the warren in warren street

This is the dude I was named after...thankfully my mom changed the spelling:

Since late in the 1800s Warren Street has been a center of African American business in Rocky Mount and Franklin County.

Over a hundred years ago Stephen Warren, a former slave, built a house at what is now the intersection of Warren and West Court Street in Rocky Mount, Virginia. They say the area had to be cleared of pine trees. He and his wife Caroline reared six daughters and a son. They were ancestors of a large number of descendants.

Warren Street was named for Steve Warren, the father of "Miss Ollie", owner of Miss Ollie's Restaurant and Boarding House at the intersection of West Court and Warren Street. Although no official records exist at town Hall, old fire maps indicate the name first was used after 1945.