remains an active congregation, now known as First Missionary Baptist Church of Elm City. The building now sits perpendicular to the road.
Corker Street is now Tyson Lane. The Elm City Colored Graded School stood near its intersection with Church Street.
Wilson Street retains it name. A lodge hall — Masons? Odd Fellows? — stood near the current location of Wynn’s Chapel Church.
Further east on Wilson, the First Presbyterian Church (Colored), which would gain national attention nearly 40 years later when targeted by the Ku Klux Klan.
Sheet 5 shows the area south of Elm City’s business and residential center. The Free Will Baptist Church (Colored) beneath J.D. Winstead Cotton Gins was Wynn’s Chapel in its original location.
Elm City, Wilson County, N.C., Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Library of Congress.
