The Wells'Built Hotel (or Wells' Built Hotel) is a historic
hotel that is now an African-American museum. It is located in
Orlando,
Florida, in the center of Orlando's historic
Parramore
Parramore is a neighborhood in west-central Orlando, Florida. It is a historical neighborhood for Orlando residents of African descent, and suffered greatly during the Jim Crow era. In 2015, the unemployment rate was reported as 23.8% and median ...
district, at 511 West South Street. Dr. William Monroe Wells built the hotel, and a nearby entertainment venue, for African Americans visiting Orlando. During the
segregation era
In the United States, racial segregation is the systematic separation of facilities and services such as housing, healthcare, education, employment, and transportation on racial grounds. The term is mainly used in reference to the legally or so ...
, this hotel served as host to several now-famous
African-American performers. On February 4, 2000, it was added to the
U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
History
Dr. William M. Wells was a prominent African-American
physician in Orlando during the first half of the 20th century. One of Orlando's first black doctors, Dr. Wells came to Orlando in 1917. In 1921 he built a hotel for African Americans barred from Florida's segregated hotels. Soon afterward, he built South Street Casino, an entertainment venue he built to host touring black entertainers. The casino served as a community center in which no gambling took place. The hotel and casino became a central icon of the African American music community.
Many famous African American performers stayed at the hotel and performed at the Casino. A few include:
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Ella Fitzgerald
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Count Basie
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Ray Charles
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Cab Calloway
Cabell Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American singer, songwriter, bandleader, conductor and dancer. He was associated with the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he was a regular performer and became a popular vocalist ...
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Ivory Joe Hunter
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B.B. King
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Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...
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Guitar Slim
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Bo Diddley
Many other prominent African Americans visited, including sports legend
Jackie Robinson
Jack Roosevelt Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) was an American professional baseball player who became the first African American to play in Major League Baseball (MLB) in the modern era. Robinson broke the baseball color line ...
and Supreme Court Justice
Thurgood Marshall.
Although the Casino is gone, the original hotel remains and has been converted into a modest museum of African American history.
Wells' Built Museum
The hotel is now the home of the Wells' Built Museum, which opened in June 2009. The museum houses
memorabilia of Orlando's African-American community and contains displays on the Civil Rights Movement in Orlando, along with some African art on loan from local collectors.
Exhibits include a 1930s period hotel guestroom with authentic furniture, beading and decorations,
[http://www.pastinc.org/history.htm Hotel history] the South Street Casino, the
Chitlin' Circuit
The Chitlin' Circuit was a collection of performance venues throughout the eastern, southern, and upper Midwest areas of the United States that provided commercial and cultural acceptance for African American musicians, comedians, and other enterta ...
performance hall that was formerly located next to the hotel, artifacts from Dr. William Monroe Wells, and other elements of Orlando's African American heritage.
The museum's full name is the Wells' Built Museum of African American History and Culture .
References
{{reflist
External links
Wells'Built Museum- official site
Podcast and photos on RICHES Mosaic Interface
See also
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List of museums focused on African Americans
Gallery
Image:Orlando Wellsbuilt Hotel02.jpg,
Image:Orlando Wellsbuilt Hotel03.jpg,
Image:Orlando Wellsbuilt Hotel04.jpg,
Museums in Orlando, Florida
African-American museums in Florida
History museums in Florida
History of Orlando, Florida
Hotels in Orlando, Florida
Hotel buildings completed in 1926
Hotel buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Florida
National Register of Historic Places in Orange County, Florida
Defunct hotels in Florida
Museums established in 2009
2009 establishments in Florida