Black icons like Jackie Robinson stayed at Manse Hotel. Now it's getting historic recognition
A Black history landmark is getting its due recognition with an Ohio historical marker.
The Manse Hotel and Annex and its proprietor, Horace Sudduth, have been honored with a marker at the corner of Chapel and Monfort streets in Walnut Hills, the site of the former hotel, which was converted into The Manse Apartments in 2021.
The Manse Hotel was one of the few places in Cincinnati that offered rooms to Black customers in the 1930s through the 1960s, due to racial segregation.
The historical marker will be dedicated Friday, May 12, at 10 a.m., followed by a reception in the Manse community room, which used to be the hotel ballroom. The event is free and open to the public.
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Sudduth (1888-1957) was the leading businessman in the Black community in his day. He started out as a Pullman porter, then opened his own real estate business, notably advertising properties that were available to Black residents when many Cincinnati neighborhoods were segregated.
In 1931, Sudduth purchased the Hotel Terry, an 11-room boarding house owned by Mrs. Mozella Terry at 1004 Chapel St., as well as a row of buildings across Monfort Street, which he called the Manse Hotel and Annex. He added to the property year after year, and in 1950 invested $500,000 ($6.2 million in 2022 dollars) in improvements on what became a 108-room hotel, equipped with rooms equal to any in a downtown hotel, a ballroom, the Sweetbriar Room fine-dining room and a 24-hour coffee shop.
It was perhaps the finest hotel owned and operated by Black people, for Black people. The Manse Hotel was listed in “The Negro Motorist Green-Book” travel guide from 1940-1963.
“The Black athletes and the Black musicians could not stay in the Downtown hotels because of the color of their skin. So, my father took it upon himself to do something about it,” Sudduth’s daughter, Horvena Sudduth Alexander, told The Enquirer in 2014.
Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Sammy Davis Jr., James Brown, Jackie Robinson, Willie Mays, Josephine Baker and Thurgood Marshall stayed at the Manse. Reds outfielder Frank Robinson lived in the Manse annex during his record-setting rookie season in 1956. King Records singer Hank Ballard wrote the song “The Twist” (which became a smash hit for Chubby Checker) in his room at the Manse in November 1958.
“The Manse was a hot place,” Ballard told The Enquirer in a 1994 interview. “Musicians hung out there. Music was always in the air. The old place deserves some recognition.”
At long last, it’s getting it.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Former Cincinnati hotel recognized after hosting Willie Mays, others
