East Finley Package Store and Gulf Service Station

East Finley Package Store and Gulf Service Station was listed in the Green Book in 1961. It was listed as “East Finley Package Store & Gulf Service Station, Complete Automotive Service--Tire Repairs, Clean Rest Rooms, 224 East Finley Ave, Lenoir, N.C.”¹

East Finley Package Store and Gulf Service Station was a full-service automotive service station located at 224 E. Finley Avenue in Lenoir, NC. The business opened in 1955 and appeared in the Green Book in 1961. The service station had several owners through the years, including: Walter R. Patterson (1955), Billy L. Michaux (1957-1958), and James M. Hickerson (1957-1959). The service station was located in the Freeman Community, a historically African American community along Finley Avenue. James M. Hickerson’s wife, Alyce, worked at the nearby Freedman School.²

In 1961, the service station was owned by World War II Veteran Bennett Gordon Jones. Jones was born in North Carolina in 1921 and was married to Minnie Jones. The couple lived at 102 East View Road. Bennett and Minnie Jones lived on Finley Avenue at the time of Bennett’s death in 1962.³

The building was listed as vacant in the 1963-1964 city directory for Lenoir, NC. The building still stands but is almost completely covered by bushes, trees, and undergrowth.⁴ 

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2019

Notes

1. Alma D. Green, 1961 Green Book, 69.
2. 1955 Miller’s Lenoir North Carolina City Directory (Asheville, NC: Southern Directory Company), alphabetical listing, p. 307; 1957-1958 Miller’s Lenoir North Carolina City Directory (Asheville, NC: Southern Directory Company), alphabetical listing, pp. 154, 325; 1959 Miller’s Lenoir North Carolina City Directory (Asheville, NC: Southern Directory Company), alphabetical listing, p. 184, street directory p. 155); Sylvia Greene (local resident) & Tammy Greene (local resident) in conversation with Lisa R. Withers, July 17, 2019.
3. Bennett Gordon Jones, April 27, 1962, Lenoir, Caldwell County, North Carolina Death Certificates, 1909-1976, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Bennett Gordon Jones, Yadkin Valley, Caldwell County, NC, U.S. WWII Draft CardsYoung Men, 1940 - 1947, accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1961-1962 Miller’s Lenoir North Carolina City Directory (Asheville, NC: Southern Directory Company), alphabetical listing, pp. 161, 206, 354, classified directory, p. 334. 
4. 1963-1964 Miller’s Lenoir North Carolina City Directory (Asheville, NC: Southern Directory Company), street directory, p. 363; Lisa R. Withers, Field Notes, July 17, 2019.

Did you know?

• This Green Book entry was listed as an advertisement: “East Finley Package Store & Gulf Service Station, Complete Automotive Service--Tire Repairs, Clean Rest Rooms, 224 East Finley Avenue, Lenoir, N.C.”