Garris Dry Cleaners & Hatters
Green Book Entry/Entries
Garris---208 N. Center St.
Green Book Category
Tailors
Years Listed
1950-1955
Region
Coastal Plain
County
Wayne
Garris Dry Cleaners & Hatters was listed in the Green Book from 1950-1955 as “Garris—208 N. Center St.” under “Tailors” in Goldsboro.1
Garris Dry Cleaners & Hatters was a white-owned business located first at 224 N. Center Street and then at 208 N. Center Street in Goldsboro. The business was owned by Edward B. “Eddie” Garris.” Garris, born in 1892, worked as an automobile salesman prior to opening the dry cleaning business.2
Garris Dry Cleaners opened in the mid-1940s and offered hat blocking, laundry washing, and dry cleaning. Garris hired white and African American employees and advertised in white and Black publications.3
Garris married Addie Harris in 1916. He passed away in 1982.4
Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022
Notes
- Victor Green, 1950 Green Book, 62; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 53; Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 53.
- Hill’s 1945 Goldsboro City Directory, 111 (alphabetical listing); 1930 United States Federal Census, Ward 1, Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Eddie B. Garris,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1940 United States Federal Census, Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Edd Garro” or “Ed Garris,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1950 United States Federal Census, Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Ed B. Garris,” accessed from www.ancestry.com.
- Eddie Bryan Garris, April 18, 1892, Wayne County, North Carolina, US Birth Indexes, 1800-2000, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s 1945 Goldsboro City Directory, 111 (alphabetical listing); Hills 1950-1951 Goldsboro City Directory, 40 (buyer’s guide-content warning: racist caricature), 96, alphabetical listing; “Wanted at Once” (ad), The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), September 15, 1951, 16, accessed from www.newspapers.com; Advertisements, The Carolinian (Raleigh, NC) and Hi-News (Goldsboro, NC); Hill’s 1963 Goldsboro City Directory, 86 (street listing).
- Eddie B. Garris and Addie Harris, January 5, 1916, Lenoir County, North Carolina, US Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Eddie Garris, April 18, 1892, Goldsboro, Wayne County, North Carolina, US Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
