Manse Hotel and Annex
Cincinnati, Hamilton County, Ohio
Marker Inscription
Walnut Hills’ Manse Hotel, founded by Horace Sudduth in 1931, served Black travelers and social life through segregation and appeared in the Green Book. Sudduth, a Pullman porter turned entrepreneur, strengthened housing, business, and civic institutions.
Erected by Ohio History Connection
The Story
In the Walnut Hills neighborhood of Cincinnati, the Manse Hotel opened in 1931 to welcome Black travelers who were turned away from white-only establishments across a segregated America. Its founder, Horace Sudduth, had risen from Pullman porter to become one of the city's leading Black entrepreneurs, and his hotel became a hub of social life, gatherings, and dignity at a time when a night's lodging could not be taken for granted. Listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book, the Manse was part of the nationwide network that made safe travel possible for African Americans during the Jim Crow era.
Why it matters
The Manse Hotel stands as a monument to Black enterprise and community resilience under segregation, showing how figures like Horace Sudduth built the institutions—lodging, business, and civic life—that sustained African American communities when the wider society refused them a place.
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Related people
- · Horace Sudduth
Themes & tags
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