Wilson, North Carolina

City of Wilson
—  City  —
City of Wilson Location within the state of North Carolina
Coordinates: 35°43′52″N 77°55′25″W
Country	United States
State	North Carolina
County	Wilson
Area
• Total	23.4 sq mi (60.7 km2)
• Land	23.3 sq mi (60.3 km2)
• Water	0.2 sq mi (0.4 km2)
Elevation	108 ft (33 m)
Population (2010 census)
• Total	49,167
• Density	1,906.9/sq mi (736.3/km2)
Time zone	Eastern Time Zone (USA/Canada) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	-4 (UTC-4)
Zip Code	27893/27896/27894/27895
Area code(s)	252
FIPS code	37-74540
GNIS feature ID	1023273
Website	http://www.wilsonnc.org

Wilson is a city and the county seat of Wilson County in the Coastal Plain region of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The 18th largest city in the state, Wilson had a population of 49,167 according to the 2010 census.

Geography

Wilson is located at 35°43′52″N 77°55′25″W (35.731093, -77.923509).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 23.4 square miles (61 km²), of which, 23.3 square miles (60 km²) of it is land and 0.2 square miles (0.52 km²) of it (0.64%) is water.

Wilson is located at the intersection of Interstate 95 and US 264; approximately 45 minutes east of Raleigh, the state capital.

History

The city of Wilson is named for Louis Dicken Wilson (1789–1847), a North Carolina politician and general in the United States Army. He served in the General Assembly of North Carolina and the North Carolina Senate in various terms between 1814 and 1846.

Demographics

United States census data from 2007 report a population of 50,652 people, 17,296 households, and 11,328 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,906.9 inhabitants per square mile (736.1/km²). There were 18,660 housing units at an average density of 801.3 per square mile (309.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 47.53% African American, 46.67% White, 0.31% Native American, 0.58% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 3.89% from other races, and 1.01% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.29% of the population.

There were 29,296 households out of which 31.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.0% were married couples living together, 19.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.5% were non-families. 29.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.47 and the average family size was 3.06.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.0% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 28.9% from 25 to 44, 21.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 88.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.1 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $31,169, and the median income for a family was $41,041. Males had a median income of $30,682 versus $22,363 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,813. About 16.5% of families and 25.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 29.5% of those under age 18 and 20.4% of those age 65 or over.

Infrastructure

Telecommunications

The city has built its own Government-access television (GATV) municipal cable TV provider known as Greenlight which provides cable TV, digital phone and internet to its residents.

Transportation

See also: Wilson (Amtrak station)

Wilson is served by two airports: Wilson Industrial Airport and Rocky Mount-Wilson Airport (RWI), and by the Wilson Amtrak Station.

The following highways travel through Wilson: I-95, I-795, U.S. 301, U.S. Route 264, U.S. 117, N.C. 42, and N.C. 58. Five-lane roads include Hines Street, Tarboro Street, and Ward Boulevard.

The city has a bus system.

Healthcare

Wilson Medical Center is a 330-bed hospital.

Economy

Largest Employers

According to the City's 2011 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:

#	Employer	Number of employees
1	BB&T	2,000
2	Wilson County Schools	1,800
3	Bridgestone	1,746
4	Wilson Medical Center	1,340
5	S. T. Wooten	980
6	City of Wilson	735
7	Wilson County	673
8	Smithfield Packing Company	640
9	Kidde Aerospace	600

Sports

Wilson is home to the Wilson Tobs of the Coastal Plain League, a collegiate summer baseball league. The Tobs play at Fleming Stadium in Wilson. The Tobs began play for the league's inaugural 1997 season.

News

Wilson's chief source of news is the Wilson Daily Times, established in 1896

Education

Public schools

The Wilson County School District includes fourteen elementary schools (K-5): Wells, Margaret Hearne, Vick, New Hope, Vinson-Bynum, B.O. Barnes, Winstead, Elm City, Stantonsburg, Lee Woodard, Lucama, Rock Ridge, Gardners, Jones. There are six middle schools: C H Darden, Forest Hills, Toisnot, Elm City, Speight, Springfield; and four high schools: E. T. Beddingfield High School, Ralph L. Fike High School, James B. Hunt High School, and Wilson Early College Academy. They also operate an alternative school: Daniels Learning Center (6-8).

Charter

Youth Enrichment Program of Wilson, Inc. operates Sallie B. Howard School for the Arts and Education.

State-operated

The Eastern North Carolina School for the Deaf is operated by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Office of Education Services.

