Honor Reed Hotel
Known Name(s)
Address
667 West Franklin Street Baltimore, MD
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Description
This part of Franklin Street was incorporated into the Franklin-Mulberry Street Expressway which is also called the “Highway to Nowhere” that demolished a part of an African American neighborhood in an effort to create an interstate connection from the west side of Baltimore to downtown.
Detailed History
By 1940, John W. and Mary Jane Reed had moved to 667 Franklin Street (see listing for Reed Hotel on McCulloh Street) and ran the Honor Reed Hotel at that location. In 1948, John Reed was killed in a dispute with a guest who claimed that someone had stolen his wallet from his room. The 1950 census shows that Mary Jane continued to run the hotel at 667 Franklin Street. The 1956 Baltimore C&P Telephone Directory lists the Hotel Honor-Reed (Mrs. M. J. H. Reed) as "catering to colored travelers, meals to order, 665-667 West Franklin Street." Although the business is categorized as a hotel, it was also a boarding house with residents living in furnished rooms.
