African-American cook-shops and 'hotels' in early Washington, DC

The image of a sole shopkeeper tending his roadside stand at 1st Street and Florida Avenue, NE at first does little more than remind Washingtonians about the rural nature of what was then still considered the edge of town, when the image was taken shortly after the turn of the twentieth century.  Upon closer inspection, however, the image reveals walls covered with philosophical sayings and observations, some of which might not ever be explained.  The image certainly is a rare snapshot of a lifestyle experienced by hundreds of thousands of post Civil War African Americans that eventually flooded Washington DC in the search for jobs in the decades following the War. 

The man and proprietor of the stand is Keith Sutherland, who pronounced his name “Keitt.”  He had been born enslaved in Charles County, Maryland about 1854, and escaped to Washington in 1862.  He first worked polishing shoes around the Treasury building, and recalled in a 1900 Washington Post article about watching President Lincoln’s funeral possession pass by, with a white horse tied behind the hearse.  He then resided, as did hundreds if not thousands of freed blacks, in a contraband camp in a large vacant Square just south of 12^th and S Street, NW, where the Garrison Elementary school now exists.  The squalid conditions, bars, poolrooms, tents and shacks extended southward for a block in an area appropriately coined “Hell’s Bottom.”        

Sutherland eventually opened a ramshackle food stall at 1111 R Street, in the heart of Hells Bottom.  In 1897, a Post article reported that there were hundreds of such stands, located in nearly every alley of the city.  It read:  “The alleys of this city are filled with colored cook-shops, which heretofore have paid no license fee…only the police and the people who visit the numerous alleys and little streets of the city know how many of these cook-shops exist. The colored people generally resort to these places for pigs' feet, meat pie, and substantial provender prepared by the old mammies and quaint old colored men who run them, and cook dishes to the taste of the people of their race.” (Washington Post, January 1, 1897).  At the time, Sutherland was fined $25 for not having a license, as a new enforcement took place.      

In 1900, Sutherland was interviewed at his stand in Hell’s Bottom, which offers a rare glimpse into life in the neighborhood at the time.  He stated: “There were two very lively places in those days. One was a triangular square at Rhode Island avenue and Eleventh street. It was here that an eloquent colored preacher, who went by the name of ‘John the Baptist,’ used to hold revival services, which were attended by the newly-freed slaves. The revival was all right, but the four or five barrooms in the neighborhood used to hold the overflow meetings, and when the crowds went home at night you couldn’t tell whether they were shouting from religion or whisky.

The Lincoln Séance at a House in Georgetown

The house located today at 3226 N Street was built between 1876-1877 by Thomas Loockerman, a successful dentist.  However, there was at least one prior dwelling on the site, built before 1851 and probably as early as the 1820s.  In the late 19^th century there were claims that during the Civil Wall President Abraham Lincoln attended a séance there.  City directories show people living on the site at least as early as 1863.[1]

The Lincoln Séance

 

 Thomas Knowles  purchased the two story house then known as 21 First Street in 1851.  According to city directories, 3226 N Street was occupied in 1863 by Cranstoun Laurie, identified as “chief clerk, Post Office Dept.”  Laurie and his wife Margaret had three children, including a daughter, Mary Isabella, nicknamed Belle.  Cranstoun Laurie’s father was the founder and first Rector of what is now New York Avenue Presbyterian Church. 

Years later, in 1891, Nettie Colburn Maynard wrote a book entitled Was Abraham Lincoln a Spiritualist?  Or Curious Revelations from the Life of a Trance Medium[2],  in which she described the activities of Mr. and Mrs. Laurie, and particularly their daughter Belle, as spiritual mediums.  The book tells of President Lincoln’s participation in a séance at 21 First Street on February 5, 1863 (150 years ago on Feb 5, 2013!):

Illustration from Was Abraham Lincoln a Spritualist? 

One morning, early in February, we received a note from Mrs. Lincoln, saying she desired us to come over to Georgetown and bring some friends for a seance that evening, and wished the "young ladies" to be present. In the early part of the evening, before her arrival, my little messenger, or "familiar" spirit, controlled me, and declared that (the "long brave," as she denominated him) Mr. Lincoln would also be there.

