August 17,1926: Buena Vista to Vote on Incorporation

Messick House

On this day in 1926, an article in the Winston-Salem Journal reported that 65% to 70% of the voters in the Buena Vista section are in favor of having their property incorporated by the city.

Proponents of incorporation list among the advantages of being in the city, that parents will forego the $65.00 per child fee to attend city schools.  Other advantages are: better police protection, better lighting of streets, better fire protection, and the guarantee of a permanent water and sewage system.

Water systems have been installed by the development company, but these will be left to the individual owners as soon as the company has disposed of its lots.

As of the date of this article, seventy-five people have registered to vote, and 200 are expected to register before the closing date of August 28th.

An election will take place on September 7th.

Approximately 25 to 30 people oppose incorporation, and they are persons with farms or large houses and a few others.  Home owners will pay a city tax rate of $1 on each 100, but they will forego the 25 to 35-cents per week for garbage service, plus the school fee.

The photo above shows the Arline Messick house on Buena Vista Road about 1928.

Photo courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection.

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3 Responses

  1. Molly, if I’m not mistaken, the Italianate house pictured in the post of Beuna Vista voting to be incorporated was also the home of Dr. Richard Myers, chief of surgery at Baptist. Am I wrong?

    • It is quite possible. You might try looking in a city directory, arranged by both name and address, to verify. The NC Room at Central has these directories going back to the early 1900s. Also, some are online, and here is a link

      If the link does not work, search for them online by subject.

  2. Dean Webster says:

    Fascinating. This must’ve been a pattern common throughout the country. The neighborhoods and people seeking annexation must have anticipated that the resulting and long-term property tax burden would not be very high.

    It is interesting to see that private water systems were around.

    It would be interesting to know more about the developers and developing of Buena Vista.

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