Stately Homes and Pioneering Spirits

Stately Homes and Pioneering Spirits. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Virginia Street. Martin Luther King Jr. (MLK) Boulevard, formally Boulevard Street, was once a place of attractive, well kept houses where the Yellowhairs, Warrens, McPhersons, Sanfords, and Bessie Malachi, owners of private homes lived. The street was lined with old, mossy oak trees, and most houses had spacious front porches that were much appreciated during hot summers., On the corner of MLK and Virginia Street stood the large, two-story house of Dr. Alpha Omega Campbell and his family. Dr. Campbell was one of several prominent physicians in the area. However he was unique: he owned a hospital! Laura Bell Memorial Hospital and Clinic catered to Tallahassee and African American population and to ailing patients in nearby cities. In addition to the usual operating rooms, patient rooms, and nurse stations, the hospital included hotel rooms for guest dignitaries.These rooms were necessary because there were precious few hotel accommodations in the city for African American people., Across from the Campbell home was another two-story house that belonged to the Twine family. Many of the women in the family were public school teachers while the men worked in business. One of the Twine women, Daisy, was married to a man named Lawyer Smith, a jazz band leader. Daisy was a highly popular beautician in Frenchtown. Twine family members were also upstanding members or Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, just a block from their house. The house was sold, then razed, after the last daughter to inhabit the domicile, Fannie Twine Prigeon, died., On the other two corners of the intersection were the homes of Hilda Jones, a public school teacher, and Harold Jenkins, an Apalachicola native and the first Continuing Education professor at Florida A&M University. The Jenkins family also engaged in boat building and owned a hotel., The Yellowhair family, Edward, Elnora, Charles, and Margaret, resided in a spacious house on the tree-lined street. Mr. Edward Yellowhair was enslaved as a butler; however, once freedom was obtained, he served as a tax assessor and city councilman. His daughter, Margaret, was a public school teacher in Bellaire and the owner of Capital Theater on Macomb Street. It is unclear whether Mr. Yellowhair lived in the house on MLK Jr. street; he may have passed away before the family moved from Adams Street , Next to the Yellowhair home was a school of midwifery and beauticulture that was operated by nurse Odell McGreen., The Warren family moved to Tallahassee from east Florida. They immediately blended in and became outstanding residents in the Frenchtown community. The daughters, Collette, Eugenia and Kate were educators who taught many of the children who lived in the community. Kate’s daughter, Deborah Richardson, was elected FAMU in 1972., The Barber family home completed the house in the block. Hazel Barber, Delmas Barber, and their siblings lived with their parents in this shotgun house before the family outgrew it and moved., (captions) , Left: The Campbell House was one of several elegant homes in Frenchtown. It was located next to the family-owned Laura Bell Memorial Hospital and Clinic. (Courtesy of Campbell Family), Right: Reverend Cecil Sykes met the religious needs of the community, owned a spacious house, and was also the independent owner of a shoe cobbling business. (Courtesy of Anthon “Ann” Roberts), Bottom, left: Daisy Smith, a longtime Frenchtown resident, was a highly popular beautician in Frenchtown. She and her husband, lawyer, raised and educated their children in Leon County schools and at FAMU. (Courtesy of Twine/Smith Family), Bottom, right: Tookes Hotel was one of a few lodging accommodations available to African Americans as they traveled the region.(Courtesy of State Archives of Florida)