Safety
Safety Taxi was listed in the Green Book from 1939-1941 and 1947-1955 under the “Taxi” and “Taxicabs” categories. The business was located at 122 N. Lee Street in Salisbury, NC.1
Safety Taxi appeared in the city directory for Salisbury, North Carolina as early as 1938 and was listed at 122 N. Lee Street. Other businesses operated in this space over the years (including Green Book business Dalton’s Grill, which operated at this location in 1955), and it is unclear whether Safety Taxi simply operated in the same location as those businesses. Additional names for the taxi service included Reliable Taxi Service and Safety Taxi Cab.2
Safety Taxi was owned and operated by Grover Cleveland Kirkland. Kirkland was born in Westville, South Carolina in 1897. He served in Company B, 310th Service Battalion, QMC during World War I. He married his wife, Ola, and established a taxicab business by 1930. In 1935, Kirkland co-owned Reliable Taxi Service with Alonzo Miller, Richard Giles, C.A. Ellis, and Rose Donald. Reliable Taxi was located at 130 N. Lee Street.3
Grover C. Kirkland passed away in 1952. Safety Taxi moved several times in the decades following his death. In February 2019, the business was located at 226 East Fisher Street and was owned by Archie Shaver.4
Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022
Notes
1. Victor Green, 1963-1964 Green Book, 57; Green, 1966-1967 Green Book, 57; Hill’s Charlotte (Mecklenburg, N.C.) City Directory (Richmond, VA: Hill Directory Company, Inc., 1960-1963), see additional citations for specific page numbers.
2. Baldwin’s and Post’s 1938 Salisbury City Directory, 338 (street guide); Nelson’s 1955 Salisbury City Directory, 61 (alphabetical listing), 59 (street guide); Nelson’s 1958 Salisbury City Directory, 64 (alphabetical listing), 79 (street guide); Nelson’s 1960 Salisbury City Directory, 93 (alphabetical listing), 56 (street guide).
3. Grover Cleveland Kirkland, December 21, 1952, Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, U.S. Death Certificates, 1909-1976, accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1930 United States Federal Census, West Ward 1, Salisbury, Rowan, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “Grover C. Kirkland,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1940 United States Federal Census, Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, digital image s.v. “George Kirkland,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; Baldwin’s and Post’s 1935 Salisbury City Directory, 134 (alphabetical listing), 229 (street guide).
4. Phone conversation between Mark Wineka, of the Salisbury Post, and Lisa Withers on Wednesday, February 13, 2019; Mark Wineka, “Travel during Jim Crow Era: ‘Green Book’ did not Overlook North Carolina, Salisbury,” Salisbury Post, February 17, 2019, https://www.salisburypost.com/2019/02/17/travel-during-jim-crow-era-gre…, accessed April 25, 2019; Grover Cleveland Kirkland, December 21, 1952, Salisbury, Rowan County, North Carolina, U.S. Death Certificates, 1909-1976, accessed from www.ancestry.com.