{"nrhp_refnum":"89001774","name":"Peoples Bank Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"242 S. Queen St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Kinston","county":"Lenoir County","state":"NC","lat":35.25742686700005,"lon":-77.58109541999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1998-11-08","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Commerce","Black","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A modest two-story, brick-veneered Classical Revival commercial building on a corner lot on South Queen Street in Kinston, Lenoir County, North Carolina. It was built about 1923 for The Peoples Bank, a black-owned bank.","why_significant":"The building is significant as the site of one of only two black-owned banks to operate in Kinston and as the most architecturally sophisticated commercial building in the city's black business district. Its Classical Revival detailing is presented as evidence of the success of the bank and of the black community's efforts to build its own financial institutions.","narrative":"Built about 1923 on a corner lot along South Queen Street in Kinston, this two-story commercial building has a cinder block structure sheathed in textured brick veneer, with limestone trim, brick quoins and a raised parapet. Its arched entrance has a stone surround and a carved eagle above it. The Peoples Bank, chartered in 1921 by a group of black businessmen who had earlier run a banking firm on nearby Bright Street, occupied the building until the bank apparently failed during the Great Depression and the state Commissioner of Banks sold the property in 1931. The building is regarded as the most architecturally sophisticated commercial building in Kinston's black business district. It is considered important as a physical record of black-owned financial enterprise in the city and of the community's effort to develop its own banking institutions. Later occupants included a dry cleaner, a dentist, a lawyer and an insurance company branch.","period_of_significance":"ca. 1923-1931","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Classical Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The bank apparently ceased operating in 1931 and the building was sold; it has since housed a barber shop on the first floor.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:11:40.830366-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/57/7181/47718157/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NC/89001774.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/47718157","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peoples_Bank_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19987505"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/north-carolina/lenoir-county/peoples-bank-building-89001774/"}