THE STATE
A Weekly Survey of North Carolina
Eol«r*d >i Mfond clau matter, Jane 1, 1933, »t the Pottofflr* »t ReWjh. North
Carolina. etder the Act of March 3, 1879.
Vol. VIII. No. 43 March 22, 1941
Wake County
It's the political center of North
Carolina, but politics can't begin
to compare in interest with some
of the other things to be found
in that section.
By CARL COERCII
Mr. Alex Wall, police chief in Wen¬
dell, and said to be the smallest police
chief in North Carolina, if not in
the entire country.
Tic said that when the railroad was
being constructed through that sec¬
tion, one of the workmen was an
Italian. Three or four limes every
day, he would shout out : “Say, l*oss :
when-d-hell do we eat, when-d-hell
do we eat.” And when the citizens
got around to naming their town,
they named it When-d-hell. which
later was changed to Wendell.
Rut we’ve found out that there’s
not a word of truth to that tale.
Wendell was incorporated in 1 003.
Mr. M. A. Griflin was a school-teacher
down there: a great admirer of Oliver
Wendell Holmes. When it came to
naming the town, he urged that it l»o
named in honor of this great Ameri¬
can poet, and his suggestion was car¬
ried out. The story is that when the
first Norfolk-Southern train startenl
operating through the town, the Ne¬
gro porter on the train, in calling
out the names of the stations, would
holler out: “Wen-dell! Wen-dell!"
and that’s how the pronunciation of
the town was changed from “Wen-
dle” to “Wen-dell.”
By the way, did you know that
Wendell has the smallest police chief
IN a number of preceding articles,
we’ve tried to tell you some of the
interesting things about various
counties in North Carolina: in this
article, we’ll concentrate on Wake.
There’s some dispute about how
Wake County got its name. Some
authorities claim that it was named
in honor of Margaret Wake, who was
Governor Tryon’s wife: others assert
that it was named for Esther Wake,
who was the Governor’s sister-in-law.
Anyway, it was named for one of
those ladies.
Raleigh, ns everybody knows, was
named for the gentleman who did
things with his cloak.
First time we ever made any in¬
quiries about the name of Wendell,
which also is located in Wake
County, our informant told us this
story :
Home of Dr. Calvin Jones at Wake Forest, built prior to 1830 and now
known as the Walters place. Dr. Jones was Adjutant General of North
Carolina. He lived for a while in Raleigh, then moved to Wake Forest
and sold 625 acres of his land up there to Wake Forest College. Later
on he moved out to Tennessee, where he died.