Private

Wilson is home to several private schools: Community Christian School (Daycare - Pre-K -12), Garnett Christian Academy, Wilson Christian Academy (K-12), and Greenfield School (Pre-K-12) (non-sectarian).

Colleges

Wilson is home to Barton College, a liberal arts college, and Wilson Community College.

Notable residents

• Red Barrett (February 14, 1915 – July 28, 1990) was a Major League Baseball pitcher who played 11 total career seasons in the National League. He played for the Cincinnati Reds, Boston Braves and St. Louis Cardinals. He pitched the shortest complete night game with the fewest number of pitches in history. Barrett was born in Santa Barbara, California. He was a 1932 graduate of Saint Leo College Prep near Tampa, Florida. He died at the age of 75 in Wilson, North Carolina.
• Glenn Bass (born April 12, 1939 in Wilson, North Carolina) is a former collegiate and professional American football player. He played college football at East Carolina University. A flanker, he played professionally in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills from 1961 through 1966, and for the Houston Oilers in 1966 and 1967. Bass caught fifty passes for the Bills as a rookie. He played in five playoffs with the Bills and Oilers, winning three Eastern Division titles (1964-1966) and two American Football League Championships (1964 and 1965) with the Bills, and an Eastern Division crown with the Oilers (1967).
• Hunter Bell is an American book author and actor. Bell was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and was raised in Wilson, North Carolina until the seventh grade.
• George Kenneth Butterfield, Jr. (born April 27, 1947) is the U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 1st congressional district, serving since 2004. He is a member of the Democratic Party. The district is located in the northeastern corner of the state. Butterfield grew up in a prominent black family in Wilson, North Carolina. Both of his parents had white ancestors. Butterfield's father immigrated to the United States from Bermuda.
• Jean Farmer-Butterfield is a Democratic member of the North Carolina General Assembly, representing the state's twenty-fourth House district since 2003. Her district includes constituents in Edgecombe and Wilson counties. From Wilson, North Carolina, Farmer-Butterfield was one of the Majority Whips from 2007 to 2011, when the GOP took control of the North Carolina House of Representatives. She is the ex-wife of U.S. Congressman G. K. Butterfield.
• Freddie Bynum (born March 15, 1980 in Wilson, North Carolina) is a shortstop playing for the Somerset Patriots of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball. He previously played for the Chicago Cubs, Oakland Athletics, and Baltimore Orioles in the United States MLB.
• Charles Lee Coon (1868–1927) was a teacher, school administrator, child labor reformer, and advocate for African American education. Coon was born near Lincolnton, North Carolina, and attended Concordia College in Conover, North Carolina. In addition to teaching, over the years Coon worked as superintendent of Salisbury, North Carolina schools; North Carolina African American normal schools; and Wilson County, North Carolina schools.
• Ben Flowers (June 15, 1927 (in Wilson, North Carolina) – February 18, 2009) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for four different teams between 1951 and 1956. He entered the majors with the Boston Red Sox, playing for them two years (1951, 1953) before joining the Detroit Tigers (1955), St. Louis Cardinals (1955–1956) and Philadelphia Phillies (1956).
• Ava Lavinia Gardner (December 24, 1922 – January 25, 1990) was an American actress. Gardner was born in the big farming community of Grabtown, Johnston County, North Carolina. She was signed to a contract by MGM Studios in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew attention with her performance in The Killers (1946). She became one of Hollywood's leading actresses, considered one of the most beautiful women of her day. She was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her work in Mogambo (1953).
• James B. Hunt, Jr. (born 1937), former NC governor who served a record four terms, also engaged Jesse Helms in a race for the U.S. Senate in 1984 that was the most expensive Senate campaign up to that time.
• Izel Jenkins (born May 27, 1964 in Wilson, North Carolina) is a former professional American football defensive back in the National Football League for the Philadelphia Eagles, Minnesota Vikings, and New York Giants during the late 1980s and early 1990s. He was drafted by the Eagles in the 11th round (288th overall) of the 1988 NFL Draft.
• Walter Beaman Jones, Jr.(born February 10, 1943, in Farmville, North Carolina) is the U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 3rd congressional district, serving since 1995. He is a member of the Republican Party. The district encompasses the Outer Banks and areas near the Pamlico Sound. Jones' father was Walter B. Jones, Sr., a Democratic Party congressman from the neighboring 1st district. Jones is a lifelong resident of Farmville, a suburb of Greenville, North Carolina. He attended Hargrave Military Academy in Chatham, Virginia, and graduated in 1966 with a Bachelor of Arts from Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) in Wilson, North Carolina.
