Mrs. Margaret Wright Tourist Home
Known Name(s)
Wright's Cottage Tourist Home (Primary) Mrs. Margaret Wright Tourist Home (Secondary)
Address
1405 Bangs Ave. Asbury Park, NJ (Primary) (1941)153 Sylvan Ave. Asbury Park, NJ (Secondary) (1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962)
Establishment Type(s)
Resort, Tourist Home
Physical Status
Demolished
Description
The 1930 Sanborn insurance map depicted 1405 Bangs as a two-story frame house with a one story porch in the front that wrapped to the east and a small, one-story porch to the rear. 1405 Bangs was demolished at an unknown time. The address today is an empty lot.
Source: Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of New Jersey Coast, New Jersey, Vol. 2 (1930), sheet 203.
The 1930 Sanborn insurance map depicted 153 Sylvan as a dwelling on a large lot at the corner of tiny Williamson’s Court. The structure was a large, two-story frame house with a one-story wrap to the front. This porch is visible in the photo Mrs. Wright included in her frequent Green Book ads. 153 Sylvan Avenue was demolished when the block was razed to make way for an urban renewal project. This section of Sylvan no longer exists, nor does Williamson’s Court, so it is difficult to pinpoint where 153 Sylvan was; Wright’s Cottage is therefore located very generally on the map.
Sources: Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of New Jersey Coast, New Jersey, Vol. 2 (1930), sheet 204; The Green Book, 1950, p. 87.
Detailed History
Wright’s Cottage on Bangs Avenue on Asbury Park’s West Side was listed for a single year: 1941. The proprietor, Mrs. Margaret Wright, placed a large notice on page 21 of The Green Book that year announcing the June opening. However, nothing further has been found about the proprietor or her business on Bangs. The tagline for Wright’s Cottage – “The Right Place to Spend Your Week-Ends and Vacation” – is the same, as is the name of the business, for the listing at 153 Sylvan, under the name Mrs. Margaret R. Wright, beginning in 1949. These coincidences lend support to the notion that the business on Sylvan was run by the same person.
Wright’s Cottage, under the name of Mrs. Margaret R. Wright, was listed in The Green Book as a vacation resort from 1949 through 1962 and also as a tourist home from 1950 through 1961. The business had a large ad, which included a picture of the front of the house and the tag line “The Right Place to Spend Your Weekends and Vacation.” Mrs. Wright was most likely the same person who listed a business of the same name at 1405 Bangs Avenue, listed in The Green Book in 1941.
Despite Mrs. Wright’s large presence in The Green Book, little is currently known of her beyond the business. The 1945 Polk’s Asbury Park City Directory listed William and Margaret Wright as living at 153 Sylvan. The 1950 census identified Margaret Wright as an African-American woman born around 1885 in Virginia.
Sources: Polk’s Asbury Park City Directory, 1945; US census, 1950; The Green Book, 1950, p. 87.
J. Shaffer
