Wilson Daily Times, 23 April 1935.
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Keith Boykin, a native of Wilson County who, like me, has lived decades elsewhere, recently contacted me to share a number of treasures from his collection. Among them, this photo, perhaps taken by Roy Millhouse, marked “at the rummage sale Sept 18 – 43.”
We’ve read about the rummage sales (in which middle-class white women sold cast-off clothing out of their cars to working-class African-American women) here and here, and these articles helped me home in on the location of this shot.
The car is parked in the west side of the 200 block of South Pender Street [then called Stantonsburg Street], just south of Barnes Street. The commercial building in the upper right corner was originally a lodge hall, but housed a grocery store with an upstairs apartment in the 1940s. (And was much later home to the East Branch of the Wilson County Public Library.) The dark, three-story building looming at rear left was Darden Funeral Home. [The Tudor Revival structure that some of us remember as the funeral home building was constructed in 1949.] For more about this block, see here.
Many thanks to Keith Boykin for sharing this remarkable photograph.
In the early 1960s, the brick building marked B.P.O. Reindeer Lodge No. 32 at 205 South Pender. The building has been demolished.
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District: “#205 [formerly 203 1/2]; ca. 1930; 2 stories; (former) Central Grocery and Market; simple brick commercial building has parapet front and five-bay facade; remodeled recessed entry; upper floor at one time contained Knights of King Solomon civic club; interior has been altered for apartments.”
In April and May 1935, a series of notices appeared in the Wilson Daily Times alerting the public of the court-ordered sale of “the Knights of Solomon building, located on Stantonsburg Street, in the Town of Wilson” on May 18 of that year.
The 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory shows Wade H. Pridgen as the proprietor of a grocery at 203 1/2 Stantonsburg Street, with tobacco worker Eva Pringle as the upstairs tenant.
The 1947 and 1950 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directories show Hocutt’s Grocery (William S. and Roland B. Hocutt, proprietors) at 203 1/2 Stantonsburg Street, with Eva Pringle still upstairs.
The 1963 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory shows BPO Reindeer at the address.
By the early 1970s, the first floor of this building housed the East Branch of the Wilson County Public Library, the successor to the Negro Library formerly located two blocks north on Pender Street.
The building was occupied as a lodging house during its final decades before demolition circa 2005.
I had the chance to visit briefly with Bobby Boykin when I was in Wilson recently. The hundreds of Wilson Daily Times clippings Bobby has sent me — most never digitized — have been a tremendous source of material for Black Wide-Awake, and I deeply appreciate his interest and action in supporting the documentation of Wilson County’s African-American history. Recently, Bobby has been culling through boxes of photographs donated to him in the 1980s, and he pulled several that might be of interest to my readers.
I struggled a bit with the perspective in these photos, though I knew we were looking one way or another toward the intersection of Nash and Pender Streets. The images document heavy street flooding, most likely in the late 1960s or very early 1970s — the Chevrolet truck model in the second photo was first produced in 1964 — on South Pender Street. The photographer was standing just below East Barnes Street, facing Nash. In the first photo, the peaked roof of Jackson Chapel First Baptist’s tower is visible at left, and the finials of Saint John A.M.E. Zion’s tower are center-frame.
The view today, per Google Maps.
These black-and-white photos were taken well after the timeframe of Black Wide-Awake‘s focus, but offer a rare glimpse of the former density of dwellings along the east side of South Pender Street. Every house you see here has been demolished, as was the two-story brick building at the edge of the second photo. Fortunately, however, all were standing when the survey was made for the nominating report for East Wilson Historic District, which allows us to identify them for closer study. The houses and commercial buildings will receive their own posts.
South of Nash Street, Pender Street was named Stantonsburg Street until the mid-1960s. Also, the street numbers of the buildings of these two blocks shifted over time to accommodate infill and other changes. This makes identifying the house numbers of the two dwellings visible south of the filling station a challenge.
Here is this section as depicted on page 31 of the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance maps of Wilson:
At that time, the tip of the wedge at Stantonsburg and East Nash Streets was occupied by an auto repair shop. The first house on the east side of the street was numbered 107 (changed from 111 when the city revamped its numbering system circa 1921); the second, 201 (formerly, 115); the third, 203; and the fourth 207 (formerly, 209).
