Gist family
Arthur Gist, a bricklayer and World War I veteran, and his wife, seamstress Louise "Louie" Gist, bought the house in 1949. They converted the house into a bed and breakfast. They were Black Americans. The Magnolia House in Greensboro, NC was originally constructed in 1889 and passed through a succession of white owners before the Gist family became its first African American owners in 1949. Louise and Arthur Gist converted it into a bed-and-breakfast for African American travelers during the Jim Crow Era.
Magnolia House at 442 Gorrell Street in Greensboro, North Carolina is a Victorian-Italianate-style house which was listed as Magnolia Hotel in the Green Book as a hotel for African American travelers. It is one of the four remaining Green Book sites in North Carolina. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1991 as a contributing structure to South Greensboro Historic District.
Historic Magnolia House History
The Historic Magnolia House in Greensboro was a popular destination for African American travelers who were not allowed to share the same accommodations as Caucasians, including the same eating and drinking facilities, during segregation in America in the mid-twentieth century.
Many African Americans of renown stayed here, including James Brown, Ray Charles, Ruth Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, Joe Tex, Carter G. Woodson, and Jackie Robinson. Also, many families of college students attending such schools as Bennett College and North Carolina A&T State University stayed here as well. The Historic Magnolia House was also a place for wedding celebrations and other formal gatherings and events.
The Historic Magnolia House (known by its formal name, the Daniel D. Debutts House) is on the National Register of Historic Places and is in the South Greensboro National Register Historic District. Located just minutes away from the Greensboro Coliseum, First National Bank Field, The Tanger Center, and all three Universities, Bennett, A & T, and UNCG.
THE GREEN BOOK GUIDING AFRICAN AMERICAN TRAVELERS
The Historic Magnolia House opened in 1949 as one of the only hotels between Atlanta, Georgia, and Richmond, Virginia, which allowed African American travelers to stay overnight due to lodging restrictions under Jim Crow. The house grew in notoriety after appearing in six publications of The Negro Motorist Green Book created by Victor H. Green in 1949. The Green Book served as a travelers’ guide that detailed businesses that were safe for Black patrons.
VISITORS TO THE MAGNOLIA HOUSE
Between the years of 1955 and 1961, the Green Book listed The Historic Magnolia House, as one of five hotels consistently safe for Black travelers in Greensboro, North Carolina. During that time, patrons knew The Magnolia House by a few different names, including the “Magnolia Hotel” and “Magnolia Traveler’s Motel.” In 2015, the New York Public Library digitized copies of the Green Book for public use, making them accessible to view in our digital library. We have included copies of 1955-1959, 1960, and 1961 editions of the Green Book.
Famous Guests
The Magnolia House was a destination for wealthier Black Americans as they traveled. According to Donald Trapp, a minister in town, the lodgings were almost always full. The site had a marquee out front that announced famous people who was staying there at the time. Among the more famous guests were James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Martin Luther King Jr., Robinson, and Satchel Paige. Others included Sam Cooke, Gladys Knight, Lionel Hampton, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Lena Horne, Five Blind Boys of Alabama, Joe Tex, and James Baldwin.
Honors
The Magnolia House became one of nine North Carolina hotels, and one of over three hundred in the United States, listed in Historic Hotels of America. Lawrence Horwitz, executive vice president of Historic Hotels of America, praised the "exemplary stewardship of this historically significant hotel."
I was raised in Greensboro and heard about many of these famous people coming to Greensboro but never knew where they lodged. Thank the Lord for some historical nuggets about more African Americans in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Love to share history!
His handmaiden, Betty A. Burnett ~ burnettministries.org
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