East Wilson Historic District

East Wilson is a 65-block neighborhood east of the railroad tracks in Wilson, North Carolina, made up mostly of small frame houses on narrow lots. Built between about 1890 and 1940, the houses were home to Black residents, many of whom worked in the city's tobacco industry. Worker housing dominates, with one-room and two-room gable houses, saddlebag duplexes, and above all shotgun houses, which made up nearly a third of the housing stock by 1930. Larger homes of the Black middle class, including ministers, tradesmen, a mailman and physicians, stand along East Green and North Pender streets. These show Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and bungalow styles. Churches, small groceries and stone buildings by mason Nestus Freeman add variety. Developer Samuel Vick planted the pecan trees that still line East Green Street. Of 1277 counted resources, 868 are considered contributing, and many keep their original forms despite changes to porches and siding.