by Dr. Krystyn R. Moon
–Solomon G. Willis
Solomon G. Willis made the above statement in front of hundreds of attendees at the annual convention of the National Negro Business League in 1915. Standing on the stage in Boston, Massachusetts with Booker T. Washington, an advocate for racial uplift and the founder of the organization, Willis went on to explain how he, after working for almost thirty-five years in the pickling industry, had started his own business. Truck farmers contracted with him to grow cucumbers, peppers, onions, gherkins, and watermelons, which Willis brined and packed at his factory before sending them to cities in the Mid-Atlantic region. The audience greeted Willis’ statements with laughter and applause; however, his descriptions of his business ventures provided more than charming anecdotes. He wanted to show the unevenness of the color line in Virginia and that men, such as himself, could find a modicum of upward mobility in a segregated society.[1]
Illustration 1: Photograph of Pickle Factory Warehouse in Fredericksburg by Francis Benjamin Johnston, ca. 1928. This building is possibly Willis’ second pickle factory. Notice the Black workers packing pickles in barrels. Courtesy, Library of Congress.
Who is Solomon G. Willis and why is he Fredericksburg’s “Pickle King?” No historic markers dot the sidewalk where his home and factories were once located, and few records exist about his life. Luckily, vital statistics and census documents combined with newspaper articles and courthouse records give us a glimpse of Willis and, by extension, the racial landscape of turn of the century Fredericksburg. Willis first appeared in the archival record in the 1870 U.S. Census, living with the Miller family in Fredericksburg. The Millers do not seem to be related to seven-year-old Willis and most likely had cared for him while his parents worked, perhaps even as an informal form of adoption. In fact, there are two entries for Willis in the 1880 U.S. Census, one with the Millers as their “adopted son” and another with his biological father.[2]
By the turn of the century, Willis had become a community leader and helped to create opportunities for other African Americans. In 1894, he purchased a lot of land on Amelia Street to build a home for his growing family. He and his wife, Fannie, had married in 1888, and they had seven children together.[3] Meanwhile, he had become a trustee at the Second Baptist Church, a congregation that worshipped just around the corner from his home on Winchester Street. The Second Baptist Church had been established in the mid-to-late 1880s and continued to operate on Winchester Street until its building had to be sold to pay off debts in 1905.[4] Willis also had become politically active and joined the local Republican Party. At least two times, he was a delegate representing Fredericksburg at a state-wide convention and also was selected to be a juror in federal court.[5] In 1903, he was selected to be the business manager for the Farmers Supply and Home Beneficial and Endowment Society, an agricultural cooperative mixed with fraternal organization that catered to Black residents in Fredericksburg and nearby Spotsylvania and Caroline Counties. The Society owned its own pickling plant in Caroline County and ran a wood yard for additional income.[6] Finally, Willis was integral to the establishment of Mayfield, a Black neighborhood located to the south of downtown Fredericksburg. In 1906, he was one of the four signatories who bought land from Otho O. Owens’s executor and began to sell off lots to Black families. They sold thirteen lots in 1907.[7] A year later, the owners of Mayfield, including Willis, chartered the Fredericksburg Normal and Industrial Institute for “the education and training of colored youth.” They put aside several lots in Mayfield for the school. Willis was one of the school’s early board members, too.[8]
Illustration 2: $100 Bank Note that Willis took out for the Farmers Supply and Home Beneficial and Endowment Society, 1905. Courtesy, Fredericksburg Circuit Courthouse Archives.
