C.T. Taylor Esso Service Station
C.T. Taylor-Esso Service Station was listed in the Green Book from 1940-1941 and 1947-1955. It was listed as “D.T. [sic] Taylor—Esso Service” under “Service Stations” in Lexington.1
C.T. Taylor’s Esso Service Station, a white-owned business, was located at 600 S. Main Street in Lexington. Charlie Thomas Taylor co-owned Lexington’s Aaron & Taylor Service Station at 600 S. Main Street as early as 1937. The gas station’s name changed to C. T. Taylor’s Esso Service Station by 1941 and remained in business until at least 1957. The business moved to 907 Winston Road in the early 1960s. The service station sold atlases, tires, batteries, and accessories and offered washing and greasing. 2
Charles Thomas Taylor was born in Davidson County. He married Gladys Elizabeth Hensley in 1935 and the couple settled in Lexington. Charles passed away in 1990 and Elizabeth passed away in 1996.3
Esso Service Stations were affiliated with the Standard Oil Company, which sponsored the Green Book and sold it at their retail locations.4
Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022
Notes
1. Victor 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; Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 53; D.T. Taylor is not found in directory records; see: Miller’s 1925 Lexington City Directory, 196; Baldwin’s 1937 Lexington City Directory, 172; Miller’s 1941 Lexington City Directory, 229; Miller’s 1947 Lexington City Directory, 270; Miller’s 1949 Lexington City Directory, 284; Miller’s 1951 Lexington City Directory, 288; Miller’s 1953 Lexington City Directory, 279; Miller’s 1955 Lexington City Directory, 290; Miller’s 1957 Lexington City Directory, 316; Miller’s 1959 Lexington City Directory, 327; Miller’s 1961 Lexington City Directory, 340; Miller’s 1963 Lexington City Directory, 359.
2. Baldwin’s 1937 Lexington City Directory, 63, 200; Miller’s 1941 Lexington City Directory, 230, 251, 255, 260, 278; Miller’s 1947 Lexington City Directory, 270, 298, 299, 305, 313, 338; Miller’s 1949 Lexington City Directory, 284, 313, 330, 358; Miller’s 1951 Lexington City Directory, 288, 319, 321, 327, 337, 367; Miller’s 1953 Lexington City Directory, 279. 309, 311, 327, 357; Miller’s 1955 Lexington City Directory, 291, 322, 324, 331, 339, 371; Miller’s 1957 Lexington City Directory, 316, 353, 362, 371, 407; Miller’s 1959 Lexington City Directory, 328, 366, 376, 385, 424; Miller’s 1961 Lexington City Directory, 340; Miller’s 1963 Lexington City Directory, 359, 509; Ad, Miller’s 1941 Lexington City Directory, 117, 230.
3. Charlie Thomas Taylor and Gladys Elizabeth Taylor, October 18, 1935, Yancey County, North Carolina, U.S. Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Charles Thomas Taylor, October 5, 1904, Lexington, Davidson County, North Carolina, U.S. World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Charlie Thomas Taylor, United States, GenealogyBank Obituaries, 1980-2014,” FamilySearch.org, https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QV54-NLB7, accessed October 7, 2019; Betty Walser Paige, “Charlie Thomas Taylor,” Find A Grave, July 24, 2009, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/39812727/charlie-thomas-taylor, accessed October 7, 2019.
4. Coscolluela, Nicole, Malorey Henderson, and Claire Kempa, “North Carolina Green Books Historic Preservation Study Report: Beaufort, Bertie, Caldwell, Davidson, Edgecombe, Forsyth, Guilford, Iredell, Nash, Pasquotank, Pitt, Rowan, and Wilson Counties,” HI 587: Cultural Resource Management, North Carolina State University, Spring 2016, 12-13.
