Biltmore (Biltmore Hotel)
The Biltmore Hotel (not to be confused with the Wilson Biltmore Hotel on 539 E. Nash Street) was listed in the Green Book from 1938-1941 and 1947-1953. The business was listed as “Biltmore–E. Washington Street” under the “Hotels” section for Wilson. No specific street address was listed.1
The Biltmore Hotel on E. Washington Street is a bit of a mystery. While no hotel existed on this street during the Green Book era, several homes on this street housed lodgers in 1930 and 1940. These homes are all on the section of E. Washington Street that is located between East and Carroll Streets. It is possible that this Green Book listing was meant to cover multiple rooming houses in the same area.2
One good candidate for the Biltmore Hotel is 910 Washington Street. Head of Household Sam White and his wife, Pattie, had four lodgers (two married couples) living in their home in 1940.3
A 1930 apartment building at 1001 Washington Street is another good candidate for the hotel’s location. According to the National Register of Historic Places, the “Gable-end apartment house with engaged porch” was “built by Barney Reid particularly to house teachers.” Bessie Matthews, a widow, is enumerated as the householder at 1001 Washington Street in the 1930 census. Bessie was a laundress with several lodgers living in her home, including her daughters and their families. By 1940, Bessie and her daughters, Lula and Edith, all lived in Durham. Bessie was enumerated as a “roomery housekeeper” in 1940; she ran a rooming house at 908 Fayetteville Street in Durham that housed ten lodgers at the time of the 1940 census. The Smith family lived at 1001 Washington Street in Wilson in 1940; the census did not note any lodgers that year.4
While the apartment building at 1001 Washington Street and the home at 910 Washington Street are the most likely candidates for the Biltmore Hotel, there were other households with lodgers on this street in 1930 and 1940. In 1930, Jeneaver Armstrong (919 Washington) and grocery store proprietor David Jeffreys (914 Washington Street) each had one lodger in their home and George Connie (1003 Washington) had two lodgers in his home. In 1940, Willard Holley (921 Washington), Mattie Coal (903 Washington), Walter Thorpe (1111 Washington), Alonzo Davis (906 Washington), Alonzo Fisher (918 Washington), Josephine Murphy (1006 Washington), and Clarence McCuller (1008 Washington) all had lodgers in their homes. Many of these homes are part of the East Wilson Historic District and are still standing.5
Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022
Notes
1. Victor Green, 1938 Green Book, 14; Green, 1939 Green Book, 33; Green, 1940 Green Book, 36; Green, 1941 Green Book, 36; Green, 1947 Green Book, 65; Green, 1948 Green Book, 63; Green, 1949 Green Book, 57; Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 54.
2. 1930 United States Census and 1940 United States Census, Wilson, Wilson County, NC, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
3. 1940 United States Census, 1001 Washington Street, Wilson, Wilson County, NC, digital images s.v. "Sam White,” accessed from www.ancestry.com.
4. National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, “East Wilson Historic District,” 1988, https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/WL0930.pdf; 1930 United States Census,1001 Washington Street, Wilson, Wilson County, NC, digital images s.v. "Bessie Matthews,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill's 1930 Wilson City Directory, 75, 93, 177, 182, (alphabetical listing); 1940 United States Census, 908 Fayetteville Street, Durham, Durham County, NC, digital images s.v. "Bessie Wingate,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1940 United States Census, 705 Fowler Avenue, Durham, Durham County, NC, digital images s.v. "Lula McNair,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1930 United States Census,1001 Washington Street, Wilson, Wilson County, NC, digital images s.v. "Luela McNair,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; Edith Wingate and Seth Brooks, May 8, 1929, Wilson, Wilson County, North Carolina, U.S., Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Seth Brooks, March 13, 1935, Durham, Durham County, North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s 1940 Wilson, NC City Directory, 390 (street listing), 215 (alphabetical listing); 1940 United States Census, 1101 Washington Street, Wilson, Wilson County, NC, digital images s.v. "Leroy Smith,” accessed from www.ancestry.com.
5. National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places Registration Form, “East Wilson Historic District,” 1988, https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/WL0930.pdf; Washington Street East, Google Maps. A cursory view of the 1950 United States Federal Census did not indicate that a hotel existed on Washington Street that year, but future research may be conducted once the census is transcribed and searchable.