Articles in regional publications that pertain to a wide range of North Carolina-related topics.
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for "Kammerer, Roger"
Record #:
23703
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Annie Oakley, the American legend, international star and sure-shot, came through Greenville on Sept. 17, 1913, nearly one month before she retired. Between 1911 and 1913, Annie Oakley appeared in Vernon C. Seavers’ “Young Buffalo Wild West Show.” This Young Buffalo Wild West Show and Col. Cummins “Far East Show” appeared together in Greenville and put on a spectacle never before seen in Greenville. These united shows came to Greenville in 40 train cars and set up a huge hippodrome tent with a seating capacity of 10,000 people. A street parade, over a mile in length, left the show grounds near the depot and wound its way through downtown Greenville. Made up of hundreds of cowboys, cowgirls, scouts plainsmen, vaqueros and the Far East contingent made up of Russian Cossacks, Cingalese, Arabs, Moaria, Hindus, Japanese and other Orientals in their marvelous costumes wowed the crowds.
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23704
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The Madstone or “Bezoar Stone” was once believed to be the most highly prized piece of medicine anyone could possess. These stones were used to treat snakebites, rabies and lock jaw and were passed down in families for generations. Dr. R. G. Cobb of Kinston, NC owned a madstone passed down in his family. There were other popular remedies long ago that included “Asafetida bags,” also called “Devil’s Dung,” stinky bags put around the necks of children to keep flu, disease and evil spirits away. There was “Father John’s,” that tasted like licorice and cod-liver oil. There was “Terpine Hydrate Cough Expectorate,” that contained codeine that would knock out kids for 14 hours. There were parents who believed in Musterrol, Vicks salve, and Castoria, a castor oil substitute.
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Record #:
23705
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Greenville needed a fire department for many years before 1884, when their leader, Captain S. O. Mason, organized the first company, the Rough and Ready Fire Company. This group of men consisted of forty black volunteers carrying their own buckets. In 1896, the Hope Fire Company was founded. The Greenville Fire Company followed this company in 1902. A united fire company did not occur until A. J. Griffin took over the Hope Fire Company in 1902. After this time, the Hope Fire Company and the Greenville Fire Company united. A. J. Griffin was the first of many fire chiefs of a united fire company in Greenville. There have been various fire alarms over the years.
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Record #:
23706
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Big guns have always been a part of Greenville’s history. The “Brickle Cannon,” located on the Town Common, was manufactured between 1760-70 and was used on board a trading vessel about 1797 for defense against the French during the troubled administration of John Adams. The cannon was used for many years during political campaigns, was thrown in the river, buried innumerable times, drug to Greene Mill Run, and sat at the base of the Confederate monument in Cherry Hill Cemetery. The next big gum was a large artillery piece from WWI which sat in front of the County Court House and then moved to ECTTC in 1926. The large howitzer sat beside the Wilson Pergola in front of what is now Garrett Dorm until 1942 when it was sold for scrap. In 1966, ECU rolled out its spirit cannon and in 1971 a 80 pd. “WWI machine gun” was discovered underneath Fleming Hall. During the Cold War the Greenville National Guard had a 105 Howitzer and in 1963 possessed an “Atomic Cannon,” which took 16 men to operate.
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Record #:
23707
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During the golden age of barbershops from the 1880s to the 1940s, the nicer barbershops tried to dazzle their patrons with luxury like mug cabinets, marble counters, carved barber chairs, artwork and mirrors. Later they stressed cleanliness and being modern with chrome, glass and porcelain. The earliest known barber in 1850 was a black man named Nathan Brinson. Before 1900 the most popular barbers in Greenville were three black men: Henry Edmonds, his son Herbert Edmonds, and Alfred Cully. Other early barbers included: James A. Smith, Robert G. Hodges, Ben Willoughby, John P. Norcott, Edmond Tillery, Alex B. Pender, Henry Moye, Julius Fleming and Jimmy Hopkins. Alfred Culley invented and marketed Culley's Preparation, the best known cure for baldness.
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Record #:
23708
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What is now the Farmville area was once dotted with small communities such as “Grimmersburg,” “Maysville,“ and “Joyner’s Crossroads.” In 1850, the Greenville, Wilson and Raleigh Plank Road was built through the community known as “Joynerville,” and a new place developed known as “Marlboro.” A post office was established as “Marlboro” on Sept. 27, 1853 with James Joyner as postmaster. The “Marlboro Guards” were the third company of volunteer troops raised in Pitt County in 1861. In 1874, Marlboro consisted of two dry goods stores, a drug store, a grocery store and bar, a carriage factory and various workshops. Marlboro was incorporated on Feb. 16, 1875, but Farmville eventually spread to take over Marlboro into its corporate limits.
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Record #:
23709
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In 1940, M. O. Minges, the head of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, gave $5,000 to the City of Greenville to build a Fire Drill Tower for use of the Fire Department. The six- story Fire Drill Tower was built in 1942 on Chestnut Street near West Greenville School. The Fire Drill Tower was not only used by local firemen, but by other departments in eastern North Carolina and the Civil Defense auxiliary firemen. Fire Drill Tower was dedicated on April 13, 1943.
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Record #:
23710
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The Greenville Bus Station sits on Fifth Street, closed, neglected and bereft. Few realize that this building is the only extant example of the late 1930’s style of architecture known as “Streamline” or “Art-Moderne” in downtown Greenville. By 1935, the Carolina Coach Company and other lines had several buses a day coming through Greenville. The bus station then was at Pleasant’s College Store, the corner of Fifth and Reade Streets. By 1940, Dr. William I. Wooten (1893-1943) proposed to build a bus station on his property at the corner of Greene and Fifth Streets. After many delays, Wooten built the bus station and it opened in April 1942. It was hoped the building would be restored back to its original glory and become a landmark among Greenville’s treasured architectural legacy.