… [At the gathering that evening] he [Lincoln] turned to me and said, “Well, Miss Nettie; do you think you have anything to say to me tonight?" At first I thought he referred to the request I had made when he entered the room. Recollecting myself, however, I said, "If I have not, there may be others who have." He nodded his head in a pleasant manner, saying, "Suppose we see what they will have to tell us."

Among the spirit friends that have ever controlled me since my first development was one I have before mentioned – known as "old Dr. Bamford." He was quite a favorite with Mr. Lincoln. His quaint dialect, old-fashioned methods of expression, straightforwardness in arriving at his subject, together with fearlessness of utterance, recommended him as no finished style could have done. This spirit took possession of me at once. As I learned from those in the circle, the substance of his remarks was as follows: "That a very precarious state of things existed at the front, where General Hooker had just taken command. The army was totally demoralized; regiments stacking arms, refusing to obey orders or to do duty; threatening a general retreat; declaring their purpose to return to Washington. A vivid picture was drawn of the terrible state of affairs, greatly to the surprise of all present, save the chief to whom the words were addressed. When the picture had been painted in vivid colors, Mr. Lincoln quietly remarked: " You seem to understand the situation. Can you point out the remedy?" Dr. Bamford immediately replied: "Yes; if you have the courage to use it." "He smiled," they said, and answered, "Try me." The old doctor then said to him, "It is one of the simplest, and being so simple it may not appeal to you as being sufficient to cope with what threatens to prove a serious difficulty. The remedy lies with yourself. Go in person to the front; taking with you your wife and children; leaving behind your official dignity, and all manner of display. Resist the importunities of officials to accompany you, and take only such attendants as may be absolutely necessary; avoid the high-grade officers, and seek the tents of the private soldiers. Inquire into their grievances; show Yourself to be what you are, 'The Father of your People.' "

Alexander Hesler photograph, June 1860

…It was at this seance that Mrs. Belle Miller gave an example of her power as a "moving medium," and highly amused and interested us by causing the piano to "waltz around the room," as was facetiously remarked in several recent newspaper articles. The true statement is as follows: Mrs. Miller played upon the piano (a three-corner grand), and under her influence it "rose and fell," keeping time to her touch in a perfectly regular manner. Mr. Laurie suggested that, as an added "test" of the invisible power that moved the piano, Mrs. Miller (his daughter) should place her hand on the instrument, standing at arm's length from it, to show that she was in no wise connected with its movement other than as agent. Mr. Lincoln then placed his hand underneath the piano, at the end nearest Mrs. Miller, who placed her left hand upon his to demonstrate that neither strength nor pressure was used. In this position the piano rose and fell a number of times at her bidding. At Mr. Laurie's desire the President changed his position to another side, meeting with the same result.

The President, with a quaint smile, said, “I think we can hold down that instrument." Whereupon he climbed upon it, sitting with his legs dangling over the side, as also did Mr. Somes, S. P. Kase, and a soldier in the uniform of a major (who, if living, will recall the strange scene) from the Army of the Potomac. The piano, notwithstanding this enormous added weight, continued to wabble [sic] about until the sitters were glad “to vacate the premises." We were convinced that there were no mechanical contrivances to produce the strange result, and Mr. Lincoln expressed himself perfectly satisfied that the motion was caused by some "invisible power"…

John Buescher wrote a lengthy Internet posting[3] about Lincoln’s interactions with the Lauries and about the séance, relating it to a lock of Lincoln’s hair in the possession of the Chicago Historical Society.  He quotes an 1885 letter from the Lauries’ son Jack confirming that the Lincolns did visit the Lauries’ home.  

At least one mainstream historian appears not to have given much credence to these stories.  Michael Burlingame’s massive 2008 biography of Lincoln[4] obviously attempts to be comprehensive, comprising two volumes of 1000 pages each.  However, the index contains no references to spiritualism, séances, the Lauries, Belle Miller or Nettie Colburn Maynard.  These omissions are despite considerable attention that Burlingame gives to the psychologies of President and Mrs. Lincoln and to Mrs. Lincoln’s at times eccentric behavior.

