Hotel Metropolitan Museum
Hotel Metropolitan | |
| Location | 724 Jackson St., Paducah, Kentucky |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°4′45.5″N 88°35′57″W / 37.079306°N 88.59917°W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 01001251[1] |
| Added to NRHP | April 12, 2002 |
Hotel Metropolitan Museum is a museum in historic hotel building in Paducah, Kentucky, U.S. The Hotel Metropolitan was the city's first African American owned hotel and provided lodging for African Americans traveling through the area;[2] was a stop on the Chitlin' Circuit, and was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book.[3][4] The Hotel Metropolitan Museum focuses on African American history.[2]
History
Hotel Metropolitan was built in 1908 by its owner, Maggie Steed, at 724 Jackson Street (now Oscar Cross Avenue)[5] in the Upper Town district of Paducah.[6][7] Steed built the Metropolitan to accommodate guests who were denied lodging at white-owned hotels due to discriminatory laws and practices of the Jim Crow South.[2][3] Hotel guests included Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Thurgood Marshall.[8] Notable guests often gathered and performed in the hotel's Purple Room.[2] The Purple Room, a freestanding building behind the hotel, was used as a gathering space and music venue. It was frequented by notable musicians staying in the hotel.[2]
Steed died in 1924. Her son ran the hotel for a few years before selling it to Mamie Burbridge. In 1951, Burbridge sold it to the Gaines family whose son, Clarence "Big House" Gaines, donated it the Upper Town Heritage Foundation.[2][9]
Hotel Metropolitan Museum
The hotel now houses a museum dedicated to its history.[10] In 2021, the museum received a grant from the National Trust for Historic Preservation's African American Cultural Heritage action Fund for the purpose of restoring The Purple Room.[10]
See also
References
- ^ "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f West, Joyce (February 15, 2015). "Paducah's Hotel Metropolitan > KET". KET. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ a b "The Hotel Metropolitan". Partake in Paducah. February 26, 2019. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ Ross, Tracy; Davis-McAfee, Melanie (March 2, 2021). "Paducah's Hotel Metropolitan Memorializes Cultural, Social, and Local History". WKMS. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
- ^ "Hotel Metropolitan". paducah.travel. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
- ^ Kentucky Heritage Council. HOTEL METROPOLITAN.
- ^ "Explore | Hotel Metropolitan". Kentucky Tourism. Retrieved April 21, 2026.
- ^ "Hotel Metropolitan Hosts First Purple Room Performance in 50 Years". WKMS. November 14, 2014. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ "Black History in the Jackson Purchase – Part 1 – Hotel Metropolitan". Jackson Purchase Historical Society. Retrieved October 13, 2022.
- ^ a b Sanders, Forrest (July 22, 2021). "National Trust gives $3 million to sites linked to Black history". Denver ABC 7.