New Cape May Hotel
Known Name(s)
New Cape May Hotel
Address
Cor. Broad and Jackson Sts. Cape May, NJ
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Physical Status
Extant
Detailed History
Richardsonв's Hotel stands at the intersection of Jackson Street and Broad Street at the west end of the city. Richardsonв's is a well-preserved prominent landmark at this key intersection where traffic leaves town for West Cape May and Cape May Point. Today, it houses four boutique stores at street level and three apartments upstairs. This section of Cape May was the locus of African American business and life. It was situated away from the beaches and major hotels, near the railroad terminus and a marshy area on the north side of town. The handsome two-and-a-half story, mansard-style edifice was built in 1870 by Victor Denizot, a Cape May entrepreneur and politician. It survived the great fire of 1878, which destroyed much of the city. In 1890 it was being used as a sash, door and blind factory, and by 1909 it was the New Cape May Hotel. By 1932 the New Cape May had become Richardson's Hotel or Richardsonв's New Cape May Hotel. It contained 19 hotel rooms. South in the same block were the African American Macedonia Baptist Church and a "Colored" hotel named Douglas, showing a trend toward African American presence.Richardsonв's was also a speakeasy and a brothel that was allegedly patronized by white city fathers, a situation that served Richardson well in politics. Richardson, for all his success, however, did not end up well. He did prison time for a double murder of sisters he was two-timing. Richardson's stood opposite a demolished Green Book listing on Jackson Street, a restaurant named “Best Boy and Lees' or "Billy Boy and Lees". Now, many houses and businesses once owned and occupied by African Americans are missing along Jackson Street, the west end of Lafayette Street where Rotary Park was created in 1964, and Chestnut Street, areas slated for clearance after African Americans were steered to these neighborhoods. From the 1920s to 1980, African Americans comprised 30% of the population; the popularity of this National Historic Landmark city then soared, and today they number some 3%. (Sources: Sanborn maps,; Jeffrey Hebron, Center for Community Arts tour guide; "Come with us on the African American Walking Tour by Susan Tischler" http://www.capemay.com/Editorial/march08/afroamericanhistory.html ; "Bizarre History of Cape May: African Americans made important contributions to Cape May" http://www.shorenewstoday.com/cape_may/history/bizarre-history-of-cape-may-african-americans-made-important-contributions/article_70b838fd-add6-5048-b450-d05a361e6875.html; City of Cape May Historic Preservation Commission Meeting Minutes, Monday, March 28, 2011; "Richardson's", Cape May Magazine, February 11, 2014, 82.)
