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for "Kammerer, Roger"
Record #:
23393
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“Green Wreath Park,” located at Bruce, Pitt County, opened on Friday, May 29, 1925. The Park was located on the Foreman farm and was owned by William H. Moore who subleased the land from Kemp Lewis. Green Wreath Park included a dance hall, pavilion, bath-house, canoes, spring boards, and diving piers. In 1927, Moore subleased the park to Nelson “Nep” Hopkins, who then turned it into a black amusement park until Kemp Lewis demanded that Moore stop leasing the Park to Hopkins. In the 1940s, Hopkins ran the park as a place for white people to carouse and drink. The ruins of the park can still be seen in the woods along the Tar River. Closer to Greenville near the Rock Springs community was “Hollywood Beach,” operated by Claxton Stancill and his brother since 1931. Hollywood Beach, built along a wide sandbar along a bend of the Tar River, included a dance pavilion, bath house, and other small buildings. Popular activities included picnicking, swimming, skinny-dipping, fishing, dancing, and Sunday strolls. The Rock Springs Community revived the beach in the 1980s. Hollywood Beach closed after the Highway 264 Bypass Bridge was built, and in 1998, Hurricane Floyd washed the remnants of Hollywood Beach away.
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Record #:
23394
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The first train that came through Pitt County arrived in Bethel on September 12, 1882, on the newly completed Seaboard – Raleigh Railroad. Chartered in 1868, financial reverses caused many delays in the railroad’s completion. Kammerer relates the account given of speeches and dinner celebration that appeared in the Tarboro Southerner newspaper at the time. The citizens of Greenville had to travel to Bethel to catch the train until the railroad reached Greenville in 1890.
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Record #:
23395
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After Greenville's Masonic Temple Opera House burned down in 1910, Samuel T. White sponsored the building of a theatre. Samuel Tilden White (1873-1966) a leading merchant and county commissioner, decided to build a theatre in 1914 after the Greenville’s Masonic Temple Opera House burned down in February 1910. In 1913, White hired Burrell Riddick as the contractor for his one-story theatre that included 700 seats, a large state, and balcony. White brought the best of Broadway road shows to Greenville. The theatre was leased in 1924 to Henry J. Paradon and in 1930 was leased to the Publix-Saenger Theatres of North Carolina. It became known as the “State Theatre,” opening on July 28, 1930. The theatre closed for several years in the 1950s, and Van Jones of Ayden reopened it on August 19, 1960. About 1972, it became known as the “Park Theatre.” Carmike Cinemas eventually owned the theatre, who ran it as a $1.50 movie house. The Park Theatre closed in 1999.
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Record #:
23396
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Will Rogers (1879-1935), the cowboy humorist, came to Greenville on April 6, 1926, and gave two performances at the Eastern Carolina Exposition to a total of 5,000 fans. Rogers was born on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma. He later joined a wild-west show as a trick roper. He entered the Guinness Book of World Records for throwing three lassos at once. Rogers toured the world, wrote six books and a syndicated news column, appeared in 50 silent films and 21 talking movies, and was a popular radio personality. He died at the age of 55 when his plane crashed in Alaska. Jim Brewer, a Greenville Boy Scout, got to be Will Rogers’ errand boy while Rogers stayed at the Proctor Hotel.
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Record #:
23397
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Kammerer gives a biography of Pitt County native, Dr. David Richard Wallace (1825-1911), the son of Warren Wallace and Pheobe Powell and grandson of George S. Wallace (1761-1840), a Revolutionary War soldier. He was educated at Wake Forest College and was a teacher, but wanted to be a minister. He later wanted to be a lawyer, but became a doctor instead. He moved to Texas in 1855, was a surgeon in the Confederate Army and later was appointed superintendent of the Texas State Insane Asylum. He organized the Texas State Medical Association and was named as the first eminent psychiatrist of Texas and the Southwest.
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Record #:
23398
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The earliest reference to a \"Town Constable,\" \"Magistrate of Police,\" or \"Town Marshall\" in Greenville is from May 1832. Names are not available until after the Civil War. S. Humphrey from 1869 is the first name of a Town Constable in Greenville. Names of Town Constables, Chiefs of Police, and assistant policemen are available from 1881. There were two policemen on the force in 1905, and six policemen on the force in 1919. In 1911, Police Chief George A. Clark made his rounds on a bicycle, and two officers made their rounds on motorcycles in 1924. The Greenville Police Department established a fingerprinting department in 1925 considered best in the State.
