Nile-Congo Restaurant

Nile-Congo Restaurant was listed as “Nile-Congo, Rt. 70 & Garner Rd. 2 ½ Miles East” under “Drive In Restaurants” in Raleigh from 1954-1955 and as “*Nile-Congo Restaurant Garner Road” in Raleigh from 1959-1961.¹

Nile-Congo Drive-In held its grand opening in May 1953. When it first opened, Niles-Congo offered chicken boxes, “chicken in the rough,” sandwiches, fast food specialties like hamburgers and hot dogs, and ice cream. Decades later, customers remembered the Nile-Congo’s delicious, greasy chicken and fries, as well as their fried chicken sandwiches. The restaurant was advertised as being in Raleigh in the Green Book but was actually located 2.5 miles east of Raleigh on Highway US 70, in Garner. It was open from 3:00 pm - 2:00 am and offered both drive-up curbside service and delivery.²

The proprietors of Nile-Congo were Oris H. Carrington and his wife, Alma. The couple lived at the Washington Terrace Apartments. They operated the restaurant until 1961, when Oris took a job as a baker at North Carolina State College.³

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2024

Note

1.  Victor Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54; Victor Green, 1959 Green Book, 52; Green, 1960 Green Book, 73; Green, 1961 Green Book, 69. 
2. “Grand Opening!” (advertisement), The Carolinian, May 2, 1953, p. 8, accessed from https://newspapers.digitalnc.org; Hill’s 1958 Raleigh City Directory, classified listing.
3. Hill’s 1962 Raleigh City Directory, street listing, alphabetical listing; Frances Lonette Williams, oral history with Lisa Withers, NC Green Book Project; Johnsie Snipes, oral history with Lisa Withers, NC Green Book Project. 

Oral Histories