Moses Garrison Hepburn Jr. (1832 – December 1, 1897) was an American politician,

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keeper, and businessman elected as the first African American

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or of West Chester,

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

, in 1882. In 1866, he founded the Magnolia House, the borough's only inn catering to African Americans, where he hosted

Frederick Douglass Frederick Douglass (born Frederick Augustus Washington Bailey, February 1817 or 1818 – February 20, 1895) was an American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became ...

and other Black luminaries.

Early life and family

His father, also Moses Hepburn, was the natural son of William Hepburn, a wealthy white slaveholder, and Esther, an enslaved woman, both from

Alexandria Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandria ...

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. His slaveholder father manumitted the mother and son and provided for them in his will. Moses Hepburn Sr. consequently became the wealthiest African American in Northern Virginia and erected the historic Moses Hepburn Rowhouses in Alexandria in 1856. When Hepburn Jr. was born in 1832, his father sent him to Pennsylvania to receive an education. The family moved to West Chester in 1853 after the US government retroceded Alexandria to Virginia in 1847. Virginia threatened the Hepburns with enforcement of the state's anti-literacy laws banning education of Black people.

Business career

In 1866, Hepburn Jr. established the Magnolia House, a three-story brick inn with nineteen rooms located on 300 East Miner Street in the predominantly African American Georgetown district of West Chester. The Magnolia House was the only lodging and tavern in the borough that catered to African Americans, whom de facto racial segregation excluded from similar local establishments.

, William H. Day, and other Black luminaries lodged at the Magnolia when in town. In addition to the Magnolia House, Hepburn ran an omnibus service and owned a livery stable, a 56-acre farm, and eleven other properties. He was prominent in the town's African American community as a member of the Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, the Liberty Coronet Band, the

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, and the Free and Accepted Masons. Due to his community engagement, flourishing businesses, and extensive properties, Hepburn became the "wealthiest and best known colored man in Chester county," with a net worth exceeding $29,000 at his death.

Political career

During the 1870s,

Republican Party Republican Party is a name used by many political parties around the world, though the term most commonly refers to the United States' Republican Party. Republican Party may also refer to: Africa *Republican Party (Liberia) * Republican Part ...

leaders in West Chester sought Black votes but refused to consider Black candidates for elected office. After warnings that the African American community would boycott elections or vote for Democratic candidates, Republicans agreed to a

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system that could enable Black representation for the town's eastward of Georgetown. Hepburn won the 1882 election for the borough council representative by a single vote. He served one two-year term, serving on the council's gas and police committees, and was followed by a succession of four other African American councilors over the ensuing decade. In 1892, the Republican Party machine, which dominated West Chester politics, switched to an

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electoral system, diluting the Black vote and eliminating African American representation on the borough council for nearly 75 years. The party committee passed the motion on a 9-7 vote without a quorum.

Personal life

Hepburn died at his West Chester tavern on December 1, 1897, due to a "hemorrhage of the lungs," possibly brought on by an altercation with a white stranger. His son-in-law, John W. Smothers, took over the business and ran the Magnolia House until 1922.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hepburn, Moses Garrison 1832 births 1897 deaths Pennsylvania Republicans People from Alexandria, Virginia People from West Chester, Pennsylvania African-American city council members in Pennsylvania 19th-century African-American politicians 19th-century American politicians American hoteliers