Thomas Knowles sold 21 First Street to Thomas G. Loockerman in August 1870.  Loockerman built the house that now stands on the property, and he and his descendants would reside in the house for 37 years and own it for 66 years.

Copyright Paul K. Williams and Kenneth G. Peters

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[1] Boyd’s directories of Washington were an important source for this history.  The directories are not available for every year, so there are gaps in the information derived from them.  Although the directories provide a wealth of information, errors and omissions were not uncommon in them. 

[2] The book was published by Rufus C. Hartranft of Philadelphia and is available through Google Books.

[3] Unlocking the Mystery of a Lincoln Relic, www.spirithistory.com/lincoln.html.  The site no longer exists, but a copy of the posting is available in the Peabody Room of the D.C. Public Library Georgetown branch. 

[4] Burlingame, Abraham Lincoln, A Life, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2008.

From White to Black: The Unusual History of the Luray Apartment Building at 1320 R Street, NW

Even mundane buildings have the potential to reveal a fascinating history, and in the case of the nondescript apartment building at 1320-1322 R Street, its history includes a connection to an African American Congressman and an innovative housing company that purchased it for the purpose of renting it to an exclusive black clientele.  Though nameless today, the building was known as the Luray Apartments when construction began in 1908.

The building was built for just $12,000, and was initially not wired “for electricity or power.”   It opened in April of 1909.      

The building was one of the first commissions for local architect Matthew G. Lepley, who had opened his offices the same year the Luray was begun.  It was built for owner Thomas J. Kemp.  Lepley had been in Washington in 1886, and  later made headlines in the Washington papers when he was reprimanded by the War Production Board in 1942 when he allegedly violated rules on house price limits and housing preferences for government workers established during wartime. 

        

The Luray was owned by the National Investment Company and rented to white residents from 1914 to 1920.  The 1920 census revealed that only one of the eight apartments was occupied by a family designated as black.   Census enumerators that year were instructed “to be particularly careful in reporting the class mulatto.  The word here in generic, and includes quadroons, octoroons, and all persons having any perceptible trace of African blood.”  Importantly, it was up the census taker to observe and determine race, not the subject being interviewed.   Families that year at the Luray were employed as bookkeepers, laundress, laborers, machinists, and clerks. 

The Washington Bee newspaper carried a photograph of the Luray on the cover of its November 27, 1920 edition, with a story about its recent purchase by the Mutual Housing Company, Inc., which was a newly formed real estate investment business with offices at 1232 U Street.  An editorial by editor Calvin Chase in the same edition called attention to the work of the Company “doing the necessary work in the matter of housing the colored people of the city of Washington.”

The company had bought the Luray for the express purpose of changing its occupants from white to black, as part of the “City within a City” mentality that had enveloped the overall neighborhood.  Its President was Arthur Wergs Mitchell (1883-1968), and it promoted and sold stock to middle and upper class African Americans to fulfill a need in providing apartments to working class blacks.   The full article is reproduced here.                         

  

Although he is now one of history's forgotten figures, Mitchell (left) was once almost as well known among black college students as Jesse Owens and Joe Louis.  Mitchell's life began in rural Alabama in 1883, after which he studied briefly at Tuskegee Institute; He went on to study law in Washington, and thereafter became involved in politics when the Republicans sent him to Chicago in 1928 to campaign for Herbert Hoover.  Impressed by Chicago's ward system and patronage politics, he returned to the city and made a bid for a congressional seat, changing political parties in an effort to oust black Republican Congressman Oscar DePriest.             

Mitchell was elected as the first black Democrat in the Seventy-fourth and to the three succeeding Congresses (January 3, 1935-January 3, 1943).  In 1937, Mitchell sued three railroad companies for not offering equal treatment and accommodations for all passengers. The case went to the Supreme Court, which gave Mitchell a favorable ruling. As a result of these "confrontational" acts, the Chicago Machine quickly decided not to endorse Mitchell in the elections of 1942.

Throughout his career, Mitchell issued bills holding state and local offices accountable for lynching and to prohibit racial discrimination.  In 1943, he resumed the practice of law, and was also engaged in civil rights work, public lecturing, and farming near Petersburg, Virginia.  He died at his home on May 9, 1968, and was interred on his estate, “Land of a Thousand Roses,” in Dinwiddie County.

