Community Profile people wished .” He sold off portions of his land to other African American families , including Partha Taylor , Candice Taylor , a midwife , and Thomas Haywood . In 1877 , Eli Dupree sold a lot on current Main Street in downtown Garner to Allen Haywood , an African American school teacher .
Before the railroad tracks traversed the area that would soon become Garner , cotton and tobacco dominated the landscape ; both crops were vital to the growth of Garner through the 20th century . The lack of buildings on right-of-way maps from the 1850s illustrates how sparsely populated this area was . Sometime before 1870 , the railroad acquired a “ wood and water ” stop , roughly located in what is now downtown Garner . Although it wasn ’ t a depot , the railroad must have contributed to the growth of the settlement area , evidenced by the need for a post office by 1878 .
In the closing days of the Civil War , skirmishes occurred in the Garner area , as witnessed by the carefully preserved bullet holes in Bethel Church ( now New Bethel Baptist Church ) and the still-standing “ Samuel Dupree ” house , which the Union Army used as a makeshift hospital for their wounded ; Union soldiers also camped on the Dupree farm .
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In 1874 , Henry Fort ( 1815-1876 , married Martha Jane “ Jenny ” Dunston ca 1876 ), an African American farmer , cabinetmaker , and carpenter , purchased 52 acres of land from Eli Dupree on the north side of the railroad near Hayes Chapel Church . Moses N . Amis wrote in his book Historical Raleigh in 1913 that Fort was “ a fine carpenter who made bureaus , wardrobes , and almost any piece of furniture the
It is believed that Henry Fort and Thomas A . Bingham had the first businesses in Garner . Bingham , a wagon maker and owner of a general store , made application for a post office , requesting that it be named Garner ’ s Station . He was the first postmaster for Garner ’ s Station from 1878 to June 1882 . In 1883 Garner ’ s Station was incorporated and Bingham was the Mayor in 1883 and 1884 . Commissioners were Eli Dupree , T . W . Bennett and J . M . Spence . The Constable was E . Rogers .
Businesses operating in Garner ’ s Station in 1886 were :
• J . R . Bagwell – furniture & groceries ;
• T . W . Bennett , C . H . Dupree , and A . C . Carroll – owners of grocery stores ;
• W . H . Britt , J . T . Broughton , and Crocker & Crocker – owners of cotton gins ;
• T . Hall – blacksmith shop ;
• Richard Hinton , African-American – barber shop ;
• J . D . Johnson – meat market ;
• G . B . Montague – drugs ; and
• J . A . Spence & Bro . – general store .
Some of the landowners were : Henry Fort , Thomas A . Bingham , T . W . Bennett , J . T . Broughton , Eli Dupree and his siblings , W . D . Johnson , J . A . Spence , and G . R . Bagwell .
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