As we will see later, by 1928, a house had been built between 107 and 201 and numbered 109. Also, a brick building had been erected between 203 and 207 and numbered 205 (but, by 1941, was 203 1/2).
By time the nomination form was drafted, the first house beyond the filling station was 103, but its description does not match the house shown. Rather, the form’s description of 103 matches 109, i.e. the second house beyond the filling station. (Which means that the form omits the first house, 107, which may have been demolished some time between the time this photo was taken and 1988, when the form was completed.)
Stay tuned for deeper dives.
In a September 1940 “Wilsonia” column, John G. Thomas memorialized Saturday afternoon rummage sales carried out by white women from cars parked along Stantonsburg (now Pender) Street. Their customers? Black tobacco factory workers whose weekly pay was burning a hole in their pockets.
Wilson Daily Times, 16 September 1940.
The one-hundred-thirty-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.
As described in the nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District, this building is: “ca. 1913; 1 story; shotgun with shed-roofed porch and gable returns.”
The constriction date of this house puzzling. Hines Street did not cross the railroad until the early 1970s. When it was finally cut through, Hines Street followed, more or less, the course of the old Wiggins Street, which no longer exists. But Wiggins Street had stopped at Stantonsburg [now Pender] Street before picking up again east of Manchester Street. The 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson shows no street east of Stantonsburg and no house either.
And 503 East Hines? This isn’t the 500 block of East Hines Street. It should be the 800.
Was this house moved from elsewhere?
Ah!
In my post on 505 South Pender, I noted that two adjacent houses on then-Stantonsburg Street had been cleared out to make room for Hines Street, which was much wider than Wiggins. They were numbered 501 and 503. Was 503 Stantonsburg Street simply lifted from its lot and slotted behind, and perpendicular to, 505?
Detail from Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C., 1922.
I am certain this is the case.
503 Stantonsburg Street is now 503 East Hines, though the house is in the 800 block. 503 and 505 are identical shotgun houses, as drawn in the 1922 Sanborn map. Photographs of 503 and 505 (prior to renovation) confirm that they share vented gables with gable returns, shed-roofed front porches, and no back porches. 503 has been heavily, but superficially, modified, with faux-brick tarpaper siding and tin skirting. Cinderblock pillars have replaced the original brick; the porch posts, probably originally turned, have been replaced with four-by-fours; and a small shed-roofed porch has been tacked onto the back.
The houses shown in 1922 at 507 and 509 Stantonsburg are long demolished, but 511 — which was identical to 503 and 505 — is under renovation. Will 503 be renovated next?
The rear of 503 East Hines.
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In the 1925 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Thompson Nelson (c) mill hd h 503 Stantonsburg
In the 1928 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Thompson Nelson (c; Annie M) lab h 503 Stantonsburg
In 1930, the city directory lists the house as vacant.
In the 1941 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Hammett John S (c) City Light Water & Gas Dept h 503 Stantonsburg
In the 1947 Hill’s Wilson, N.C., city directory: Hammett John S (c; Flossie L) firemn Town of Wilson h 503 Stantonsburg
This aerial image, courtesy of Google Maps, shows 503 East Hines tucked behind the apartment building that replaced 507 South Pender [Stantonsburg] Street.
Photos taken by Lisa Y. Henderson, September 2021.
Sanborn fire insurance map, Wilson, N.C., 1930.
As a supplement to this post, here is an excerpt of the 1930 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson detailing town’s Black business district. Though the northeast side of the 500 block of East Nash Street was almost completely commercial, the southwest side was largely residential. Segregation was in full effect at the time, but several white merchants operated businesses catering to African-American clientele, and one, Jesse Verser, lived on the block (around the corner from his Stantonsburg Street grocery.)
Detail of the Sanborn map showing several tenant houses on the west end of Smith Street, the tightly packed commercial buildings on Nash, Verser’s home at 504, and the sole freestanding two-story house on the north side of Nash at 529. Notice, behind 509, a garage (marked A) and toilets (marked WC). There were also garages behind 511 (with nearby gasoline tank) and 513-515. Several of the businesses were owned by native whites or Lebanese immigrants, and there was even a Chinese laundry.
