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Ahoskie, North Carolina
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==History== Ahoskie began as a railroad siding for log trains hauling timber from the forests of Bertie and [[Hertford County, North Carolina|Hertford counties]] to [[History of the lumber industry in the United States|a sawmill]] at [[Cofield, North Carolina|Tunis]] on the [[Norfolk—Rocky Mount Line|Chowan and Southern Railroad line]] beginning in 1885. The town grew out of [[Goods station|a loading station and commissaries]] to supply the community workers who cut, hauled and loaded the logs. Ahoskie's post office was established in 1889. The first passenger train passed through town on the newly opened tracks of the [[Norfolk and Western Railway|Norfolk and Carolina line]] in 1890. By the time of its incorporation on January 24, 1893, Ahoskie had grown to include several stores, [[saw mill|a saw mill]] and gin, a one-room school and [[Baptists|a Baptist church]]. Other industries that flourished in the town's early days included an ice plant, [[History of Chinese Americans|a laundry operated by a wandering Chinese man]], and a number of [[pony express|horse and mule exchanges and sales stables]]. Since few of the smaller towns in Hertford and Bertie counties were located on passenger lines, [[Door-to-door|traveling salesman or "drummers"]] would use the town as a base to make sales trips to outlying community stores by horse and buggy. The town's first bank, the [[Bank of Ahoskie]], was chartered in 1905.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=The Ahoskie Era of Hertford County |publisher=Parker Bros., Inc. |year=1939}}</ref> This area's economy was initially based on the cultivation of [[tobacco industry#Industry outlook in the United States|tobacco]] and [[Cotton production in the United States|cotton]]. It has continued to be largely rural with small towns. [[File:Ahoskie Town Hall.jpg|thumb|Town hall]] The town has both [[historic districts]] and individual buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the [[Ahoskie Historic District]], [[Ahoskie Downtown Historic District]], and [[East End Historic District (Ahoskie, North Carolina)|East End Historic District]]; and [[Ahoskie School]], [[Roberts H. Jernigan House]], [[King-Casper-Ward-Bazemore House]], [[William Mitchell House]], [[Mulberry Grove (Ahoskie, North Carolina)|Mulberry Grove]], and [[James Newsome House]].<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref> The town has highlighted these resources to encourage heritage tourism. The county gave an acre of land on which [[History of African-American education|the first Black school]] in Ahoskie was built, three years after [[American Civil War|the Civil War]]. The one-room schoolhouse at Hayes Street and Catherine Creek Road remained about 35 years. The first teacher at the school was Van Butler, and the school term was four months. Through years of untiring efforts by [[African-Americans|the Black community]], by 1939 the Ahoskie Graded School consisted of two brick buildings, with fourteen elementary teachers, five high school teachers and an enrollment of some 800 boys and girls. The first Black church, the [[New Ahoskie Baptist Church]], was organized in 1866. Other early churches in the Black community were the Methodist Church and Calvary Baptist Church. The first charity organized in the Black community was Love and Charity, a mutual help group that met in members' homes under the slogan "Love to All, True to each Other, Mercy to all Mankind." Other early organizations included [[Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks|the Elks]], [[Freemasons|Masons]] and [[Independent Order of Rechabites|Tents]]. The [[United Order of the Queens of the Orient]] had its origins in Ahoskie in 1923. By 1939, the town had grown to include a number of Black-owned businesses including five grocery stores, three barber shops, three cafes, a dry goods store, a millinery shop, three hairdressers, three seamstresses, a doctor, a stenographer, two funeral homes and a garage. The Atlantic District Fair Association represented the economic interests of the town's Black community.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Mitchell |first=Eleanor |title=The Ahoskie Era of Hertford County |publisher=Parker Bros., Inc. |year=1939 |pages=279–285}}</ref> Perhaps the largest show seen in the town was a visit by [[Buffalo Bill#Buffalo Bill's Wild West|Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show]] in October 1916, an event that drew an estimated 12,000 people and required three shows to accommodate everybody. The leading citizens of the town hosted a breakfast at the Manhattan hotel for [[Buffalo Bill|Col. William F. Cody]], who expressed his deep appreciation for the hospitality accorded to him. Cody's visit came about through the personal solicitation of a kinsman of the show's business manager. [[History of street lighting in the United States|Electric lights were first turned on]] in Ahoskie around [[Christmas]] in 1915. The power was generated by a gasoline engine and within two years was providing electricity day and night.<ref name=":0" /> Ahoskie was the first stop in North Carolina for [[First Lady of the United States|first lady]] [[Lady Bird Johnson|Claudia Alta Johnson]] during her whistle-stop tour of the South aboard the Lady Bird Express, on October 6, 1964.
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