The William Barrett Taylor house sits on a point of land that faces West Fourth Street, and is flanked by Brookstown Avenue and Grace Court.
William Barrett Taylor (1851-1933) came to Winston-Salem in the early 1880s and established Taylor Brothers Tobacco Company with his brother, Jacqueline Plummer Taylor (1858-1916.) He built the house at 915 W. Fourth Street and lived there with his wife, Elizabeth McCaw Boggs Taylor (1858-1922), and their children. William Barrett Taylor is shown in the photograph on his horse in front of his house.
Elizabeth McCaw Boggs was the daughter of General William Robertson Boggs (1829-1911) and Mary Sophia Symington Boggs (1831-1905). General and Mrs. Boggs came to Winston-Salem in 1885 to be near their daughter and son-in-law.
They purchased a frame house right across Brookstown Avenue from the Taylors, at 408 Summit Street. Boggs remodeled and enlarged the house.
The eldest daughter of William Barrett and Elizabeth McCaw Taylor was named Mary Symington Taylor. She married John Dillard, a railroad construction contractor. Mrs. Dillard traveled about the country with her husband as he built railroad tunnels and bridges. In 1909 she returned to Winston-Salem to have her baby.
The baby girl, Elizabeth McCaw Dillard was born at the home of her Taylor grandparents, just across the street from her Boggs great-grandparents. She continued to travel with her parents until she was about 8 years old. Her grandfather Boggs died in 1910 and willed their house to his daughter, Mary Taylor Dillard.
The Dillard family decided to settle in Winston-Salem and lived in the house for many years. The first photo above may be of the Dillard family in front of the Taylor House. The little girl, who was nicknamed Blitz, married Richard J. Reynolds Jr. in 1932. Mr. and Mrs. Dillard lived in the house until they built a house on Kent Road. The frame house was put on the market in 1965. The second photo shows John Dillard and his daughter, Blitz Dillard Reynolds, in 1956.
The Taylor House remained in the family for many years. In 1965 one of the Taylor daughters, Cornelia Long, lived in the house. The photo above shows the house in 1979. The house is listed in the West End District National Register Nomination book.
Today the Taylor House is occupied by two businesses.
Black and white photographs courtesy of Forsyth County Public Library Photograph Collection. The color image is courtesy of Molly Grogan Rawls.
