West Virginia View Establishments by West Virginia Cities
West Virginia: Green Book Sites in a Coal Mining State
Overview
West Virginia was created in 1863 when northern Unionists centered in the area around Wheeling in the Northern Panhandle separated from the state of Virginia in order to keep their government loyal to the United States.
In 1860, there were just over 18,000 slaves in what would become West Virginia, most of whom worked in the early salt industry and the coal mines. As part of statehood, the Willey Amendment to the new West Virginia Constitution freed slaves gradually as they aged and in various stages over time. Slavery ended in West Virginia, along with the rest of the nation, upon the ratification of the 13th Amendment in December 1865.
After emancipation, West Virginia was active in establishing educational opportunities for former slaves. The state was home to three historically Black colleges, Bluefield State College and West Virginia Collegiate Institute (now WV State University; also WV’s land grant university), both located in the southern part of the state, and Storer College, located in Harper’s Ferry, a travel destination for many African Americans seeking to honor and appreciate Civil War hero John Brown. Dr. Carter Woodson, who grew up in Huntington, served as Dean at WVSU from 1920-1922.
Compared to other Southern states, West Virginia historically maintained a small African-American population. Typically, most African-Americans lived in the souther part of the state, where they worked the coal mines. Today, the US Census has documented that about 3.6% of the West Virginia population is African-American with another 1.7% of mixed race. Most of this population is settled in Bluefield, Beckley, Charleston, and Huntington.
There are 143 Green Book sites in West Virginia. Of these, at least 15 changed their address over the years of the publication. Some entries when checked against city directories were misprinted, possibly due to either by bad information or incorrect typesetting. Some listings did not list an address in The Green Book, suggesting that due to the closeness of the community, the establishment’s name was sufficient for getting the traveler to his/her destination.
Only two sites in West Virginia were listed in every edition of The Green Book. In Beckley, the New Pioneer Hotel was listed at its original site at 58 South Fayette St. (now destroyed) before moving to 340 South Fayette St., where a new African-American community had grown up. The Capehart Hotel in Welch is the only other West Virginia site to appear through the entire run of The Green Book.
The largest African-American populations were located in Charleston, Huntington, and in the New River/Greenbrier Valley. Not surprisingly, all of these cities had sites listed in The Green Book. Notably missing are entries for the Eastern Panhandle. The only listings for Harpers Ferry date to 1939 and 1940 and include the River View Lodge–Storer College and the Hilltop House – Mrs. Drew Tourist House. In 1947, Storer College is listed in a special section themed around education.
The majority of West Virginia’s Green Book listings are Tourist Homes (28 total) and Hotels (19 total). There are 31 cafes/restaurants/taverns, six barber shops, and 13 beauty parlors or training schools. Of the 11 nightclubs, most were affiliated with the American Legion (four) or the Elks (two). At least nine gas and service stations, five drug stores and five taxis were listed. Three colleges were listed, Bluefield State Teachers College, West Virginia State College, and Storer College, but only in the 1947 edition.
All the sites were located along the major travel routes of the era. US 60 runs from the Virginia state line eastward towards White Sulphur Springs to Rainelle, Montgomery, Charleston and exiting into Kentucky at Huntington. US Highway 19 enters at Princeton and then heads northward towards Beckley, Clarksburg, Fairmont, and Morgantown before exiting into Pennsylvania. US Highway 52 snakes around the southern portion of West Virginia connecting Bluefield on the southern end to Huntington on the northern end, with, Keystone, Welch, and Williamson in between. Locating near a highway could make a big difference. In 1952-54, the construction of the West Virginia Turnpike created a bypass around Montgomery, causing the number of Montgomery listings to drop from four to one, the New Royall Hotel.
Another series of Green Book sites are located along the Ohio River and follow West Virginia Highway 2 from Huntington to Parkersburg then northward to Moundsville, Weirton, and Chester. Originally, the Lincoln Highway missed West Virginia, but a 1927 re-route sent the highway (now US 30) through Chester. Each of these cities usually had only one listing in The Green Book.
Between 1930 and 1940, the population in some West Virginia counties, mostly in the southern coal fields, grew by 10% to 75%. However, beginning in the 1950s, rapid mechanization in the coal industry caused major declines in West Virginia’s population. In 1940, the percentage of African-American mine workers dropped to 12% of the workforce. By 1950, African-American miners made up only 6.6% of the workforce. As a result, only a dozen Green Book listings are located in the southern coal fields, or 9% of the total.
Bluefield
Bluefield, located in Mercer County along the Virginia border, is home to Bluefield State Teacher’s College, a historically black college founded in 1895. Although it has fewer entries in The Green Book than other highlighted cities, it has the largest African-American population in the state, 27%. The presence of Bluefield State along the US 52, a major travel route, brought entertainers such as Duke Ellington and Count Basie to the city to perform. Heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis also held exhibitions in the college’s gymnasium.
Beckley
In the early 20th-century, the African-American section of downtown Beckley was located along Prince St. By the late 1930s, the African-American business district had shifted from Prince St, which had developed under white ownership, to South Fayette St.
