THE SELMA YACHT CLUB

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Present day Selma citizens who wish to enjoy a boat ride find that they must haul their, “yachts” to the nearest lake or seacoast. But in 1902 Selma had its own club and yacht. On July 11 of that year, according to a society note in The Smithfield Herald, Messrs. Robert Millard Nowell, capt., W. W. Hare, mate; George D. Vick, ensign, and Dr. J. W. Hatcher, purser of the Selma Yacht Club, left the county bridge over the Neuse near Selma on their yacht the Julia Fuller for New Bern.
At this time only about twelve residences were located in west Selma. The Southern Railway coal shute was in west Selma and the Southern shops and water tank were located just east of the company’s freight station. The streets were dirty and muddy after rains and planks served as stepping stones. Streets were lighted by kerosene lamps that had to be lighted each nightfall. Pigs and cows were free to roam at will. One of the colorful characters at this period was an old Negro called “Uncle Bunn,” who lighted the street lamps and sold buns and rolls.
A local resident became active in state politics when C. W. Richardson was elected to the state Senate in November, going to Raleigh in February of 1903 to look after “the interest of his constituents.”
Selma Baptist Church, which had been chartered in 1872, was the scene of an organizational meeting of the Johnston Baptist Association in 1903. In that same year tobacco warehouses were in operation on Raiford and Webb Streets, and A. B. Baxter and Company, New York brokers, opened a stock and cotton exchange under the management of E. F. Pate. The company had direct private wires to New York and Chicago.
From the History of Selma - Centennial Program.