Arthur's Sea Food Grill Restaurant

Arthur’s Seafood Grill, located in Fayetteville, was listed in the Green Book as “Arthur’s Seafood Grill — 637 Person St.” under “Restaurants” from 1950 - 1953, as “Arthur’s Seafood Grill, 637 Person” under “Restaurants” from 1954 - 1955, and as “Arthur’s Sea Food Grill Restaurant — 637 Person” from 1956 - 1957 and 1959 - 1967.¹

James Arthur Williams opened Arthur’s Seafood Grill at 133 Person Street in the late 1940s. His mother, Ora B. Williams, was the restaurant’s manager and cashier by 1949. The restaurant advertised “seafood of all kinds” and “anything from a sandwich to a chicken dinner.”²

James Arthur Williams was born in 1921. His parents, John A. and Ora B. Williams, raised him and his siblings in a home at 620 Person Street. John was a mail carrier; by 1942, James was also working for the post office, as a substitute.³

James still lived with his parents on Person Street when he opened Arthur’s Seafood Grill between 1946 and 1948. He and his wife, Natalie, moved to their own home at 714 Person Street around 1951. John A. and Ora B. Williams assumed ownership of the restaurant in 1958 and operated it until at least 1963.⁴

John Austin Williams died in 1981, Ora B. Williams in 1986, and James Arthur Williams in 2004.⁵

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1950 Green Book, 62; Green, 1951 Green Book, 53; Green, 1952 Green Book, 53; Green, 1953 Green Book, 53; Victor Green, 1954 Green Book, 52; Green, 1955 Green Book, 53; Victor Green, 1956 Green Book, 45; Green, 1957 Green Book, 46; Green, 1959 Green Book, 51; Green, 1960 Green Book, 72; Green, 1961 Green Book, 68; Green, 1962 Green Book, 74; Green, 1963-1964 Green Book, 57; Green, 1966-1967 Green Book, 57. 
2. Hill’s 1948-1949 Fayetteville City Directory, 35, 511 (alphabetical listing); 1950 United States Federal Census, Person Street, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “John A. Williams” and “Ora Williams,” and “Arthur Williams,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s 1951 Fayetteville City Directory, 11, 484 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1956 Fayetteville City Directory, 11, 432, 436 (alphabetical listing); “Arthur’s Seafood Grill,” ad, The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), July 24, 1948, p. 11, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org; “Arthur’s Seafood Grill,” ad, The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), April 30, 1949, pg. 4, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org.
3. 1920 United States Federal Census, Person Street, Ward 1, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “John A. Williams” and “Ora B. Williams,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1920 United States Federal Census, 620 Person Street, Ward 1, Cross Creek Township, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “John Williams,”  “Cora B. Williams,” and “Auther Williams,”  accessed from www.ancestry.com; James Arthur Williams, February 24, 1921, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, US World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940 - 1947, accessed from www.ancestry.com. 
4.  Hill’s 1951 Fayetteville City Directory, 11, 484 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1956 Fayetteville City Directory, 11, 432, 436 (alphabetical listing);  Hill’s 1958 Fayetteville City Directory, 259 (alphabetical listing); Hill’s 1963 Fayetteville City Directory, 14, 589 (alphabetical listing).
5. James Arthur Williams, February 24, 1921, #099201367, US Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, accessed from www.ancestry.com; John A. Williams, August 14, 1896, #245549059, US Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Ora Williams, April 24, 1986, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, North Carolina, US Death Indexes, 1908 - 2004, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Ora Bell Williams, April 24, 1986, Brookside Cemetery, Fayetteville, Cumberland County, Find-A-Grave, accessed from https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/59477021/ora-bell-williamsMC4wLjA.&…;