What is now Elizabeth Street was Poindexter Creek. Kramer Brothers Company Saw and Planing Mill was
located up the creek just south of Martin Street. Pauline Brothers Shipyard was on the south side of the creek, as was
an oyster house. The United States Lifesaving Service maintained a warehouse in a corner of the shipyard. Rawlins
Whitehurst Coal and Wood Yard with icehouse was located here. Elizabeth City Oil Mills was at the foot of Mathews
Street (now Colonial Avenue). In 1905 the first wooden bridge was located between Poindexter Creek and Mathews
Street. An Oyster House was located between Church and Fearing streets. The James Adams Floating Theatre or
showboat docked at the foot of Fearing Street when it toured the Elizabeth City area from 1914 to 1940. From
Mathews Street (Colonial Avenue) to Fearing Street there were a number of wholesale grocery, tobacco and general
merchandise companies that shipped goods by water.
In 1930 the Camden Bridge was built at the foot of Elizabeth Street and the creek filled in.
Elizabeth City Boat Line warehouses and the Texas Oil Company docks were located at the foot of Fearing
Street. South of Church Street was Tiber Creek. Between Tiber Creek and Charles Creek was N.W. Griffin Sons Grist
Mill, T.A. Commander Mill, Hemmeways Oyster House, Suffolk and Carolina Railroad pier, Elizabeth City Milling
Company, M.G. Wright Coal and Wood Yard, and Standard Oil Co. Charles Creek was bridged by a draw bridge.
Below the bridge on the west bank were located N. Underwood Saw and Grist Mill, later known as Kramer Bros. and
Co. Saw Mill. Charles Creek Lumber Co. was south of Kramers. On the west bank was a shipyard and J. Wilkins
Shingles Mill. Several oyster houses and a shipyard were on Goat Island, now called Machelhe Island. (Mr. Charles
H. Robinson, Sr. purchased this land sometime before 1904 and named it Machelhe. The word Machelhe was
created by using letters from the names of his children, Mary, Eloise, and Helen.)
At the foot of Roanoke Avenue was located the Riverside Lumber Co. On the river, east of Charles Creek, were S.S.
Fowlers Net and Twine Mills and various shipyards: Hunter Shipyard, J.F. Onell Shipyard. George Cotts Oyster
House, E. S. Walley Marine Railway, Howard Willey Machine Shop, and T.B. Hayman Best Building. Scott Pea
Picker Company was located at entrance to Charles Creek. Also Elizabeth City Shipyard #1 and #2 and Elizabeth
City Iron Works were located east of Hunter Street. Kramer Mill was also located east of the shipyard. It was later
sold to R.B. Cotter and Sons. Several houses beyond the Beveridge House is where the body of
Nellie Cropsey was
found a month after she disappeared in 1901.
In 1914 the Albemarle Hospital was built at the foot of Riverside Avenue. In the late 1950s the hospital
moved to a new structure north of Elizabeth City. In 1961 the old hospital building was reopened as College of the
Albemarle, the first community college under the State Community College Act of 1957. The college moved to a new
campus in the early 1970s. The old building on Rivershore Avenue is now apartments; the old gym is a health club.