• Thomas S. Kenan (February 12, 1838 – December 23, 1911) was a Confederate soldier, and later a politician. His parents were Sarah Rebecca Graham and Owen Rand Kenan; he was the grandson of U.S. Congressman Thomas Kenan and great-grandson of Revolutionary War general James Kenan. He started his education in Duplin County, North Carolina at Old Grove Academy in Kenansville (the town was named for his great-grandfather in 1818). Later, he spent a year at Central Military Institute in Selma, Alabama. Thomas spent his freshman year of college at Wake Forest in June[when?]. Thomas then transferred his sophomore year to the University of North Carolina where he would graduate in 1857. He studied law for two years with Judge Pearson at Richmond Hill where he practiced law in Kenansville. After graduation and during the Civil War he became Captain in the Duplin Rifles for the Confederate Army, elected Lieutenant Colonel of the 43rd Regiment in April 1862, and was promoted to Colonel later that year. He was wounded at the Battle of Gettysburg. While on an ambulance train, he and his older brother James Kenan were both captured; they were then imprisoned on Johnson Island, Ohio. On March 22, 1865, he was released on parole but never switched sides during the war. On his return home he was elected to the State legislature from 1865 to 1867. Later that year he ran for Congress and lost. Not letting that defeat end his political career, he moved to Wilson, where he became mayor and was elected North Carolina Attorney General, serving from 1877 to 1885.
• Ike Lassiter (born November 15, 1940 in Wilson, North Carolina) is a former American college and professional football defensive lineman. He played professionally for the American Football League's Denver Broncos and the AFL's Oakland Raiders, where he was an AFL All-Star in 1966. He played as the starting left defensive end in Super Bowl II for the 1967 Raiders. He ended his NFL career with the Boston Patriots/New England Patriots in 1970 and 1971.
• Walt McKeel (born January 17, 1972) is a former professional baseball player. He played parts of three seasons in Major League Baseball, between 1996 and 2002, for the Boston Red Sox (1996–1997) and Colorado Rockies (2002), primarily as a catcher.
• Miguel A. Núñez, Jr. (born August 11, 1964) is an American actor. He is best known for his supporting roles in The Return of the Living Dead and Life and a leading role in Juwanna Mann. Núñez was born in New York City, is of Dominican descent, and was raised by his grandparents in Wilson, North Carolina. His first major screen role was the supporting role of Spider in The Return of the Living Dead, and his first major starring role was that of Marcus Taylor on the CBS series Tour of Duty, where he was a main cast member for all three seasons of the show. He later appeared on the UPN show Sparks as well as in movies such as Juwanna Mann. Núñez also held the recurring role of Zach in the second season of the Friends spinoff, Joey.
• The O'Kaysions are an American pop / blue-eyed soul group originally from Wilson, North Carolina. Today, they are known as Beach Music artists. The group first formed under the name The Kays in 1959,[1] and scored a Top 10 hit in the U.S. in 1968 with the tune "(I'm A) Girl Watcher" (#5 Pop, #6 R&B).[2] The song was first released on a local record label under the production of John I Whitfield, North State, before being released nationally by ABC Records. "Girl Watcher" received gold record status for a million sales from the R.I.A.A. in December 1968.[1] It was their only major hit, and they released their full length album in 1969 titled The O'Kaysions on the ABC label.
• Vance Page (September 15, 1905 in Elm City, North Carolina – July 14, 1951 in Wilson, North Carolina), was a professional baseball player who played pitcher in the Major Leagues from 1938 to 1941. He played for the Chicago Cubs.
• Stan Partenheimer [Party] (October 21, 1922 – January 28, 1989) was a pitcher in Major League Baseball who played for the Boston Red Sox (1944) and St. Louis Cardinals (1945). Listed at 5 ft 11 in (1.80 m), 175 lb., Partenheimer batted right-handed and threw left-handed. He was born in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. His father, Steve Partenheimer, also was a major league player. In a two-season-career, Partenheimer posted a 6.91 ERA in nine appearances, including three starts, six strikeouts, 18 walks, and 14 ⅓ innings of work without a decision. Partenheimer died in Wilson at the age of 66.
• Julius Peppers nicknamed The Freak Of Nature, is an American football defensive end for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He was born in Wilson, North Carolina on January 18, 1980 and raised in nearby Bailey. He played college football for the University of North Carolina, and was recognized as an All-American. The Carolina Panthers selected him with the second overall pick in the 2002 NFL Draft, and he has played professionally for the Carolina Panthers and Chicago Bears.
