Mrs. W. Greenlow Tourist Home
Known Name(s)
Mrs. J. Greenhow Tourist Home
Address
1317 Summerfield Ave. Asbury Park, NJ
Establishment Type(s)
Tourist Home
Physical Status
Extant
Description
The 1930 Sanborn insurance map depicted the Summerfield Avenue house on Asbury Park’s West Side as a two-story frame dwelling with a one-story, u-shaped porch facing the street on the first floor. It had a second-story porch to the front as well, and a small bump-out to the east. 1315 Summerfield Avenue – the address of the Greenhow house today (see history for address and name issues) – is extant, parts of the first-floor porch and the entire second-floor porch now enclosed.
Source: Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of New Jersey Coast, New Jersey, Vol. 2 (1930), sheet 203.
Detailed History
Juanita Greenhow, her name misspelled as “W. Greenlow,” listed her house as a tourist home in The Green Book for the entire run of the publication.
The address was listed as at 1317 Summerfield Avenue in Asbury Park from 1938 through 1951 (except for 1941) and as at 1315 Summerfield from 1952 through 1966. The 1930 Sanborn insurance map indicated that 1315 and 1317 were one and the same.
Mrs. Greenhow lived at the house on Summerfield with her husband, Leon, who, according to his obituary, died in 1948 at the young age of 39. The 1940 census reported that both were African-American and born in New Jersey. According to her obituary, Mrs. Greenhow, who had gone to beauty school in New York City, died at 92 in 2001, having lived her entire life in Asbury Park.
Mrs. Greenhow was active in the West Side community. The Asbury Park Press reported in 1953 that she was named co-chair of Lonnie C. Moore’s campaign for a city council position, which was ultimately unsuccessful. Mr. Moore, an African-American man, ran with the goal of giving the population of the West Side a say in city politics, which it had long been denied. In their joint statement at the announcement of their new positions, Mrs. Greenhow and her co-chair stated, “The time is far past due for such a large segment of the population to be denied representation in the city administration. With the coming of participation by each segment, there will be a new era marked by progress for the entire city.”
Sources: Sanborn Map Co., Sanborn Map Co., Insurance Maps of New Jersey Coast, New Jersey, Vol. 2 (1930), sheet. 203; US census, 1940 and 1950; Polk’s Asbury Park City Directory, 1937, 1940, and. 1954; “Juanita Greenhow,” Asbury Park Press, 25 January 2001; “Leon Greenhow,” Asbury Park Press, 13 August 1947; “Moore Picks Campaign Heads;” Asbury Park Press, 19 March 1953; “Moore Aspires to City Council;” Asbury Park Press, 17 February 1953.
J. Shaffer
