His father, Colonel Roger Moore (1838-1900), enlisted in the Confederate States Army in 1861 and fought in a number of battles in Virginia during the War Between the States. After the war, he came back to Wilmington and was engaged in business as a commission merchant. Later, he founded and was president of a brick manufacturing company, became active in civic affairs and was elected a city alderman. On May 3, 1871, at Front Street Methodist Church, he married Mrs. Eugenia Beery Atkins (1849-1925), daughter of Benjamin William Beery (ca.1822/23-1892) and Ann Eliza Williams Beery (ca.1827-1865). It was the second marriage for both. On May 17, 1885, Louis Toomer Moore was born at the Moore family home at 113 Chestnut Street. The home was located a block and a half from the Cape Fear River and was in the heart of Wilmington's business district. The location provided the opportunity for the young boy to wander along the wharves on the river and roam the downtown streets of his hometown, absorbing the colorful scenes of the cosmopolitan port, which was then the largest city in North Carolina. He was educated at Hemingway Elementary School and the Wilmington High School, then located in the Tileston School building at Fifth and Ann streets. After his graduation in 1902, he attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where his widowed mother and youngest sister, Mary Ella, moved to be with him. While attending the university, he lettered in varsity baseball as a catcher, the same position that he played on his high school team. His journalistic abilities afforded him the opportunity to be appointed a sports correspondent for the Raleigh Post, the Wilmington Messenger's Chapel Hill correspondent and to write for the university newspaper, The Tar Heel. After his graduation in 1906, Mr. Moore returned to Wilmington and went to work first as a reporter and then as a local editor for the Wilmington Dispatch. He reported a variety of stories for the newspaper, filing fascinating reports about his beloved hometown. By 1915, he had left the newspaper and entered the business world as secretary of Davis-Moore Paint Company, located at 21 Market Street. On November 22, 1916, Mr. Moore married Florence Hill Kidder (1888-1971), daughter of George Wilson Kidder (1842-1915) and Florence Hill Kidder (1850-1917). Her ancestors immigrated to America from England about 1650, and settled in Cambridge, MA. Her grandfather, Edward Kidder, came to Wilmington from New Hampshire in 1825, and established, what was for many years, one of the largest lumber businesses in the South, under the firm name, Edward Kidder and Sons. George W. Kidder inherited his father's lumber business and operated it until his death in 1915. In the early 1840s, Edward Kidder built a large, imposing three-story home on the southeast corner of Third and Dock streets; it was in this house that the Moores were married. Louis T. and Florence Kidder Moore had three daughters: Florence, who married John O. Dunn; Margaret (Peggy), who married William Perdew, and Ann (1930-1983), who married Zachary Bacon. In 1921, Mr. Moore became the secretary of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce, an office that he held for twenty years, retiring in 1941. The position gave him the opportunity to be a tenacious promoter of his hometown, and it was during this period that the over nine hundred photographs in this collection were made. There was not an important event or location that he did not capture on film, from Easter egg hunts at Greenfield Lake, Feast of the Pirates parades, and bathing beauty pageants at area beaches to activities at the State Test Farm at Willard, NC. All of the chief industries of the area were photographed - oil terminals, agricultural fields and markets, lumber mills and naval stores. The port of Wilmington and the Cape Fear River were favorite subjects, as ships and sailing schooners from all over the world called at the wharves on the river. During the Depression, Mr. Moore's photographs chronicle the tragic plight of the unemployed, by telling the story of the many of the W. P. A. projects, one being the building of Community Drive around Greenfield Lake. Monuments and historical sites are also included. The collection is a remarkable record of life in Wilmington and vicinity between the two World Wars. In a 1997 Sunday Star-News article on Mr. Moore, his daughter, Peggy, recalled, "It was a ritual every Sunday afternoon. Daddy had this great big box camera and every Sunday we would drive out and take pictures." When he was not taking photographs, Mr. Moore had time to spearhead numerous causes for the benefit of the area. He was instrumental in leading the Chamber's on-going efforts to deepen the Cape Fear River channel and thereby improve the Port of Wilmington. He was a big booster of the intracoastal waterway system and testified before Congress more than once in its behalf. As the industrial agent for the Chamber, he assisted in the relocation of industries to the area, one of which was the Texaco Oil Company. Early, he recognized the importance of aviation and supported the establishment of Bluthenthal Field. He was a brilliant public relations man, preparing favorable articles about the city, which were published in such magazines as: The World Traveler, Outdoor Pictorial and Nautical Gazette. In the winter of 1929, the Wilmington Historical Commission was reorganized