Inman Hotel
Known Name(s)
Inman Hotel
Address
White Horse Pike Lawnside, NJ (1952, 1953, 1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966)131 White Horse Pike Lawnside, NJ (Modern Address)
Establishment Type(s)
Hotel
Physical Status
Demolished
Detailed History
What is known of the building that became the Inman Hotel spans eighty-two years, but the property’s history is incomplete. When the structure was built, for whom, and by whom, is a mystery at present.
In 1900, the building was called the Hotel Woodlawn Terrace. It was owned and operated by Josephine Smith as a seasonal hotel and a boarding house. When Josephine died intestate in 1912, her five children sold their shares in the property to Edward Parker Read. Read, a physician and pharmacist from Keysville, Virginia, was married to Alphonsinia Smith, eldest daughter of Josephine Smith. Smith’s other children were Charles, Lillian, Bernard, and Josephine Smith.[i]
As a physician, E. P. Read specialized in the care of women and children. In 1915, he opened the former hotel as the Eureka Maternity Nursery Orphanage and Industrial Home, Inc. His mission was to “ . . . assist unfortunate colored women recommended by ministers, lawyers, doctors, nurses, relatives or other responsible persons.” As well, infants and children were “ boarded, adopted, reared, trained and educated.” In 1920, there were twenty-nine women and children in residence at the facility. The number of residents would seem to indicate a measure of success; yet by April 1925, the sanatorium had become the Lawnside Inn. [ii]
William and Laura Willis were likely the first to lease the former sanatorium. They opened there as the “Lawnside Inn” on 28 April 1925 and closed in January 1933.[iii] The couple reopened there under the name” Hi-Hat Inn” in 1936. Between 1945-1949, they had moved across the Pike and opened as the “Hi-Hat Club.”[iv]
Behind the scenes, the Reads were experiencing financial difficulties. There had been a tax lien on the property since 1932 and the Boro’s tax collector had been “receiver of rents,” since 1937. In 1944, Inman Walker bought the property’s tax sale certificates. He foreclosed on the property in 1948.[v]
Inman Frank Walker divested his interest in other business ventures to focus on the Inman’s success. It is likely he authorized renovations before opening the hotel before or by 1952. Walker died unexpectedly on 1 June 1961. After his death, his wife, Minnie Walker, maintained the hotel for several years before selling to Lauretta Adams in 1966. In early 1982, Adams sold the property to a real estate investment company. Later the same year the property was sold to Jiffy Lube International.[vi]
The Inman Hotel building was razed in the early 1980s to make way for a Jiffy Lube. Today, a Take 5 Oil Change shop occupies the site of the former Inman Hotel. [vii]
[i] “Hotel Woodlawn Terrace,” The Colored American, 7 September 1900, p. 12; digital image, Newspapers.com https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 3/28/2024). See also, 1900 U. S. census, Camden County, New Jersey, population schedule, Camden City, ED 91, sheet 7-B, dwelling 147, family 152, Josephine Smith household; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11/28/2023); citing National Archives Records Administration microfilm T623, roll 959. See also, Camden County, New Jersey, Deed Book 396: 185-187, Charles A. Smith, & als to Edward P. Read, 22 July 1912; Office of the Camden County Clerk, Camden. And, Vivian Ovelton Sammons, Blacks in Science and Medicine (New York: Hemisphere Publishing Corporation, 1990), 198.
[ii] Blacks in Science and Medicine, 198. See also, Eureka Maternity Nursery Orphanage and Industrial Home, (Inc.),” Morning Post, 28 July 1915, p. 2; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com ; accessed 4/2/2024). See also, 1920 U. S. census, Camden County, New Jersey, population schedule, Centre Township, ED 96, sheet 7-A, page 213 (stamped), dwelling 146, family 146, E. P. Read household; digital images, Ancestry.com (https://www.ancestry.com : accessed 4/1/2024); citing National Archives Records Administration microfilm T624, roll 874. And, “Lawnside,” Morning Post, 28 April 1925, p. 2; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com ; accessed 10/16/2022.
[iii] “Lawnside.” p. 2.See also, “The Sage of New Jersey,” The Jerseyman (1893-), 14 January 1933, p. 3; digital image, ProQuest Historical Newspapers (https://www.proquest.com/news : 4/12/2024). See also: Victor H. Green, The Negro Motorist Green Book, An International Travel Guide. New York: Victor H. Green and Co., Publishers, 1938; digital images, NYPL (https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/f56e0d60-847a-0132-8e19-58d385a7bbd0/book#page/15/mode/2up : accessed 12/8/2023).
[iv]. “Hi-Hat Club Opens Thurs.,” Philadelphia Inquirer (1912-), 20 June 1936, p. 14; digital image, ProQuest Historical Newspapers (https://www.proquest.com/news : 4/12/2024). See also, “[Hi-Hat Ad,]” Morning Post, 1 January 1945; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com ; accessed 10/26/2022). And, news article listing the Hi-Hat’s location as White Horse Pike and Gloucester Ave: “Workman Burned In Tavern Fire,” Courier Post, 22 July 1949, p. 13; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com ; accessed 5/9/2023).
[v] “Legal Notices – Borough of Lawnside Tax Sale for Unpaid Taxes and Assessments,” Courier Post, 9 December 1932, p. 28; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com ; accessed 4/19/2023). See also, “Lawnside Treasurer Named Rent Receiver,” Courier Post, April 27, 1937, p. 7; digital image; Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com ; accessed 4/23/2024). See also, Camden County, New Jersey, Deed Book 1301: 17-22.
[vi] Fred Bonaparte, “Third Heart Attack Fatal To Frank Walker,” Philadelphia Tribune (1912-), 6 June 1961, p. 1; digital image, ProQuest Historical Newspapers (https://www.proquest.com/news : 4/12/2024). See also, Camden County, New Jersey, Deed Book 3097: 167-170. See also, Camden County, New Jersey , Deed Book 3830: 487-488. And, Camden County, New Jersey , Deed Book 3830: 489-490.
[vii] DB 3830: 489-490. See also, legal notice approving final site plan for proposed Jiffy Lube, “Legal Notices,” Courier Post, March 20, 1982, p. 29; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 11/21/2022), and, “[Jiffy Lube Ad showing Lawnside location],” Gloucester County Times, 16 April 1984, p. 16, digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 11/29/2024). And, LoopNet.com, Take 5 Oil Change.
(c) By Andrea N. McDonald, Lawnside Historical Society
Written for the project, "Green Book Locations in Lawnside and Berlin," funded by the New Jersey Historical Commission