By the time the 1930 census was taken at the Luray Apartment building, all of its residents were indeed classified as black.  They paid monthly rents ranging from $50 to $65, and were employed in myriad occupations, including a projectionist at a local theater, chauffeur for a piano business, tailor, laundress, porter, printer, waitress, and even a University Professor named Elwood Cox.    

Mitchell’s Mutual Housing Company would continue to own the Luray until shortly after 1949.  It was later owned by the Luray Limited partnership, who converted the building into condominiums in 1987.  

Copyright Paul K. Williams        

Fraser Mansion at 1701 20th Street, NW

When it was completed in 1890, the pink granite and brick mansion constructed at 1701 20^th Street, near the corner of R Street and Connecticut Avenue towered over its more humble neighboring houses built of wood frame.  It was the home of New York merchant George S. Fraser, and had been designed by the noted architects Joseph Hornblower and James Marshall. 

Fraser had first come to Washington in 1888, and obtained the permit to build the mansion at 1720 20^th Street in June of 1890.  It was built at a cost of $75,000, far more than ten times the cost of a typical Washington townhouse being built at the time.  The Frasers summered at Northeast Harbor on the Maine coast.  George Fraser didn’t enjoy the house for long, however, as he died in 1896.    

The architectural firm of Hornblower and Marshall was formed in 1883 and was responsible for many Washington homes and public buildings of significance.  Joseph Hornblower had studied at Yale University and the famed Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris, completing his studies in 1871.  Marshall had graduated from Rutgers College in 1871.  Their Fraser mansion was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. 

In 1901, George Fraser’s widow sold the mansion to Pennsylvania Congressman Joseph Earlston Thropp (1847-1927) and his wife, Miriam Douglas Scott-Thropp.  She was the eldest and widowed daughter of Col. Thomas Alexander Scott, a President of the Pennsylvania Railroad and a former Assistant Secretary of War under President Lincoln.  Joseph Throop made a fortune from the manufacturer of pig iron, and served as a Representative from Pennsylvania in the 56^th Congress from March 4, 1899 to March 3, 1901, when they moved into 1720 20^th Street. 

Thropp graduated from the Polytechnic College of Pennsylvania in 1868 with a degree in engineering.  He first gained employment constructing docks at Duluth, Minnesota, and Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, eventually attaining the position of railroad division engineer.  In 1870, he moved to Conshohocken, Pennsylvania, and engaged in the manufacture of pig iron, sub subsequently becoming owner of the Earlston Furnaces in Everett, Pennsylvania, in 1888.  He died in 1927, and his wife Miriam died in 1930.   

The mansion served as a series of restaurants beginning with the Parrot Tea Room in 1932, with a boarding house located upstairs.  It was subsequently leased to John Goldstein in 1950, who renamed the restaurant Golden Parrot.  It was sold in 1974 and later became known as the Golden Booeymonger, and Bermuda House restaurants, and the nightclub’s known as Larry Brown’s and Sagittarius.  In 1981, international restaurateur Walter Sommer purchased the mansion for $2 million, and after a $3 renovation, opened a restaurant named the Four Ways.   A plan in 1987 to convert the mansion and built a seven story condominium building on the rear lot was thwarted by local residents.    

The mansion was purchased by the Founding Church of Scientology in April of 1994.  Its founder, L. Ron Hubbard had moved to Washington, DC in 1923, and attended The George Washington University.  At his home near Dupont Circle, Hubbard wrote the very first manuscript of his discoveries: Dianetics: The Original Thesis, known today as The Dynamics of Life.  That led to his founding the Church of Scientology in this city in 1955.

 

The Church undertook a massive renovation of the structure that lasted over a year; its interior woodwork and fourteen fireplaces were all meticulously restored.  Located on the lower ground floor are three stained glass windows depicting the seals of Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, DC that were discovered in the attic during the project.  

Copyright Paul K. Williams

A Newsworthy House History in Woodley Park: Literally.

What are the chances of have four nationally known journalists own the same house at some point in their careers?  Rare, indeed - but one house in the Woodley Park neighborhood has that unique distinction.  We supplied the scoop to Urban Turf DC, who recently revealed their identity on the Urban Turf Blog.  Past owners of 3124 Woodley Road, NW have included NY Times writer James Reston, Tom Brokaw, Charlie Rose, and Tim Russert.   