It was pickling’s prominence in the region’s agricultural economy, however, that defined most of Willis’ life. By the end of the nineteenth century, truck farming—in which farmers grew vegetables to be transported to distant markets—generated additional income for Black and white farmers in neighboring counties. Farmers brought their products to Fredericksburg where, thanks to the resumption of trains and steamships after the Civil War, they could send their products to major cities throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. Southern and Eastern European immigration provided a growing market, and both local entrepreneurs and national manufacturers took notice. Newspapers in the late 1860s first acknowledged that local women were producing large quantities of pickles for northern markets and argued that this phenomenon would be a key component of Virginia’s post-war economic recovery.[9] In 1876, the recognition of Charles Richardson, the city’s first pickle manufacturer, at the Centennial World Exposition in Philadelphia brought national notoriety to Fredericksburg.[10]
In 1893, Alart & McGuire, a New York-based pickling firm, opened a factory in Fredericksburg and provided new opportunities for Black and white men and women like Willis.[11] It is unclear when Willis began working for Alart & McGuire, but his occupation as a cooper likely made him an appealing hire. The 1900 U.S. Census noted that Willis was a foreman at a pickle factory, most likely at Alart & McGuire.[12] In his 1915 presentation at the National Negro Business League, Willis commented that he oversaw seventy-five white workers at the factory. And, because he “took such an interest in things,” the company “could trust [him] to look after things even though none of their own race in the factory were able to take the lead.”[13] Willis’ perception of his role at Alart & McGuire, however, did not always align with local public discourse. In 1901, an anonymous journalist observed Willis at Alart & McGuire’s factory and described him as the superintendent’s “man ‘Friday,’” a phrase from Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe (1719) used to describe a loyal and trustworthy servant. In Willis’ case, this allusion pointed to the “happy slave” stereotype, which circulated broadly in turn of the century American popular culture. The article went on to note that Willis was “with a gang of man” who “was unloading wagons” of cucumbers to be pickled but did not identify Willis as the foreman. A few years later, an article about the discovery of an opossum at the plant became a joke at Willis’ expense.[14]
The closure of Alart & McGuire’s factories in 1912 brought new opportunities for Willis. For two years, Willis worked at the company’s new plant in Brooklyn, New York before returning to Fredericksburg and starting his own business.[15] Upon his return, he bought Leavell Vehicles Works on Wolfe Street and converted it into a factory.[16] Willis had already acquired equipment, perhaps from his former employer, and began contracting with local truck farmers. During his 1915 presentation in Boston, he noted that he had contracts with seventy-five truck farmers from neighboring counties, sixty-eight of whom were white. These farmers were expected to produce cucumbers and other fruits and vegetables for his factory. That summer, his factory produced fifty barrels of pickles a week, and he had outstanding orders for 2,000 barrels that he needed to fulfill. To a round of robust applause, Willis exclaimed that he was “known to be, and said to be the best pickle manufacturing man anywhere in that section [of Virginia] regardless of color.”[17]
Illustration 3: Solomon G. Willis’ Pickle Works can be seen on the Sanborn Insurance Map for Fredericksburg, 1919. Courtesy, Library of Congress.
