Robert Toulson

Robert owned and ran Bob Toulson’s Tailor Shop, located on Church Street in the 1930s and 40s. Robert Toulson was born around 1900 in Salisbury, Maryland. He finished 6th grade in elementary school and did not attend college. He worked about 48 hours a week on his own account. He married Cecie Toulson in 1940, who was then 35. Together, they had a son named James, who was 15 in 1940 and in his sophomore year of high school when the Census was taken.¹

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The tailor shop shut its doors in 1948 when Mr. Toulson passed away. A notice was put in the newspaper for patrons to retrieve their clothes as soon as possible.³ Like many other Black-owned businesses, the shop was torn down around this time to make way for U.S. Route 13.

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The destruction of these businesses was only the beginning of the end of Georgetown. The neighborhood eventually disappeared as it was split by two highways.⁴ In 1963, a fire destroyed the majority of the westside, where more Black businesses were thriving. According to a Salisbury Times report of the disaster, "A fire on Saturday afternoon, Feb. 16, 1963, erupted at Lake and Main streets, destroying a theater, a nightclub and a five-and-ten cent store."⁵

Around 60 years ago, work began on what was then called the Salisbury Parkway (now Route 50), constructed by state and local entities across the region to “accommodate the hordes of travelers expected to make their way to grateful ocean resorts following the 1952 opening of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge”. Engineers suggested that the highway should be constructed north of Salisbury, but the city would not go for that. Due to that, Georgetown became the only Black community of significant size to have a major highway slice through its center.⁶