For those of you that want the complete story, details from the house history we wrote for the late Tim Russert are below.  He gave the "house history" to his wife, columnist Maureen Orth as a birthday gift several years ago.  Let's hope whoever owns the house today is a news fan!     

 

Owner George Henry Dawson applied for and was granted an Application for Permit to Build #254 for the construction of 3124 Woodley Road, N.W., on July 12, 1915.  The permit was for a single family dwelling to be constructed of brick and stone.  Dawson had paid a filing fee of $7.75 at the time of the application.  His wife, Josephine Dawson, had purchased lot #16 four years earlier, in May of 1911.

According to inspector notes, construction began on 3124 Woodley Road on July 20, 1915, and was completed by November 23 of that same year.  The house had been designed by the architectural firm of MacNeil and MacNeil, based in New York City.  Robert L. Macneil (left) was a partner with his brother in the firm, and was born on December 10, 1889 in Norfolk, Virginia to a father who he later recalled was a painter from Canada.  He attended secondary school at Chifflet’s Atelier Préparatoire in Paris, France, where he went on to learn the trade of architecture. 

 

Owners James B. and Sally Reston

             Ellen Littlepage Hart only owned 3124 Woodley Road for six weeks, as she sold it to James B. Reston on April 19, 1951.  They would be the sixth owners of the property since its construction in 1915, and would continue to reside there until 1975.  At the time, Reston was diplomatic correspondent and columnist for the New York Times Washington Office.   

            Just one year after purchasing 3124 Woodley Road, in 1952, James Barrett Reston (right) would make world headlines when questions he had submitted to Russian Premier Joseph Stalin were answered via Russian Ambassador Georgi N. Z. Zarubin.  His picture accompanied a notice in the New York Times, illustrated at left, appeared above a caption that indicated the questions revealed that Stalin was favoring meeting with U.S. President elect Eisenhower and trying a new approach toward ending the Korean War. 

            James B. Reston was born in Clydebank, Scotland, on November 3, 1909.  He came to the United States in 1920, and became a naturalized citizen in 1927.  He received his B.A. in 1932 from the University of Illinois.  Shortly thereafter, he married Sarah “Sally” Jane Fulton, a journalist, on December 24, 1935.

            His distinguished career at the New York Times began in 1934 as a sports writer in the New York office, a position he held until 1937, when he reported sports from London, England for the following two years.  From 1939 to 1945, he reported news from the London office, before accepting a position as diplomatic correspondent in the Washington, D.C. office.  Shortly thereafter, in 1953, Reston became the Washington Bureau Chief, a position he held until 1964. 

            Reston became the associate editor in Washington for four years, between 1964 and 1968, and executive editor in New York City, for 1968 and 1969.  He returned to Washington later that year to become vice president until 1973, when he became a director of the company.  In 1971, he was one of the first American reporters allowed into China, and was subsequently remembered because of his attack of appendicitis required him to report from his hospital bed at the Anti-Imperialist Hospital in Peking. 

            His obituary in the December 7, 1995 edition of the New York Times makes reference to this point in his career, and his residence in Washington by stating “During these years the Reston’s lived in a pleasant red brick house on Woodley Road in leafy northwest Washington and spent weekends at their log cabin in Fiery Run, Va.”    

            His obituary in the New York Times December 7, 1995 edition also offers some insight on the journalist himself, and reads:

“Writing his column three times a week, Mr. Reston was a procrastinator, often filing right on deadline, to the dismay of nighttime editors at The Times.  A two-finger typist, he regularly wore out typewriters because he banged so hard on the keys, and his desk was a litter of papers, many which bore tiny black marks where a stream of smoldering matches had landed in the course of a never-ending pipe-lighting ritual.” 

            Among his numerous awards, Reston earned the Pulitzer Prize in 1945 and again in 1957, both for national reporting.  His first Pulitzer was in recognition of his reporting on the Dumbarton Oaks Conference in Washington in 1944, which laid the groundwork for the United Nations.  He authored four books during his career; Prelude to Victory, 1942, Sketches in the Sand, 1967, Artillery of the Press, in 1967, and an autobiography entitled Deadline, in 1991.            