Despite his early successes, Willis struggled to keep his pickling business afloat during the 1920s and 1930s. What specific forces had led to his company’s decline is unknown; however, we can speculate. Wartime mobilization required the drafting of many able-bodied men, both Black and white, which adversely impacted the local labor market. Farm laborers who did not serve in the military also migrated to cities where they found work in factories, and many never returned. Starting in 1919, the U.S. experienced a recession in response to the contraction of the post-war economy, compounding the problems that small business owners faced. At the same time, the pickling industry had changed. The vertical integration of national brands meant that the reliance on local truck farmers and pickling plant owners was no longer necessary. Modern consumers also increasingly relied on brand recognition through advertising to guide their purchases.[18] Finally, despite Willis’ optimism in 1915, the color line had become more, not less, rigid, especially in Virginia. The hardening of racial lines, exemplified by the passage of the Racial Integrity Act (1924) and the Public Assemblages Act (1926), made it difficult for Willis to maintain relationships with white farmers and workers.[19]
After World War I, Willis took out at least two loans, presumably to keep his pickle factory afloat, and used his business and family home as collateral.[20] Unfortunately, not only did he default on one of the loans, but also he failed to pay his taxes. As a result, the courts required that he sell both properties at auction to pay off his debts. His daughter, Lillie May Willis, bought 517 Amelia Street at auction in 1924. As Willis’ oldest child living at home, she most likely pooled resources among her siblings and friends to save their family home.[21] Willis’ pickle factory, however, was sold to a newly established franchise of the Coca-Cola Bottling Company, which had opened next door. By 1930, Coca Cola had torn down Willis’ factory to add on to a pre-existing building and create a vacant lot, perhaps for storage.[22] Despite this setback, Willis found a way forward. He moved his pickling operations to Mayfield and continued to contract with local truck farmers who were willing to work with him. As he had in the past, he sent barrels of finished pickles to major markets in the region.[23]
Solomon G. Willis died on June 15, 1937 at his home on Amelia Street. He was seventy-four years old. His daughter, Lillie May Willis, continued to live in her family’s home until 1956 when she sold it to the Pratts, another local Black family and a neighbor. In 2015, the Pratts sold the property to a local developer who built a new home on the property. It was sold again in 2019.[24]
[1] National Negro Business League Annual Report of the Sixteenth Session of the Fifteenth Anniversary Convention Held at Boston, Massachusetts, August 18, 19, 20, 1915 (Washington, D.C.: William H. Davis, 1915), 207-210.
[2] 1870 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, 53, Solomon Willis in household of Jesse Miller, line 23 digital image; 1880 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Enumeration District 138, 20, Solomon Willis in household of Jesse Miller, line 10, digital image; 1880 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Fredericksburg, Virginia, Enumeration District 139, 36, Solomon Willis in household of Richard Willis, line 2, digital image; accessed April 8, 2025, http://www.ancestry.com.
[3] Deed FF-478 (1894), Fredericksburg Circuit Court Archives, Fredericksburg, VA; 1900 U.S. Census (Population Schedule), Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Enumeration District 90, Sheet No. 15-A, Solomon Willis, head of household, line 42, digital image; accessed April 8, 2025, http://www.ancestry.com.
4] Albert Ray and Solomon G. Willis v. Albert T. Ray et al. (Trustees of Second Baptist Church), 1905; Fredericksburg Circuit Courthouse Archives, Fredericksburg, VA.
[5] “Republican Meeting,” The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), October 7, 1897; “United States Court Jurors,” The Daily Star (Fredericksburg, VA), March 16, 1900; “Old Burg Republicans,” Richmond Dispatch (Richmond, VA), April 4, 1900.
[6] “Meeting of Colored Organization,” The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA), November 26, 1903; Mary Crutchfield et al. v. Farmers Supply and Home Beneficial and Endowment Society of Virginia, Inc., et al., 1907; Fredericksburg Circuit Courthouse Archives, Fredericksburg, VA.
[7] Deed AV-210 (1906); AW-262 (1907); AX-235 (1907); AX-238 (1907); AX-296 (1907); AX-298 (1907); AX-307 (1907); AX-308 (1907); AX-309 (1907); AX-360 (1907); AX-385 (1907); AX-412 (1907) AX-413 (1907); AY-6 (1907); Spotsylvania Circuit Court, Spotsylvania Courthouse, VA.
[8] Charter Ay-145 (1908); Spotsylvania Circuit Court, Spotsylvania Courthouse, VA. See also “To Education their Race,” The Daily Star (Fredericksburg, VA) September 11, 1906; “Colored High School,” The Daily Star (Fredericksburg, VA) May 4, 1914; “Will the Colored People Respond?” The Daily Star (Fredericksburg, VA) March 23, 1915.
Based on the local newspapers, Willis was also involved in the Progressive Club of Fredericksburg, the Prince Hall Freemasons, and the International Order of the Elks. “Excursion to Orange,” The Daily Star (Fredericksburg, VA), July 8, 1897; “Grand Lodge of Colored Masons,” The Daily Star (Fredericksburg, VA) December 14, 1915; “City Items,” The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg) May 12, 1931.
