Last updated: April 28, 2021
Place
The Hippodrome Theater and W.L. Taylor Mansion
NPS Photo/Maggie L. Walker NHS
Quick Facts
Location:
Richmond, Virginia
Significance:
African-American heritage theater and entertainment location
OPEN TO PUBLIC:
No
MANAGED BY:
Richmond has been called the “Harlem of the South” and no corridor underscores why better than North Second Street. One of the most popular entertainment venues for decades was the Hippodrome Theater, located to our right at 528 North Second Street. During its heyday, the Hippodrome was to Jackson Ward what the Apollo was to Harlem. This theater opened in around 1914 and, for several decades hosted some of the most popular vaudeville acts and movies starring African Americans. Internationally-known musical performers like Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, and James Brown also graced its stages. Many of the performers who played the Hippodrome stayed across the street at the famous African American-owned Slaughter’s Hotel and the Miller’s Hotel which was located on the southeast corner of Second and Leigh. Miller’s Hotel would later become the Eggleston Hotel. All of these hotels have since been demolished.
Next door is 526 North Second Street. This building was formerly the mansion of the Reverend W.L. Taylor. Reverend Taylor was the second national leader of Grand Worthy Master of the True Reformers. The True Reformers were inarguably the most powerful African American fraternal and business organization of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many subsequent leaders of African American banks and insurance companies received their initial training with the True Reformers organization. The W.L. Taylor mansion, upon its completion in 1907, had over twenty rooms and was believed to be one of the largest residences built for an African American at that time in America. When Reverend Taylor and his family threw open the doors of their home to the public, for the official open house in February of 1908, it was a grand affair. Visitors were greeted at the door by none other than pioneering banker Mrs. Maggie L. Walker. The Taylor mansion was designed by noted African American architect J.A. Lankford of Washington, D.C. Lankford had several noteworthy commissions in Richmond. However, one of his most noteworthy commissions was the True Reformers’ building which still stands, over a century later, at 12th and U Street in Washington, D.C.
Richmond has also been called “The Cradle of Black Capitalism” for good reason. Between the years of 1889 and 1929, there were six chartered African American owned banks in Richmond and each had a presence in Jackson Ward. On North Second Street alone, there are three African American banks and at least four African American-owned insurance companies.
Next door is 526 North Second Street. This building was formerly the mansion of the Reverend W.L. Taylor. Reverend Taylor was the second national leader of Grand Worthy Master of the True Reformers. The True Reformers were inarguably the most powerful African American fraternal and business organization of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Many subsequent leaders of African American banks and insurance companies received their initial training with the True Reformers organization. The W.L. Taylor mansion, upon its completion in 1907, had over twenty rooms and was believed to be one of the largest residences built for an African American at that time in America. When Reverend Taylor and his family threw open the doors of their home to the public, for the official open house in February of 1908, it was a grand affair. Visitors were greeted at the door by none other than pioneering banker Mrs. Maggie L. Walker. The Taylor mansion was designed by noted African American architect J.A. Lankford of Washington, D.C. Lankford had several noteworthy commissions in Richmond. However, one of his most noteworthy commissions was the True Reformers’ building which still stands, over a century later, at 12th and U Street in Washington, D.C.
Richmond has also been called “The Cradle of Black Capitalism” for good reason. Between the years of 1889 and 1929, there were six chartered African American owned banks in Richmond and each had a presence in Jackson Ward. On North Second Street alone, there are three African American banks and at least four African American-owned insurance companies.