Nash Street
Smith Street
The transition from commercial to residential on the south side of the street. 526 is the Hotel Orange, a boarding house run by Mattie B. Coleman.
Nash Street
Mid-block, two multi-story buildings dominated — the Whitley Hotel and the Odd Fellows lodge hall. The Odd Fellows building featured commercial space at street-level and the Globe Theatre above.
Nash Street
Smith Street
In the eastern third of the block, the south side of the street was almost entirely residential. Ideal Pharmacy and First Baptist Church dominated the north side.
Nash Street
The final stretch of the south side of the 500 block, all commercial.
Nash Street
Stantonsburg Street [now Pender]
I confess surprise that, as late as 1930, the entire 100 block of South Pettigrew was an all-white residential street.
South Pettigrew Street
The one-hundred-twenty-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.
The nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District lists this description of 505 South Pender [originally Stantonsburg Street]: “ca. 1922; 1 story; shotgun with shed-roofed porch and gable returns.”
In the 1928 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Barnes Lena (c) dom h 511 Stantonsburg
In the 1930 Wilson, N.C., city directory, the house was vacant.
In 1940, Prince Mincey registered for the World War II draft in Wilson. Per his registration card, he was born 18 March 1908 in Wilson; lived at 511 Stantonsburg Street; his contact was wife Alice Hinnh [Hannah] Mincey; and he worked for C.J. Moore, Wilson.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: at 511 Stantonsburg Street, rented for $8/month, fertilizer plant laborer Prince Mincy, 30, and wife Alice, 29.
The 1941 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Mincey Prince (c; Alice) tob wkr h 511 Stantonsburg
In the 1947 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Mincey Prince (c; Alice) carp h 511 Stantonsburg
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, September 2020.
The one-hundred-eighteenth 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.
The nomination form for the East Wilson Historic District does not list 505 South Pender. However, this description of 501, which does not actually exist, seems to describe the house above instead: “ca. 1922; 1 story; shotgun with shed-roofed porch, gable returns.”
In the 1928 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Leak Clara (c) dom h 505 Stantonsburg
In the 1930 Wilson, N.C., city directory: McNeil Mary (c) dom h 505 Stantonsburg
The 1941 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Barnes Pearl (c; 2) lndrs h 505 Stantonsburg
In the 1947 Wilson, N.C., city directory: Barnes Pearl N (c; wid Zach) lndry wrkr Caro Lndry & Clnrs h 505 Stantonsburg
The stretch of Pender Street above Suggs Street today, per Google Map. 505 is the silver-roofed shotgun at the corner Pender and Hines.
Here, the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C. Below Nash Street, Pender Street was then called Stantonsburg Street. When Hines Street was extended east in the 1960s, it largely followed the former path of Wiggins Street. It appears that 501 and 503 were cleared out to make way for the much wider Hines.
The one hundred-fourteenth 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, this house is: “circa 1913; shotgun with gable returns and hip-roofed porch.”
This house, once known as 211 Stantonsburg Street and the last remaining house on Pender Street between Nash Street and Hines Street, is now an office for the Wilson District of the A.M.E. Zion Church. [Update: This house was demolished prior to October 2019.]
In the 1930 census of Wilson, Wilson County: rented for $12/month, Paul Savage, 34; wife Hannah, 35, cook; and roomers Minnie Taylor, 11, Jim Murray, 33, tobacco factory laborer, and Annie Murray, 21, tobacco factory stemmer.
Paul Savage died 15 April 1934 at Mercy Hospital, Wilson. Per his death certificate, he was born 1891 in Edgecombe County to Albert Savage and Willie Ann Brant; was married to Annah Savage; was a tobacco factory day laborer; and was buried in Leggett, North Carolina.
In the 1940 census of Wilson, Wilson County: rented for $10/month, housekeeper Anna Savage, 46, and lodger Beatrix Wiggins, 32, housekeeper.
Photo by Lisa Y. Henderson, October 2018.