[9] “Fredericksburg Pickles in New York,” Virginia Herald (Fredericksburg, VA), October 22, 1968; “Evidence of Progress,” Virginia Herald (Fredericksburg, VA) November 19, 1868. See also “Old Virginia,” The News (Fredericksburg, VA) November 5, 1877.
[10] “Centennial Pickles,” The News (Fredericksburg, VA), April 10, 1876; “Centennial Awards,” Virginia Herald (Fredericksburg, VA), October 12, 1876.
[11] “A New Industry,” The Free Lance Star March 28, 1893.
[12] “Solomon G. Willis,” Register of Marriages, Fredericksburg, VA, 1888; 1900 US Census (Population Schedule), Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Enumeration District 90, sheet no.15A, Solomon G. Willis, line 42, digital image, accessed March 21, 2025, http://www.ancestry.com.
[13] National Negro Business League Annual Report, 208.
[14] “The Pickle Industry,” Free Lance (Fredericksburg, VA) August 10, 1901; “O’Possum in the Cellar,” Free Lance (Fredericksburg, VA) August 24, 1909.
[15] National Negro Business League Annual Report, 208.
[16] “Several Parcels of Real Estate Change Hands,” The Daily Star (Fredericksburg, VA), May 30, 1914; Deed 48-340 (1914), Fredericksburg Circuit Court Archives, Fredericksburg, VA.
[17] Deed 48-162 (1913); Fredericksburg Circuit Court Archives, Fredericksburg, VA; National Negro Business League Annual Report, 208-209.
[18] Alfred D. Chandler Jr., The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business (Belknap Press, 1993).
[19] J. Douglas Smith, “The Campaign for Racial Purity and the Erosion of Paternalism in Virginia, 1922-1930: ‘Nominally White, Biologically Mixed, and Legally Negro,” The Journal of Southern History 68, no. 1 (February 2002): 65-106; Richard B. Sherman, “The ‘Teachings at Hampton Institute’: Social Equality, Racial Integrity, and the Virginia Public Assemblage Act of 1926,” The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 95, no. 3 (July 1987): 275-300.
[20] Deed 52-457 (1919), Fredericksburg Circuit Court Archives, Fredericksburg, VA; William J. Johnson vs. Solomon G. Willis (1922), Spotsylvania Circuit Courthouse, Spotsylvania Courthouse, VA; “Delinquent Real Estate 1922,” The Daily Star (Fredericksburg, VA), August 9, 1923.
[21] 1920 U.S. Census, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Enumeration District 48, Sheet No. 7-B, Solomon Willis and family, lines 57-64, digital image, accessed April 12, 2025, http://ancestry.com; Deed 56-309 (1924), Fredericksburg Circuit Court Archives, Fredericksburg, VA.
[22] Deed 56-272 (1924), Fredericksburg Circuit Court Archives, Fredericksburg, VA; 1930 Tax Map, p.95, Fredericksburg Circuit Court Archives, Fredericksburg, VA.
[23] 1930 U.S. Census, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Enumeration District 107-3, Sheet No. 8-B, Solomon Willis in the household of Andrew Howard, line 93, digital image, accessed April 12, 2025, http://ancestry.com; “Cucumbers Move to Local Market,” The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, VA) July 21, 1931.
[24] Virginia Death Index, 1912-2004, “Solomon G. Willis,” accessed March 15, 2025, http://ancestry.com; 1950 U.S. Census, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania County, Virginia, Enumeration District 108-7, Sheet No. 18, Lillie May Willis, line 24, digital image, accessed April 12, 2025, http://ancestry.com; Deed 99-438 (1956), Instrument No. 150002900 (2015), Instrument No. 190001015 (2019); Fredericksburg Circuit Court Archives, Fredericksburg, VA.