soft drink

Historic Black Business Series, no. 31: Moore & Battle, soft drinks.

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!

Around 1912, Henry Moore and John Battle ran a soft drink shop at 217 South Goldsboro Street.

Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, December 2024.

Soft drink bottling company in East Wilson.

Wilson Daily Times, 13 January 1948.

Wilson Bottling Company stood at the corner of East Nash and South Vick Streets in a building originally occupied by a grocery. This stretch of East Nash Street was a small commercial district featuring several groceries and the Elks Club’s lodge building.

Here’s the area in the 1930 Sanborn map, before the Elks Club was built:

In 1930, the businesses were:

  • at 909, Wade H. Humphrey Grocery
  • at 911, vacant
  • at 913, barber Oscar Williams
  • at 915, vacant
  • at 917, vacant
  • at 1000, Babe Pridgen Grocery
  • at 1001 [921], Edward Nicholson Grocery
  • at 1004A, vacant
  • at 1005, Marcellus Forbes Grocery
  • at 1006, Moses Parker Grocery

In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory:

  • at 909, vacant
  • at 911, Farm & Home Curb Market
  • at 913, Mattie G. Hines beer shop
  • at 915 and 917, Gill’s Grocery
  • at 1000, Wilson Bottling Company
  • at 1001 [921], Elks Home, Marshall Lodge #297
  • at 1004A, vacant
  • at 1005, Forbes Grocery
  • at 1006, Forbes Grocery storage