When Braxton Perry was honored last week, retiring from the Town of Wake Forest after 39 years of service, the Gazette asked Human Resources Director Virginia Jones if anyone had served longer. Yes, she said, George Massenburg who was a town employee for 43 years.
He retired in April 1975, which means he was hired in 1932 – and he would have thought himself lucky to have a job because so many people were out of work, the two local banks had failed, and people were losing their homes because they could not pay the mortgages.
He probably began as a laborer on the streets and other projects, and he would never have been paid at the same rate as any white employees. He probably had been transferred to a different town department before 1941 when we know that the three laborers were paid differently. Moses Massenburg, who was taking home scrap lumber to build the store he later opened on Juniper Avenue, was paid $12 a week while George Cash and E.L. O’Neal, both white, were paid $19 a week. When Massenburg retired he was working in the water and sewer department.
But though he was a black man in a humble job, his name lives on because it is on the center on Taylor Street – the Alston-Massenburg Center.
Edward Alston, a lifetime resident, was a principal in what was called the Colored Volunteer Fire Department when it was formed in 1942. The department had a station and a well-used fire truck handed down from the town fire department.
The honor came in 1987 when, after a suggestion in October by Mayor Thomas Byrne that the just completed pool building at the pool on Taylor Street – yes, there was a swimming pool in the East End because black children and adults were not welcome at the Holding Park Pool – be dedicated to the memory of Massenburg. After a month’s delay, it was Alphonza Merritt, the second black town commissioner, who made the motion for the Alston-Massenburg name.
The swimming pool was abandoned some time in the 1990s and later filled in. The pool building was somewhat renovated as a community center about that time. In 2012 the town hired architect Matt Hale, who drew up plans to expand the building and make it more usable, and the grand opening was held Sept. 26 of that year. Part of the pool area is included in the Taylor Street Park. The park was largely built on what had been a landmark, the Taylor Street elevated water tank.
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Carolina Ale House in Wake Forest is collecting school supplies throughout August for its Boys & Girls Clubs Pack-the-Backpack Fundraiser! The School Supply Wish List includes: book bags, college ruled paper, notebooks: lined and graphed, regular letter sized and composition books, binders, graph paper, pencils, erasers, pens, glue and glue sticks, crayons, scissors, pencil sharpeners, pencil bags, folders, color pencils, protractors, etc. For more information, email madelinegesslein@yahoo.com.
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Have you been wondering about the apparently dead leaves on the elm trees on the east side of South Franklin Street? Jennifer Rall, the town’s urban forestry coordinator, says not to worry too much.
Elm leaf beetle larvae have been eating the surface of the leaves, leaving only the veins, which creates a lacey appearance when you are close to the leaves but a dead appearance at a distance.
Rall said elm leaf beetle populations can fluctuate greatly from year to year so few elms need treatment each year. Despite their appearance now, she said healthy elms can tolerate and recover from substantial defoliation. She has asked Bartlett Tree Experts to examine the trees and determine whether they need treatment. You can ask more question of Rall at jrall@wakeforestnc.gov and 919-435-9565.
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The update for Tuesday, Aug. 25, shows almost all of North Carolina is getting drier and drier. Only the coast and the outer coastal plain along with a narrow strip along the northern state line remain unaffected by drought conditions.
Wake County remains abnormally dry while Nash and Johnston counties and portions of other counties are now listed as suffering moderate drought.
See drought conditions at http://www.ncwater.org/Drought_Monitoring.