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Record #:
23399
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Less than one month before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, on November 17, 1941, Eleanor Roosevelt visited East Carolina Teacher's College. Due to a mix up, she arrived by train in Wilson, NC, and an entourage of local people had to drive to Wilson to get her and bring her to Greenville, NC. She toured the town, visiting Sheppard Memorial Library and the college campus. Mrs. Roosevelt held a press conference at the home of the college president, ate dinner on campus, and gave a talk, "A Day at the White House." She left for Washington, D.C., immediately following the speech.
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Record #:
23400
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In 1938 - 1939, the Pitt County Prison was constructed on 94 acres on Belvoir Road. It included a cellblock, guards' quarters, superintendent's house, dining hall, and three other buildings. The prison camp also had 80 acres of cleared land to raise vegetables with farming and work around the prison conducted by 12 \"Honor Grade\" prisoners. In 1950, the local newspaper reported that 110 prisoners dwelled in the prison. Prisoners worked 10 - 12 hours a day and were punished by being either put into the \"Dark Hole\" for eight to ten days, or handcuffed to cell bars for eight to ten hours, depending on the severity of the misbehavior. The prison established a prison baseball team, and a prison hobby shop was created in 1961 for \"Honor Grade\" prisoners. The Pitt County Prison was decommissioned on January 18, 1964 and the prisoners were moved to the Vance County Prison. The prison became the Pitt County jail for over a year, and then part of the Eastern Sheltered Workshop and Vocational Rehabilitation Center, Inc. The prison was torn down during the expansion of the airport.
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Record #:
23401
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The first known bottle company in Greenville, N.C. was a beer bottling company called the Greenville Bottling Co., opened by S.M. Schwartz in June 1883. J.H. Shelburn opened another beer bottling company in January 1884. Ed. H. Shelburn & Co. started a bottling company for carbonated drinks in 1892 and was the first person to sell Coca-Cola in town in 1893. J.W. Bryan, inventor of the drink Euvita, established the Euvita Bottling Co. in January 1903. In 1908, T.M. Hooker and W.A. Teel, Jr. started the Pepsi-Cola Bottling Company. In April 1906, the Burton Soda Water and Ice Cream Works opened and began bottling Seven Springs Mineral Water. W.J. Hardee, C.M. Warren and R.T. Cox started the Greenville Chero-Cola Bottling Co. in March 1915, and in 1916, James M. Hines established the Coca-Cola Bottling Works. The Orange Crush Bottling Co. opened in 1923; J. Carroll Waldrop started the Nehi Bottling Co. in 1933; and the Double Cola Bottling Company began in 1939. The Gary Beverage Company of Charlotte, N.C. established the Greenville Tip Company in March 1940.
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Record #:
23402
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ECU has had many memorable homecoming celebrations throughout its history. Homecoming can be tracked back to Founder’s Day celebrated on Mar. 5, 1932 and a sort of Homecoming took place thereafter every year on the Saturday closest to March 8, the day the school was founded in 1907. November 20, 1936 marked ECTC’s first Homecoming to include sports. A parade was added to the usual festivities of sports and dances at the Homecoming of March 1941. ECTC held no Homecomings between 1941 and spring 1946 because most of the boys were fighting in WWII. The first Homecoming Queen, Mrs. Kitty Gerringer Brinson, was crowned at the Homecoming of October 10, 1953. This same Homecoming, the Veterans Club gave the “victory bell” to East Carolina in honor of students who served in the military during WWII and the Korean Conflict. Hurricanes threatened the Homecomings of both 1954 and 1962. The theme of the 1961 Homecoming was “Dixie Days” to commemorate the Civil War Centennial. The Homecomings of 1962 – 1972 included famous guests such as Ray Charles (1964) and the Beach Boys (1972).
