Elizabeth City, 1901

BY: PAUL VINCENT, CONTRIBUTING RESEARCHER

FISH AND OYSTER CATCH, 1901. Statistic estimating the average figures for various seafoods processed in Elizabeth City between 1900 and 1901.

Courtesy of The Economist

The Elizabeth City that Nell Cropsey knew at the time of her disappearance in 1901 was a place at once on the go and on the rise. Coincidentally, a local newspaper had extensively advertised the town’s growing social and commercial activity just two days following the nineteen-yearold’s vanishing. On November 22, 1901, The Economist published a 48-page “Industrial Edition” issue, touting Elizabeth City as a prominent center of industry and culture in the Albemarle region.

Inside, readers could expect to find brief write-ups promoting several of the city’s leading merchants and industrialists, including those businesses from surrounding towns and counties. All sorts of enterprises and institutions, from W. H. Zoeller’s photography studio to Dudley & Co.’s oyster house, from the Elizabeth City Brick Co. to the State Normal School (present-day Elizabeth City State University), were described in detail within this special issue. The paper included an additional table of statistics (selections displayed below) that further aimed at highlighting the town’s upward progress at the turn of the 20th century.

POPULATION: 8,000+

TOTAL REAL ESTATE & PERSONAL PROPERTY (VALUE): $1.5+ MILLION

NUMBER OF MERCHANTS (WITH STOCKS OVER $1,000):

RETAIL GROCERS: 25

DRUGGISTS: 5

JEWELERS: 2

NUMBER OF PEOPLE EMPLOYED BY OCCUPATION:

CLERKS & BOOKKEEPERS: 150

SHIP CARPENTERS & MACHINISTS: 75

TRAVELING SALESMEN: 9

CHURCHES: 13

SCHOOLS: 20

MILLS & FACTORIES, INCLUDING OYSTER HOUSES: 35