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Record #:
23711
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After the Civil War, Greenville appears to have been governed by a mayor and city council. In 1883 the General Assembly ratified an amendment to the Greenville Town Charter that the town be governed by a mayor and six city councilmen (or aldermen) made up of representatives elected from each ward in town. The mayor was elected from outside the city council and to serve one year. These elections were always politically based and there has always been some contention in the City Council race. Kammerer provides an incomplete list of Mayors from 1869 to 2011.
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Record #:
23712
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The new high Grimesland Bridge takes motorists above the old bridge and over one of the most historic spots on the Tar River. The site of the bridge is where the English settled as early as 1714 known as “Mount Calvert.” It was here in the 1750’s that Edward Salter established a ferry across the Tar River and in 1764 that the Royal Post Road between Williamsburg, VA and Charleston, SC passed through Pitt County and crossed the river on Salter’s Ferry. Salter’s Ferry afterwards was known as “Watkin’s Ferry” and much later as “Boyd’s Ferry.” In 1892, there was a push to put a ferry at Yankee Hall. In 1914, a wooden drawbridge was built across the Tar River at Boyd’s Ferry. The draw was the former draw at Beaufort, NC and was brought up the river by barge. The wooden bridge was rebuilt in 1926. A new concrete bridge was built in 1953/54 about 1200 feet from the old wooden bridge. The new high bridge over the river was dedicated on March 30, 2011 in honor of L. Elmore Hodges and opened for traffic on Monday, May 14, 2011.
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Record #:
23713
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Kammerer recalls numerous people and places around Greenville. The article includes Dr. Melvin P. Hoot; “The Goat Man,” Riggs House Restaurant; the Jet Plane in Elm St. Park; Boys Rifle Club; Joe Pecheles Motors Volkswagen; Char-Steak House; Stratford Arms Apartments; The Greenville Boys Club, Tar River Swim Club; Tippy’s Taco House; and Wilbur Hardee’s numerous restaurants.
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Record #:
23714
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“The Dipping Vat War”
There had always been a problem with “Cattle Ticks” making cows sickly and puny on NC farms. After WWI experiments were done to combat cattle ticks by building cement vats and bathing cows in a poison arsenic mixture several times. It appeared to work and the cows grew fat and started producing milk again. But there were those around Pitt County who refused to be ordered by the government to have their cattle dipped. Unknown parties blew up government vats with dynamite, threatened other farmers, and shot at vat workers. In 1920 the Pitt County Commissioners authorized the vat campaign to be shut down for the safety for everyone; but were well pleased with dipping campaign as a whole and Pitt County was taken off the North Carolina tick quarantine list.
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Record #:
23715
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It was back between 1969 and 1973 when there was an Aerospace Program at ECU, the Physics Department purchased an “Atom Smasher,” and Richard S. Lennon, Jr., who worked with NASA computer operations in support of the first-man-on-the-moon mission, was appointed acting director of the ECU computing Center, that there was a Planetarium proposed for ECU. In 1969, the architectural firm of Dudley and Shoe were hired to come up with plans to show the public. The proposed site for the Planetarium would be on Ninth Street between Charles Street and Lawrence Street (behind what is now Mendenhall). On March 7, 1970, plans for the Planetarium were formally announced by the University with a proclamation from the Governor. Challenge grants were given by the American Credit Corporation Foundation, Wilbur Hardee, president of Little Mint, Inc., and others, but there was funding problems. The NC Legislature didn’t give the planning funds and the idea died.
With the shift in eastern North Carolina to an economy based more on science and technology in the 1960s and 1970s, the concept of a Planetarium began at East Carolina University. Despite donations and a hearty campaign, Greenville was limited by the 1974 NC Legislature and the Planetarium was never built.
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Record #:
23717
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In October 1884, a month long North Carolina Exposition was held in Raleigh, NC designed to compete with other larger cities and capture the national spotlight. The North Carolina Exposition of 1884 included exhibits from every county; exhibits from State Colleges and universities; and women’s groups. They also allowed black organizations to exhibit (although in segregated spaces). This exposition would eventually become an annual event and become known as the “State Fair.” Pitt County had an exciting booth filled with 106 varieties of wood, fruits, vegetables, jelly, farm products, honeycomb, rice, indigo, wool, marl, iron ore, brandy, wine, hops, 55 specimens of medicinal herbs, Indian artifacts, Revolutionary War money, cotton planters, ladies fancy work, a 15” x 7” oyster shell, etc. After the Exposition, 113 items from the Pitt Exhibit were taken to the World Exposition in New Orleans to be placed in the North Carolina exhibit there.
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Record #:
23718
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Being from eastern North Carolina you can always recall the sweltering heat and humidity of your youth. There was no air conditioning to give us relief. Those hot nights when there wasn’t a breathe of air, only small electric fans, and the chorus of every dog in town barking kept weary citizens up all night. In 1935, the Pitt Theatre began to have cooled air. In 1943, Olde Towne Inn advertised they were the only air-conditioned restaurant in town. There were hot days working in tobacco and hot churches where the congregation would “endure a little heat for the Lord.” Advertising fans from stores, tobacco companies and funeral homes always provided a little relief. In 1981, Ida Wooten Tripp, a local writer, wrote a wonderful story in the local newspaper about remembering a particular hot day in Pitt County in her youth.
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