Cisco, Cisco, Cisco, part 6 – Cisco, North Carolina

: 1950 USGS Aerial Photo of Cisco, Cisco Road, and Cisco station site, NC

I’m trying to build the N scale replica of the town of Cisco, Utah circa 1970. Accordingly, it’s my routine to search “Cisco” on the web, but it goes wrong most of the time bothered by “San Francisco” or “Cisco Systems”. Sometimes, “Cisco, Texas” gets in my way. Thus, I was wondering how many “Cisco”s are there in the United States. My recent research during these Stay Home days revealed some of them. Let me introduce these places named Cisco as a sideshow for my Town of Cisco posts.


Cisco, Chowan, North Carolina: the Suffolk & Carolina Railway’s Cisco, NC station was located between Suffolk, VA and Edenton, NC: Center Hill station to the north and Maraton station to the south according to the Sixth Annual Report of the North Carolina Corporation Commission (1904)[1]. Shipping forest products out of the sawmill was the leading role of the station[2, 3].

The S&C was founded in 1884 and the section through Cisco was completed in 1891[1]. The station was renamed to Beverly no later than 1904[1].


The community of Cisco was located a mile and a half northwest of the station along Virginia Road at GPS coordinates 36.203161, -76.659369. I couldn’t find the origin of the name of Cisco. Cisco Road from the Cisco station reached the community.

The Cisco Post Office was operated between 1891 and 1907[4]. Zachariah Winborne Evans(1861 ｰ 1937) was the original and the only postmaster. I couldn’t find where the post office was, but the 1891 Site of Location for Cisco Post Office paper suggests it was located within the community along Virginia Road.

Cisco once boasted a cotton gin, a lumber mill, and a general store all managed by the postmaster Evans, a physician's office run by James R. Parker, and a blacksmith/repair shop operated by W. J. Dales[2, 5]. A school was open at least between 1902 and 1943: it was located a mile northeast of the station along Sandy Ridge Road[2, 6].


The S&A eventually merged into the original Norfolk Southern Railway in 1906, but the line was abandoned in 1940[7]. The name of the place where the station was located returned to Cisco and the original Cisco community lost its name[6]. Both communities of original Cisco and former Beverly keep several inhabitants to this day.

revised, Dec. 23, 2022

[1] Lewis, J.D., North Carolina Railroads – Suffolk & Carolina Railway, North Carolina Railroads;
[2] The North Carolina Year Book 1902, The news and Observer;
[3] Office of E. Z. Evans letterhead, East Carolina University Digital Collections;
[4] Forte, Jim, Chowan County, North Carolina Post Offices, Jim Forte Postal History;
[5] Apr. 9, 1897 Fisherman and Farmer;
[6] 1943 USGS map, Edenton, NC
[7] A Belief History of the Norfolk Southern;

: 1891 Site of Location for Cisco Post Office
: Office of E. Z. Evans letterhead
: Google maps, Cisco, NC
　

筆者がNスケールで復元しようとしているユタ州Ciscoについて調べようとインターネット検索すると、余計なページばかりよく引っ掛かる。一番邪魔なのは「San Francisco」、次に邪魔なのは「Cisco Systems」に関連するページである。テキサス州にある「Cisco」という町に関連するページも結構邪魔だ。一方、お目当てのユタ州Ciscoの町に関連するページなどほとんどない。一体何件の「Cisco」がアメリカにあるのか。古い時刻表を調べてみると、ユタ州Cisco以外に八カ所ものCisco駅があったらしい。どんなところだろう。


Cisco, North Carolina: 五カ所目のCisco駅は、バージニア州Suffolkおよびノース・キャロライナ州Edenton を結ぶべく建設されたSuffolk & Carolina Railway沿線に1891年に開業した。駅名は駅北西2.5キロほどにある集落の名前に由来する。最も数年後には駅名および所在地名はBeverlyに改称されている。ところが、1943年に所在地の名前はCiscoに戻った。駅がそれまで存在していたかは不明。

郵便局は駅と同じ1891年に開局したが1907年には閉じている。1940年には鉄道が廃止。元駅所在地は現在数軒のモービルホームが並ぶ三叉路にすぎない。元祖Cisco集落には数軒の民家が遺っているようだが、こちらは地形図から名前が消えた。今日、Ciscoの名前は駅と集落を結んでいたCisco Roadに遺るのみである。