Built in 1926 and located on West Madison Street, the Allen Hotel was once Louisville’s largest hotel for Black guests during segregation. Featured in the Negro Motorist Green Book, it offered safe lodging when few places would. Notable figures, such as boxer Joe Louis, stayed in the fifty-room building.
The building is still in use today as part of an apartment complex.
Long before AirBNB existed, homeowners would offer up rooms to rent in their home. During segregation, these homes would be listed in The Green Book as tourist homes. These homes would offer safe places for Black travelers to stay while traveling.
In Asheville, the Mrs. S. Foster tourist home still stands on Clingman Avenue. The two bedroom bungalow was built in 1914. In 1925, Samuel and Sudie “Bell” Foster purchased the home. Samuel was a Pullman Porter and Bell served as the director of the Industrial Home for Girls.
Mrs, Foster died in 1947. Her husband ended up remarrying to Laura Foster. Starting in 1957, the Mrs. S. Foster Tourist Home was listed in the Green Book. Tourist Homes were almost always being listed as being run by women. This was two years after Mr. Foster’s retirement.
Samuel Foster died in 1965. Laura Foster continued to make her home available through The Green Book until she passed in 1967.
The home continued to be an important part of Black history in Asheville as it served as a meeting location for the Asheville Federation of Negro Women’s Clubs.
Dean Street was the heart of Black business and life in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Octavia Jones and her husband, Gilbert, lived at 255 N. Dean Street. By the 1939 Negro Motorist Green Book, their address is listed as one of several tourist homes (a residence where the owners would rent out rooms their rooms to travelers) on Dean Street. A garage is also listed at this address. I wonder if that was situated behind the home.
Ancestry records indicate that Mrs. Jones died in 1951, and Mr. Jones died in 1954. Despite this, the O. Jones Tourist Home is still listed in The Green Book as late as 1962.
While researching Octavia Jones, I found an interesting tidbit in the census records. This is the only time I can recall a wife being listed as head when the husband is still alive. I am intrigued to know if there is a story or not.
Constructed in 1958 at 181 W. Brooks Road, Presley Gulf Station appeared in the 1963 and 1966 Green Book.
