"Our Heritage"
Mt. Olive Tribune
By Claude Moore

A few days ago I came across a published report on North Carolina and its resources made by the State Board of Agriculture in 1896. This volume carries some interesting facts about Wayne County. The Honorable Elias Carr was Governor of the State at the time and the Secretary of Agriculture was S. L. Patterson. The Board of Agriculture was made up of eighteen members and among them was Dr. Cyrus Thompson of Onslow County (Grandfather of Mrs. Lorelle Martin of Mount Olive College) who was later Secretary of State under Governor Daniel Russell (1896-1901).

The report states that the population at that time for the county was 26,000, 15,000 of whom were white and 11,000 were black. Goldsboro had a population of 4,500, Fremont had 400. Wayne had 333,700 acres of land just as it does now, but at that time all of the rural land in the county was valued at $1,800,000 and the 1,726 lots in Goldsboro valued at $1,315,000. Of domestic animals there were: 1,936 horses, 2,371 mules, 2,894 goats, 7,246 cattle (including oxen), 38,976 hogs, and 1,312 sheep. At that time livestock had free range and the town of Goldsboro was fenced in with the gates on streets at entrance of town.

Goldsboro was still prospering by being located at the junction of the N. C. Railroad, the Atlantic and North Carolina (to Morehead), and the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad. There were public roads running in all directions, but none were macadamized at that time. The report does mention that some macadamizing had already been done in Goldsboro with shell rock from Castle Hayne near Wilmington.

Cotton was the largest money crop, amounting to 12,000 to 14,000 bales annually. The production of corn, tobacco, wheat, potatoes, peas, and rice were important. Truck farming was already flourishing in Wayne. In 1895, J. A. Westbrook of Mount Olive netted $14,000 from thirty acres of strawberries. Many old timers will remember that Mount Olive was once a thriving strawberry market as well as a market for white potatoes and cotton, the latter of which I remember.

The Neuse River was navigable at certain seasons from New Bern to Seven Springs and a few steamboats were coming up to that point. After the building of the railroad in 1836-1840, few steamers made it up to Waynesboro.

The bridge on the county road (now 117) was a covered bridge and even though it was built high above the water, there was no provision for raising it for boats.

In 1896 Goldsboro had several flourishing industries. There was a plant for the manufacture of smoking tobacco listed as Michie Tobacco Company. The town already had one large tobacco warehouse and another was being built.

Three firms manufactured plug tobacco (for chewing). The Goldsboro Oil Company produced fertilizer and cottonseed oil. Solomon Weil operated a cotton mill, which had 3,808 spindles and 88 looms. At that time, Dewey Brothers, founded in 1885, made farm machinery and had a foundry. This company still owned by the Dewey family is celebrating their centennial this summer.

W. H. Borden owned and operated a furniture factory at that time. Plows and castings were made by W. H. Smith and a plant for making barrels, hoops and lumber was operated by F. C. Overman. Crates and baskets were made by a firm listed as Stock Company. Ice was manufactured by the Goldsboro Ice Company and wagons and buggies were made by Moore and Robinson. Bricks and tiles were manufactured by H. L. Grant. Handles for tools were made by Dean, Pearson and Company. A steam plant for cleaning and grinding upland and tidal rice was operated under the heading of Stock Company. Sash, doors, and blinds were made by N. O?erry. In Mount Olive there was a factory operated by G. W. Bridges, which made crates, baskets, and boxes.

There was one newspaper in Wayne County in 1896, and that was the Argus, which was established in 1885. They will also be celebrating their centennial this year.