In 1937, the occupants of the Payne Building at 37 Prince Street were Harry Payne (barber), Dr. R.J. Howard, Dr. N.L. Collins, and Dr. A. D. Belton. Harry Payne had built the Pioneer Hotel, formerly located on Prince Street, in 1914. The Payne Building also housed the Beckley Building and Loan Association, the Beckley Service Loan and Improvement Company, and Home Service Restaurant. Later that year, Payne and his brother, Brown W. Payne, an attorney, sold the building to C.W. Tabor, Naomi Contractor, for $20,000.
In 1938, Harry and Brown Payne purchased a new building next to the New Pioneer Hotel on South Fayette St., which was about a quarter mile southeast of the downtown business district. This portion of Fayette St. was not part of US 19/WV 3 but went just north of it. The new Payne Building was a two-story brick and cinderblock block measuring 31 by 70 feet.
In about 1940, Dr. E.I. Morton established a pharmacy across the street from the new Payne Brothers’ Building. Morton’s Drug Store was originally located on Payne St., but moved with the Paynes to South Fayette. It appeared in The Green Book at 339 South Fayette Street in the 1947 edition.
Many of the original tenants in the Payne Building followed the move., including the Home Service Restaurant (listed 1939-1952). The building also contained both Payne’s Barber Shop, 338 South Fayette Street (listed 1947-1955) and Simpson's Barber Shop, which was also known as New Pioneer Hotel Barber Shop (1947-1954). The new Pioneer Hotel was next door to the new Payne Brothers Building at 340 South Fayette. The new Payne Building served as the cornerstone of the community for decades and many African-American businesses moved to South Fayette St. to be close by.
Charleston
Charleston, the capital city of West Virginia, was home to 15 (10%) of West Virginia’s Green Book sites. In Charleston, the center of the African-American community was the area around Washington and Shrewsbury Sts., which was known as “The Block.”
In 1922, African-American G.E. Ferguson devised a plan to develop a building where African-Americans could own businesses that could rival similar establishments for whites. Designed by Charleston’s first African-American architect, John C. Norman, the Ferguson Building, or the Ferguson Business Center, opened at 1006 Washington Street on March 4, 1922. Better known as the Ferguson Hotel it successfully fulfilled Ferguson’s business model, housing the Ferguson Café, the Ferguson theatre, the Ferguson dance hall, the Ferguson barber shop and the Ferguson pool room, along with other African-American businesses, all under the one roof. The hotel was listed in The Green Book in from 1938 to 1946.
Ferguson took a substantial risk in his building by investing “a little less than $200,000.” The hotel contained 70 hotel rooms with private baths and operated on the YMCA model of renting some rooms to locals, thereby assuring he could get the $7/week needed per room to keep the doors open.
In a 1922 interview with the Charleston Daily Mail, Ferguson commented on the situation of the African-American traveler, stating that “a colored man who wants good lodging has a difficult time when he is traveling”. He also recounted his experience one night in New York City, where seeking lodging in a decent hotel, he ended up at a local residence.
Fire damaged the Ferguson hotel in March 1966, causing an estimated $70,000 in damages. In January, 1976, the hotel was sold to the Heart O’Town Motor Inn, which demolished the building for a parking lot.
Coal Heritage Highway
US 52 arcs along the southern border with Virginia and Kentucky following the Tug and the Big Sandy Rivers. It is now part of National Coal Heritage Area. From the 1800s to the mid-1900s, the region attracted thousands of miners wanting to work the mines. This area includes the cities of Kimball, Keystone, Welch, and, further westward, Williamson and Huntington, all of which were represented in The Green Book.
Huntington
Huntington was established as a railroad terminus in the late 19th-century. It was also the crossroads of the Midland Trail (US 60) and US 52. The African-American community was centered around 10th street (also known as Hal Green St.) and the railroad tracks. As a result, the majority of The Green Book listings in Huntington are on 7th and 8th Aves., which run parallel to the railroad and Ohio River between 8th and 16th Sts. Unlike Charleston, there was no large building that was the focus of the black community. Instead, the area developed as a combination of commercial operations and residences that served as tourist homes or beauty parlors; Huntington had more listings for tourist homes than any other West Virginia city. Several of the Green Book locations were demolished in the 1960s to become low-income public housing.
Welch
The Capehart Hotel was located at 14 Virginia St. in Welch, McDowell County. This area of the southern coal fields was nicknamed ‘‘the Free State of McDowell.’’ The hotel's owner, Harry Capehart, served as Republican State Delegate and cosponsored the 1921 West Virginia Anti-Lynching bill. Although before passing there had been only six lynchings involving three African-Americans and three whites, ten years after the bill, two black men were lynched in Greenbrier County, bringing the total to eight. Under the 1921 law, Greenbrier County was forced to pay $5,000 to the estates of the two men. The Capehart Hotel was one of only two sites in West Virginia that appeared in every issue of The Green Book. The building does not survive.
Kimball
Kimball was established as a coal camp and service town for the smaller coal companies in the region. Although not mentioned in The Green Book, Kimball is home to the first memorial in the United States to the African-American soldiers of World War I – the Kimball War Memorial Building, dedicated in 1928. The Green Book included the Franklin Hotel, Howard’s Pharmacy, and Sam Wade’s Café for Kimball in its listings.
--Ernie Blevins