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Record #:
23403
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The Town Ordinances of 1832 went into effect on May 7, 1832. Ordinance one addressed taxation on real estate, town lots, white poles, free persons of color, slaves, dogs, hogs, and horses. Ordinance two required that people give a list of their taxable property to the Magistrate of Police on oath by June 1st. Ordinance three imposed fines on people who let horses or mules roam the streets or commons; started a fire in their chimneys in dry weather; fired a firearm in the town limits; or encamped their wagon in the town limits at night. Ordinance four imposed fines for washing or leaving clothes around public pumps and wells, and for blocking the street. Ordinance five imposed fines for leaving dead carcasses laying outside for more than 24 hours; refusing to get rid of a stench from one's house after a five day notice; or for breeding horses or donkeys within the town limits. Ordinance six required the Town Marshal to present people guilty of disorderly conduct to the Grand Jury along with witnesses. Ordinance seven demanded that dog owners pay taxes on their dogs and put black collars on the dogs for which this tax had been paid. Ordinance eight imposed a fine on the Town Marshal for neglecting any duty. Greenville citizens proposed a new set of laws in October 1838, and they went into effect in December 1838.
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Record #:
23404
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Rachel Maxwell Moore (1890-1964) was from Resaca community, near Kenansville, NC, but moved to Greenville after meeting and marrying James H. B. Moore of Greenville in 1922. She promoted the arts in Greenville and helped found the East Carolina Art Society and Greenville Museum of Art, receiving many awards for her efforts. She was a leading civic figure and Woman’s Club leader throughout her life. Rachel Maxwell Moore died of lung cancer on December 30, 1964. In her will, she established the Rachel Maxwell Moore Foundation, and stipulated that her house was to be sold and the money used to purchase art for the Greenville Museum.
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Record #:
23405
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Congress required the Secretary of War to give and take meteorological observations beginning February 9, 1870. Weather stations were built and weather reports used telegraphs and flag signals. W.E. Fountain of Tarboro built a telegraph line from Tarboro to Greenville in 1881. In February 1887, The Daily Reflector newspaper and several Greenville merchants bought flags and instruments for a Weather Signal Station. The first Greenville Weather Observer was probably the telegraph operator, D.J. Whichard. A flagpole was placed on the roof of the Reflector newspaper office in November 1893, and Larry Heilbroner became the Weather Observer. Later Weather Observers included M.R. Lang in May 1895, Allen Warren in June 1897, Charles V. York in 1905, R.H. Hearne in May 1920, J. A. Clark in 1939, and Mrs. Carl Maiden in 1948.
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Record #:
23406
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Kammerer bemoans the loss of the numerous large trees in Greenville and gives a history of trees in town. Local newspapers began in 1883 expressing fear that soon there would be no trees in Greenville because people were cutting them down. Edward B. Ficklin planted pecan trees on Fifth Street in the 1890s. When the city began to widen west Fifth Street in 1910, R. O. Jeffries sued the city to keep his shade trees, but the city won. Jacques Busbee began the beautification of the East Carolina Teachers College, planting camellia bushes in front of the old Austin building, and W. L. Wright had a Japanese sunken lake created in 1929. This lake and the land around it became the Davis Arboretum in 1935, but the lake was drained in the 1950s. The Greenville Woman’s Club planted crepe myrtles all over Greenville beginning in 1922. Henry W. Martin planted oak trees along Fifth Street from 1920 to 1929. In 1970 the canopy of trees was cut down to widen the street. In 1990, a the future of trees in Greenville got a boost when ReLeaf, a community-based volunteer nonprofit organization, was created to plant, promote, and protect canopy trees.
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Record #:
23407
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In 1926, Mr. and Mrs. Jack L. Westbrook bought a piece of property in Greenville encompassing the area from the northeast corner of Charles and Fourteenth Streets up to Domino's Pizza. On the property they built a large house with a garage, servant's quarters, stables, a pool, and a dance pavilion. In October 1926, Mrs. Westbrook found oil and gas seeping from her property during the construction of a new fountain. The Westbrooks formed the \"Westbrook Drilling Company\" and refused to sell stock to the citizens of Greenville. Greenville citizens wanted in on the opportunity and held many meetings to discuss drilling elsewhere in Greenville. The state geologist investigated the oil find and declared that no oil would be found in the vicinity of Greenville. The Westbrooks found oil and gas on their land because garages north of the property poured oils into drains and on the ground. The Westbrooks left Greenville in 1929 after the Stock Market Crash and their property went to the Blount Company and who turned the Westbrook pool into a city pool. The Westbrook house became Westbrook Apartments during WWII.
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