Mead Cottage
Known Name(s)
J.H. Meade (Primary) Mead Cottage (Secondary)
Address
83 Strongs Ave. Rutland, VT (Primary) (1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1947, 1948)24 High Street Rutland, VT (Secondary) (1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966)
Establishment Type(s)
Tourist Home
Physical Status
Extant
Detailed History
John H. Mead (sometimes spelled Meade) is listed in the Green Book as the proprietor of the tourist home at 83 Strongs Ave. from 1939 to 1948; this building has been demolished. From 1949 to 1967, Mead welcomed visitors to stay at his home on 24 High Street in Rutland, having moved his family there in 1947. Born in Troy, New York, Mead was an African American who relocated to Rutland sometime around 1920. He owned a popcorn stand between 1922 and 1933 and ran a successful window cleaning company. He also performed maintenance work for the local railroad. His wife, Mary A. Mead, is listed in census records as unemployed or as a homemaker, so she was likely heavily involved in running the tourist home business. The Meads purchased the house on High Street after the death of its previous owner, a white man named Charles Rich. John Mead retired, dissolving his window cleaning company and moving out of Rutland, in 1958. He was living in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in the home of his youngest daughter, Esther, when he died in 1961 at the age of 85. His wife, Mary, had died in 1953 at the age of 72. They are buried together in Troy, New York. In 1967, the house at 24 High Street was listed for sale in the Rutland Daily Herald. The listing describes the house as a “very fine 8-room house on a good street and in the Northeast School district. 4 Bedrooms and ½ bath up. 4 Large rooms and full bath down… New oil steam furnace, new aluminum siding, doors, and storm windows, new roof. Glassed-in porch, 2-car garage. Nearly an acre of land with garden and fruit trees.” The asking price was $13,000.
