Mrs. S. Robinson
Known Name(s)
Mrs. S. Robinson
Address
54 Dixwell Ave. New Haven, CT
Establishment Type(s)
Tourist Home
Physical Status
Extant
Detailed History
The Mrs. S. Robinson tourist home provided accommodation to Black travelers between 1938 and 1947. During these years, the Dixwell neighborhood was home to a burgeoning Black community; while the home was listed in The Green Book, African Americans made up over fifty percent of the neighborhood's population.
Mrs. Robinson's was not Dixwell's only option for accommodations: three other tourist homes were listed on the same block. Guests staying at these tourist homes could attend worship services at the House of Prayer for All People Church on the same block, and access other services safe for Black travelers, including shops, beauty parlors, clubs, and restaurants one or two blocks north on Dixwell. Though the church building used during the period of Green Book listings is gone, the congregation remains in an edifice built in 1979.
Mattie Robinson had moved north from Virginia with her husband, Samuel, a cook born in South Carolina. A widow in 1938, she may have opened her home to travelers to support herself. Later, she worked briefly at Thomas Cunningham & Company, a cigar manufacturer on Summer Street, before remarrying and working as a maid. By 1939, 54 Dixwell Avenue was associated with a new name, Harry Dixon, whose family lived there until at least 1947, running the tourist home. The house has undergone several alterations and remains a residence today.
