City Barber Shop

City Barber Shop was listed in the Green Book from 1950-1951 as “City—200 E. Thomas St.” under “Barber Shops.” The business was listed in the section for Raleigh but was actually located in Rocky Mount.¹  

City Barber Shop was established in 1941 by Rev. William T. Grimes. Its original location was 200 E. Thomas Street. The barber shop was advertised as “Rocky Mount’s Most Modern for Ladies and Gentlemen.” Grimes hired both men and women; Mrs. Evelyn Simmons, a graduate of Harris Barber College in Raleigh, was the first woman hired at the shop.²

Grimes erected a new barber shop at 211 Ivey Street in 1956 and renamed his business the W.T. Grimes & Sons Barber Shop. The shop also sold clothing and shoes, particularly choir robes and band uniforms. Key’s shoe repair shop was located in the same building.³

William Thomas Grimes was born in Martin County, North Carolina in 1910. He married Tedia Mae Galloway, a high school teacher, in Surry County, North Carolina in 1934. By 1940, the couple lived on Penn Avenue in Rocky Mount. Grimes worked in other barber shops before opening his own shop. In addition to running City Barber Shop, Grimes was a Rocky Mount-based reporter and circulation manager for The Carolinian, an African American newspaper based in Raleigh.⁴

Grimes was also an accomplished music minister and choir director. He completed his studies at North Carolina A&T University and then studied music at Hampton Institute, where he served as President of the Hampton Choir Directors Association. He served as the music minister of St. James Baptist Church and Mt. Zion First Baptist Church, both in Rocky Mount. He also served as the National and State Music Director for the Improved Benevolent Protective Order of Elks of the World.⁵

Rev. Willam T. Grimes moved to Lillington, NC in the late 1950s and was installed as the pastor of Lillington First Baptist Church in 1958. He died in Rocky Mount in 1988.⁶

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54.
2. “‘We are Grateful to God’” (ad), The Carolinian, October 27, 1956, digital image 24, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org; “City Barber Shop” ad, The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), September 21, 1946, 6, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org; “Personality,” The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), March 19, 1949, 12, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org.
3. “‘We are Grateful to God’” (ad), The Carolinian, October 27, 1956, digital image 24, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org.
4.  1910 United States Federal Census, Goose Nest, Martin County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Willie T. Grimes,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1920 United States Federal Census, Goose Nest, Martin County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Willie Grimes,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; William Thomas Grimes and Tedia Mae Galloway, October 26, 1934, Surry County, North Carolina, US Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1940 United States Federal Census, Rocky Mount, Edgecombe County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Williams Grimer” or “William Grimes,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1950 United States Federal Census, Rocky Mount, Edgecombe County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “William T. Grimes,” accessed from www.ancestry.com;  “One Year With The Carolinian,” The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC),  June 18, 1949, 14 (digital image 22), accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org.
5.  “The Rev. William Thomas Grimes . . .” The Carolina Times (Durham, NC), August 10, 1976, digital image 4, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Rev. W. T. Grimes to Pastor Lillington First Baptist Church,” The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC), July 8, 1967, 6, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org.
6. William Thomas Grimes, April 12, 1988, Rocky Mount, Edgecombe county, North Carolina, US Death Indexes, 1908-2004, accessed from www.ancestry.com.