Miller's and Eggleston Hotels

SA-105

Opened in 1904 and demolished in 2009, the hotel that stood here hosted regional and national black luminaries, celebrities, tourists, and leaders including Booker T. Washington. Built by William “Buck” Miller, Miller's Hotel was one of a handful in Richmond to offer black customers fine accommodations, a rarity in the segregated South. Its success reflected the entrepreneurial and professional efforts of the residents of Jackson Ward, widely considered “The Birthplace of Black Capitalism.” Under subsequent owner Neverett Eggleston, the renamed Eggleston Hotel was a hotspot beginning in 1943, hosting such entertainers as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Redd Foxx.

Department of Historic Resources, 2014

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References/Bibliographic Citation:

On 1904 as opening of Miller’s Hotel: “A Fine Place,” Richmond Planet, December 3, 1904, p. 1; “Builders of Noted Miller’s Hostelry,” New Journal and Guide, July 4, 1932, p. 9. On 1943 as opening of Eggleston’s Hotel: “Richmond Voters League Aid War Effort; Set For Election,” New Journal and Guide, April 3, 1943, p. 15. Article references the Eggleston Hotel, “formerly Miller’s,” as the meeting site of the Richmond Democratic League; Hill’s Richmond Virginia City Directory 1944, Vol. 80, p. 170. The 1944 directory marked the first time that the “Eggleston Hotel” was listed instead of “Miller Hotel” at 541 N. 2nd St. On hotels as “among the only establishments”: Jeremy Slayton, “Loss of Eggleston Hotel site is lamented,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 13, 2009. Accessed online at www.timesdispatch.com. On Washington as a guest: M. A. Norrell, “3 Generations Touched By Death of ‘Buck’ Miller,” New Journal and Guide, February 11, 1939, p. 11. On “thousands” of tourists and Basie, Foxx, and Armstrong as guests: State Joint Resolution No. 260, Offered January 15, 1997. On the death of Neverett A. Eggleston, Sr. Accessed online at www.leg1.state.va.us. On entrepreneurial spirit and “The Birthplace of Black Capitalism”: Elvatrice Parker Belsches, Black American Series: Richmond, Virginia (Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2002), p. 7. On “being vacant for many years” and building’s collapse: Jeremy Slayton, “Loss of Eggleston Hotel site is lamented,” Richmond Times-Dispatch, April 13, 2009. Accessed online at www.timesdispatch.com. Slayton’s article claims the site had been vacant for 10 years before it collapsed.