Greyhound Taxi

Greyhound Taxi Company  appeared in the Green Book from 1947-1955. It was listed in the Green Book as “Greyhound--Phone 2-1342” and “Greyhound--Dial 2-1342” under “Taxi Cabs.” The company had multiple branches and was affiliated with the following addresses: 605 S. 9th street, 902 Castle Street, 18 N. Liberty Court, and 606 Campbell Street. The 9th Street and Castle Street addresses may both refer to the location at Castle and 9th Streets. Greyhound Taxi was owned by Samuel James Gray.¹

Dr. Samuel James Gray was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1912. He arrived in New York on September 12, 1930, and graduated with an undergraduate degree and an M.D. from Howard University in 1937. His medical internship brought him to Lincoln Hospital in Durham, North Carolina, and was followed by a residency at Community Hospital in Wilmington, North Carolina.²

Greyhound Taxi Company, originally a white-owned business, was purchased by Dr. Samuel J. Gray during World War II. Dr. Gray also owned the Del Morocco Building, a center for social life during World War II. In 1952, the company’s motto was “We Never Sleep - A  Phone Call Brings Us on the Run.” The company also noted its “safe, courteous drivers” in its advertising. The company’s primary location appears to have been at 902 Castle Street (also listed as 605 S. 9th Street), or at the corner of Castle and 9th Streets. The building standing on this corner, 902-910 Castle Street,  is a five-unit office building that was constructed in 1947. For a time this building housed another business advertised in the Green Book called Johnson’s Barber Shop. Other branches of the company were located at 18 N. Liberty Court and 606 Campbell Street.³

Dr. Gray married Mabel Elizabeth Headen in 1942 and opened his own practice, Gray’s Clinic, around 1943. The couple had two children by 1945 and separated some time in the late 1940’s.⁴

Dr. Gray married again, to Gwendolyn Stinson, on March 5, 1949, in Duplin County, NC. The couple settled in Dr. Gray’s home at 503 S. 7th Street in Wilmington.⁵

Dr. Gray continued to pursue various business endeavors, assisting with the establishment of a beach resort for African Americans called Ocean City and operating Rainbow Laundry and Rainbow Barber Shop. In 1961, Dr. Gray and two other doctors sued for admission privileges to James Walker Memorial Hospital, finally succeeding after suing a second time in 1964. Dr. Gray died a year later leaving behind five children, two from his first marriage and three from his marriage to Gwendolyn Gray.⁶

Gwendolyn Gray continued to run the family’s businesses after Dr. Gray’s death. Mrs. Gray was a trained concert pianist who enjoyed giving performances and serving Wilmington’s arts community. She was also active in several clubs and civic organizations. Gwendolyn Gray died in Wilmington in 2014.⁷

902 Castle Street continues to operate as a multi-unit commercial building today.⁸

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2019

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1947 Green Book, 66; Green, 1948 Green Book, 64;  Victor Green, 1949 Green Book, 58; Green, 1950 Green Book, 64; Green, 1951 Green Book, 55; Green, 1952 Green Book, 55; Green, 1953 Green Book, 55; Green, 1954 Green Book, 54; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54; Jim Lofton, current owner of Payne’s Tourist Home in Wilmington, NC, in conversation with Lisa Withers on March 1, 2019.
2. Samuel James Gray, Wilmington, NC (Declaration Number 593), Declarations of Intention for Citizenship, compiled 1910 - 1978, accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1940 United States Census, Wilmington, New Hanover County, NC, digital image s.v. "Samuel Grey" accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Dr. Samuel James Gray,” Journal of the National Medical Association vol. 58,3 (1966): 226, accessed from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2611075/?page=1.
3.  “Dr. Samuel James Gray,” Journal of the National Medical Association vol. 58,3 (1966): 226, accessed from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2611075/?page=1; “Gwendolyn Stinson Gray” (obituary), Star News Online, January 6, 2014, accessed from https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/starnewsonline/obituary.aspx?n=gwendo…; “Does Anybody Want Your Stuff? We Might.,” Cape Fear Museum (website), accessed from https://www.capefearmuseum.com/familycollections/; Hill’s 1956 Wilmington (New Hanover County, NC) City Directory, Hill Directory Company, Inc.: Richmond, VA, Buyer’s Guide, p. 107; Listings for 902-910 Castle Street, accessed from www.loopnet.com and www.realtytrac.com;  Hill’s 1947 Wilmington (New Hanover County, NC) City Directory, Hill Directory Company, Inc.: Richmond, VA, city directory, p. 504. See the entry for Johnson’s Barber Shop for additional information about this business.
4. Mabel Elizabeth Headen and S. James Gray, June 20, 1942, North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2001, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “June Bride,” The Carolina Times (Durham, NC), July 18, 1942, p. 3, accessed from http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83045120/1942-07-18/ed-1/seq-3/p…; Mabel Elizabeth Gray, March 15, 1996, U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Samuel James Gray, Wilmington, New Hanover County, North Carolina, Petition No. 621, North Carolina Naturalization Records, 1872-1996, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s 1943 Wilmington (New Hanover County, NC) City Directory, Hill Directory Company, Inc.: Richmond, VA, city directory, pp. 136, 139, 265.
5. Hill’s 1948-1949 Wilmington (New Hanover County, NC) City Directory, Hill Directory Company, Inc.: Richmond, VA, city directory, p. 129; Samuel J. Gray and Leona Gwendolyn Stinson, March 5, 1949, Duplin County, North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
6. William M. Reaves, “Strength through Struggle”: The Chronological and Historical Record of the African-American Community in Wilmington, North Carolina, 1865-1950 (Wilmington, NC: New Hanover County Public Library, 1998), 71-72; Oral History with Antoinette “Tonye” Gray, NC Green Book Project, April 2019; “Does Anybody Want Your Stuff? We Might.,” Cape Fear Museum (website); “Doctors File Suit Against Wilmington Hospital,” The Carolina Times (Durham, NC), July 15, 1961, p. 1, retrieved from http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83045120/1961-07-15/ed-1/seq-1/p…;  “Dr. Samuel James Gray,” Journal of the National Medical Association vol. 58,3 (1966): 226, accessed from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2611075/?page=1; “Funeral Held for Dr. S. Jas. Gray in Wilmington,” The Carolina Times, (Durham, NC), January 30, 1965, p. 1, accessed from http://newspapers.digitalnc.org/lccn/sn83045120/1965-01-30/ed-1/seq-1/p…;
7. Jim Lofton, current owner of Payne’s Tourist Home in Wilmington, NC, in conversation with Lisa Withers on March 1, 2019; “Gwendolyn Stinson Gray” (obituary), Star News Online, January 6, 2014, accessed from https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/starnewsonline/obituary.aspx?n=gwendo…; “Does Anybody Want Your Stuff? We Might.,” Cape Fear Museum.
8. Listings for 902-910 Castle Street, accessed from www.loopnet.com and www.realtytrac.com.