Dixie
Known Name(s)
Dixie
Address
52 Washington Street Annapolis, MD 21404
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Description
A two-story building that stood on the northeast side of Washington Street south of its intesection with Clay Street.
Detailed History
The 1956 Annapolis Polk City Directory does not identify 52 Washington Street as a hotel, but rather as a vacant property. However, the directory lists the names of two men, Alexander M. Brown, a laborer for the City Treatment Plant, and John Smith, the assistant sexton at St. Anne's Church on Church Circle as residents. The 1930/1959 Sanborn Insurance Company Map calls the building a restaurant in the ground floor and a hotel on the second, while the 1921 Sanborn map shows how Washington Street evolved when No. 50 was a feed store and No. 52 was a dwelling. The 1950 US Census indicates that No. 50 was a boarding house run by Nancy A. Queen, who was a barmaid at Brown's Hotel on Clay Street. Other residents included Queen's mother, Gertrude Price, a maid; Wong Dong Song, who was a cook, originally from China; Eleanor A. Jacobs, a maid at the Naval Academy; and Audrey C. Ball, who had no job listed. It appears that the boarding house became the "Dixie Hotel" in about 1954, but changed names in 1959. Washington Street connected the community to West Street, and its community importance is reflected by the presence of the First Baptist Church, Jeanette's and ______ beauty shops, several taverns and hotels as well as other apartment buildings and single family dwellings. The buildings that stood on the northeast side of Washington Street have been replaced by a city parking garage.
