Hotel Metropolitan Museum
Historic hotel in Kentucky, U.S.
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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]
Hotel Metropolitan | |
| |
  Location within Kentucky | |
| Location | 724 Jackson St., Paducah, Kentucky |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°4′45.5″N 88°35′57″W |
| Area | less than one acre |
| Architectural style | Classical Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 01001251[1] |
| Added to NRHP | April 12, 2002 |
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]