• Randy Renfrow (born January 28, 1958 in Wilson, North Carolina) is a former NASCAR driver. He raced many years in the Craftsman Truck Series before retiring. Renfrow has won 237 late model sportsman races at 40 different tracks over his career.
• Corey Thomas (born June 6, 1975 in Wilson, North Carolina) is a former professional American football wide receiver, who played in one game for the Detroit Lions in 1998.
• Raymond Joseph Thomas (July 9, 1910 in Dover, New Hampshire – December 6, 1993 in Wilson, North Carolina) was a catcher in Major League Baseball. He played in one game for the 1938 Brooklyn Dodgers. He had one hit in three at-bats in that game, on July 22, 1938 and scored one run. Prior to his big league career, he attended Western Michigan University. He had a brief run as a manager in the minor leagues before retiring.^{[citation needed]}
• George L. Wainwright, Jr. (born December 10, 1943) is an American judge, who recently retired as an Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court. Born in Wilson County, Wainwright earned a degree in political science as a Morehead Scholar at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill before working in agribusiness and real estate in Wilson, North Carolina for over 15 years. He earned his law degree from Wake Forest University in 1984. Wainwright is also a veteran of the United States Coast Guard Reserve.
• Gregory Walcott- born Bernard Mattox in Wendell, North Carolina, Walcott was raised in Wilson, North Carolina. While serving in the Army, he appeared as a drill instructor in the film Battle Cry, then as a military policeman in 1955's war-themed classic Mister Roberts, as the drill instructor in The Outsider, and later Midway as Capt. Elliott Buckmaster. Walcott had roles in many television series, often in Westerns like Bonanza (on which he appeared seven times), Maverick, Wagon Train, 26 Men, Laramie, The Rifleman and in several episodes of Rawhide, where he began a long collaboration with Clint Eastwood. Walcott had featured roles in Eastwood's films Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Eiger Sanction, Joe Kidd, and Every Which Way But Loose. He also was one of the stars of a 1961–62 NBC television series 87th Precinct, as Detective Roger Havilland. Walcott went on to guest roles on many popular TV series including recurring ones in Dallas, Murder, She Wrote, and appeared as Capt. Diggs on the '70s series Land Of The Lost. His other film work also includes the comedy On the Double alongside Danny Kaye, the violent drama Prime Cut with Lee Marvin, and in the chase film The Sugarland Express directed by a 24-year-old Steven Spielberg. Walcott played a sheriff in the 1979 film Norma Rae. He also made a cameo appearance in the 1994 Ed Wood bio-pic.
• John Webb (September 18, 1926 – September 18, 2008) was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court (1986–1998). Prior to serving on North Carolina's highest court, Justice Webb had been a Superior Court (trial) judge and a judge of the North Carolina Court of Appeals. Webb was born in Nash County, North Carolina but lived most of his life in Wilson, where one of his law partners was future Governor Jim Hunt.
• Harry F. Weyher Jr. (August 19, 1921 – March 27, 2002) was an American lawyer and president of the Pioneer Fund from 1958 to 2002. Born in Wilson, Weyher attended the University of North Carolina. After serving in World War II, he graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law School in 1949, where he was an editor of the Harvard Law Review. Early in his career, he worked for Cravath, Swaine & Moore and served as special assistant attorney general to the New York State Crime Commission. In 1954, he co-founded the New York City firm Olwine, Connelly, Chase, O'Donnell & Weyher.
• Paul Windiz (born April 12, 1939 in Wilson, North Carolina) was a college and professional American football player. He played college football at East Carolina University. A flanker, he played professionally in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills from 1961 through 1966, and for the Houston Oilers in 1966 and 1967. Windiz caught fifty passes for the Bills as a rookie. He played in five playoffs with the Bills and Oilers, winning three Eastern Division titles (1964-1966) and two American Football League Championships (1964 and 1965) with the Bills, and an Eastern Division crown with the Oilers (1967).
• Frederick Augustus Woodard (12 February 1854 – 8 May 1915) was a Democratic U.S. Congressman from North Carolina between 1893 and 1897. Born near Wilson, North Carolina, Woodard attended private schools in Wilson County and studied law under Richmond Mumford Pearson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina. He was admitted to the bar in 1873 and practiced law in his hometown of Wilson. He rose in business to become vice-president of the First National Bank of Wilson, and was elected as a Democrat to the 54th United States Congress in 1892. Unsuccessful in his 1896 bid for re-election, Woodard returned to the practice of law and died in Wilson in 1915.

External links

• Wilson NC Homepage
• The Grey Area newspaper, local newspaper