The Pates
Known Name(s)
Pates (Secondary) The Pates (Primary)
Address
86 Archibald St. Burlington, VT (Secondary) (1938)86-90 Archibald St. Burlington, VT (Primary) (1939, 1940, 1941, 1946, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966)
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Physical Status
Extant
Detailed History
Born in Nashville, Tennessee, Frank W. Pate (1883-1950) was a member of the Black 10th Calvary, also known as the Buffalo Soldiers. Following the Spanish-American War, Pate fought to put down an anti-American uprising in the Philippines, which had recently been transferred from Spanish to American control. Cleta Harrison (1885-1957) was born in the Philippines, where she married Buffalo Soldier William King; the couple had three children. In 1910, the family moved to Fort Ethan Allen, when the 10th Calvary was transferred to Colchester, Vermont. William and Cleta King soon thereafter divorced, and she married Frank Pate in 1911. Two years later, Pate was discharged from the military for selling bootleg liquor, and the family moved to Winooski. Frank was a laborer at the time. In 1921, Cleta Pate bought 86 Archibald Street, by then a two-family house. The family moved there and rented out the apartment, which was accessed by a new one-story rear addition. In 1928, at the age of 43, Cleta took out a mortgage to enlarge the house to provide three apartments. Two years later, “The Pates Hotel” first appeared in Hackley & Harrison's Hotel and Apartment Guide for Colored Travelers. That same year, on July 14, the Burlington Free Press published an article announcing that the Burlington Colored All Stars had secured a house on Archibald to live in for the summer; that house was The Pates Hotel. The baseball team practiced at Roosevelt Park and played games at South Park (now Calahan Park). In 1931, Frank Pate was listed for the first time in the Burlington City Directories as a trucking and cement contractor, located at 86 Archibald Street. His adopted son, Alfred King, worked with him. The City of Burlington would sometimes hire Frank's trucks for jobs around the city, with Frank or Alfred as the driver. According to family members, Cleta was involved in the business and sold trucks for Frank. In 1938, “The Pates Hotel” appeared in the Green Book for the first time. It reappeared in subsequent years, remaining a Green Book constant until publication ceased in 1967. The Pates Hotel and apartment house was the longest continuously advertised site in the Green Book for Vermont. Frank and Cleta Pate both died in the 1950s. Alfred King, along with his sister Theresa King, continued to run “The Pates” as a Green Book hotel and, later, as an apartment house until 1988. They are all buried in St. Joseph’s Cemetery on Archibald Street.