            Sally and James Reston had three children; Richard, James, Jr., and Thomas. 

James B. Reston retired from The New York Times in 1989, and died in December of 1995 at the age of 86.         

Owners

 Thomas J. “Tom” and Meredith Brokaw

James B. and Sally Reston sold 3124 Woodley Road to news anchor Tom Brokaw and his wife Meredith on November 28, 1975, for the consideration of $150,ooo.  They resided at the address from the time of purchase until some time late in 1976, when they moved to New York City. 

            Brokaw was born in Webster, South Dakota, on February 6, 1940.  Later, in 1962, he married the former Meredith Lynn Auld, on August 17, 1962.  Tom Brokaw began his journalism career following graduation from the University of South Dakota in 1962 at KMTV, Omaha, Nebraska.  By 1965, he became the late night news anchor on WSB-TV in Atlanta.  Currently the anchor and managing editor of “NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw” he began his career at NBC in 1966, where he reported from KNBC in Los Angeles until 1973.  He has anchored the NBC Nightly News since 1983.

            Like several owners before them, the Brokaw’s continued to own 3124 Woodley Road and rent it to several tenants throughout their ownership from 1975 to 1985.  The Haines City Directory lists Frank B. Moore as an occupant in 1980.  From 1981 to 1983, the house was occupied by Richard Rymland, Billy Amy Sind and Catherine Wyler. 

            In 1983, the Brokaw’s rented the house to M. Buie and Marjorie Seawell.  He had been born on July 8, 1937 in Lumberton, North Carolina, and had obtained degrees from Davidson College in 1959, Union Seminary in 1961, and Denver University in 1975.  At certain points in his career, Seawell served as chief legal aid to Governor Dick Lamm, and served as Chief of Staff to U.S. Senator Gary Hart.

 Owner Charles “Charlie” Rose

            The Brokaw’s sold 3124 Woodley Road to Charlie Rose on January 31, 1984.  The former CBS News anchor is currently anchor and executive editor of Charlie Rose, a nightly interview program which airs on 222 PBS affiliates nationwide.  It made its nationwide debut on January 4, 1993.

            Rose graduated from Duke University with an A.B. in history and a J.D. from the School of Law.  He was born in Henderson, North Carolina on January 5, 1942.  Rose entered television journalism full-time in 1974, as managing editor of the PBS series “Bill Moyers' International Report.”   The following year, Rose became executive producer for the PBS conversation and documentary series “Bill Moyers' Journal.”  In 1976, Rose was named correspondent of the new PBS series “USA: People and Politics,” a weekly political magazine.

            Later in 1976, Rose moved to NBC as a correspondent, based in Washington D.C. From then until 1981, Rose hosted a number of interview programs, including a co-host position with AM/Chicago on WLS-TV, and host of “The Charlie Rose Show” at KXAS-TV in Dallas/Ft. Worth.  In 1981, Rose moved "The Charlie Rose Show" to Washington, D.C., where he also anchored a weekly interview show for WRC-TV. 

            During his ownership of 3124 Woodley Road, Rose anchored CBS's “Nightwatch,” the network's late-night interview series, from 1984 to 1990.  He sold 3124 Woodley Road in 1993, and divides his time between his home in New York and his farm near Oxford, North Carolina. 

Owners Tim Russert and Maureen Orth

            Tim Russert and Maureen Orth purchased 3124 Woodley Road from Charlie Rose on September 9, 1993, and continue to own it today.  Together, they are the ninth owners of the home first constructed in 1915 by George H. Dawson.  

            Tim Russert is the moderator of “Meet the Press” and political analyst for “NBC Nightly News” and “Today.” He hosts “The Tim Russert Show,” a weekly CNBC program.  Russert also serves as Senior Vice President and Washington Bureau Chief of NBC News and as a contributing anchor for MSNBC Cable.

            The late Russert was married to Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair magazine.  They met at a New York State Democratic party reception during the 1980 Democratic National Convention.  Currently, they lived at the distinguished residence along with their son, Luke.   

Copyright Paul K. Williams