and revived. It had been founded in 1916 by the Rev. Andrew Howell, Eugene S. Martin, William A. McGirt and Dr. James Sprunt. Louis T. Moore and Addison Hewlett, Sr. were appointed to take the places of Dr. Sprunt and Mr. Martin, both of whom were deceased. Many visitors to Wilmington have noticed a number of stone markers, placed throughout the city, which mark important historical sites. The commission sponsored and were the overseers of placing these markers. In 1947, Mr. Moore became chairman of the commission, and it was during his tenure, that the Wilmington/New Hanover County Museum (now the Cape Fear Museum) was moved from one room across from the jail on the third floor of the county courthouse to much larger quarters in a former Atlantic Coast Line building on Red Cross Street. Area North Carolina State Historical Highway Markers are a direct result of Mr. Moore's research and suggestions - over twenty of them were placed in our area. Future generations owe the Commission and Mr. Moore a great debt of gratitude for their interest in perpetuating Wilmington's historical heritage. Mr. Moore also understood the importance of preserving landmarks and historic sites. The creation of Innes Park next to City Hall is due to his efforts. He objected strenuously to removing Kenan Fountain at Fifth and Market streets to another location and it remains on the same site today. His other successful preservation projects involved the Confederate Monument at Third and Dock streets, the George Davis Monument at Third and Market streets and Thalian Hall. He was a popular historical speaker for civic, religious and fraternal organizations and the author of numerous articles on the history of the Cape Fear Region, which were published in The State Magazine, the Raleigh News and Observer, the Greensboro News and the Wilmington Morning Star. His fascination with Oakdale Cemetery led him to write an eight page pamphlet, Beautiful Oakdale, that has been reprinted many times in different formats. Perhaps his most famous literary effort was the publication in 1956 of Stories Old and New of the Cape Fear Region. It contains sixty stories, which combined local history with tradition and lore. In the preface, he writes: "It is submitted with the desire and hope that it may persuade local North Carolinians to have a deeper appreciation of the fascinating lore of an important territory." The book was a success and went into a second edition. It was reprinted in 1962 by the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society of which he was one of the six founders. In 1999, a fourth edition was published by the society, through the generosity of Mr. Moore's grandson, Louis Moore Bacon. During his later life, a grateful public honored Louis T. Moore for his devoted service in preserving and fostering area history. Civic clubs presented him with numerous awards and certificates. On April 19, 1953, he was chosen "Tar Heel of the Week" by the Raleigh News and Observer. In 1955, the Mayor and City Council of Wilmington made Mr. Moore an honorary member of the City Council. He was named "Wilmingtonian of the Week" in December of 1956, by a local magazine, Life Around Wilmington. Two years later, the Stamp Defiance Chapter of the National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution gave him a certificate honoring him "in grateful acknowledgment and sincere gratitude for outstanding service and worthy accomplishment in preserving the history of the Lower Cape Fear." Mr. Moore was presented the prestigious 1960 Charles A. Cannon Cup for his efforts to preserve historic landmarks in the Wilmington area by the North Carolina Society for the Preservation of Antiquities. Louis T. Moore died on November 30, 1961 in Memorial Hospital at Chapel Hill. The funeral was held at Grace Methodist Church, where he was baptized some seventy-six years before. He was buried at Oakdale Cemetery. After his death, his family generously donated to the New Hanover County Public Library his collection of photographs. Also included in the gift were his local history files, which contain pamphlets, stories, newspaper articles and correspondence. Mr. Moore was a prolific letter writer, corresponding with such interesting people as Mary Baker Eddy's son and several very early aviation pioneers. The Louis T. Moore Collection is a valuable research tool which hundreds of historians and writers have consulted over the years. The collection formed the basis of "Wilmington through the Eyes of Louis T. Moore: Caretaker of Cape Fear History and Legend," a documentary video, produced by Constance and Walter Knox in 1997. It was broadcast statewide on University of North Carolina Public Television and later aired on cable's History Channel. In 1995, the Lower Cape Fear Historical Society placed an historical marker in front of the Zebulon Latimer House, the Society's headquarters, on South Third Street, which reads: Louis Toomer Moore At his death, Mr. Moore was called the area's most outstanding historian, a role he loved and fulfilled best. He kept history alive when it was not in fashion and had the foresight to recognize the importance of preserving a part of the past. Born in the Victorian era, he emerged as the lower Cape Fear's cultural and historical leader in the twentieth century, a progressive, reflective, tireless and dedicated supporter of his beloved native area. Ann Hewlett Hutteman |
