Rainbow Inn was an Afro-American hotel and restaurant in Petoskey, Michigan, that was in business from 1950 until 1965.
Rainbow Inn was an Afro-American hotel and restaurant in Petoskey, Michigan, that was in business from 1950 until 1965.
The 1950s and 1960s era of the northwest Lower Peninsula of Michigan was a time period of expanding summer resort tourism. One of the top summer resort towns in the northern Michigan area, known as the "Tip of the Mitt," was Petoskey. The small city of 5,000 people was located on the eastern and southern shoreline of Little Traverse Bay, Lake Michigan. It was the first northern Lake Michigan town to draw a summer clientele of Midwestern city dwellers beginning in 1875. The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad had laid its rails northward and needed to fill its passenger cars with riders. The railroad began an advertising campaign towards people in the cities of Detroit, Chicago, and Cincinnati, who were interested in relief from the city summer heat. The railroad also promoted Petoskey as a place for freedom from the suffering of hayfever and other allergies. [1]
From the late 1870s into the post-World War II era of the 1950s and 1960s, wealthy Midwesterners from Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit and St. Louis came north every summer to the Petoskey area via the various summer railroad passenger trains. They either stayed or ventured further north to Mackinaw City or Mackinac Island. They also came north via the Great Lakes on passenger steamships such as the "Manitou", and "South American." Others chose to arrive by passenger car using US Highways 27 (US 27), US 31, and US 131. The first and largest Petoskey summer resort was located on Little Traverse Bay just east of the city limits. This was the Bay View Association, founded in 1875 as a Chautauqua summer gathering spot by the Methodist Church. [2]
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The 1950s and 1960s was an era when racial discrimination against Afro-Americans was widely practiced in the state of Michigan and most of the Midwestern states.[ citation needed ] Public accommodations that could be used by black tourists and travelers were so scarce in the northern United States that New York City resident Victor Green, a postal carrier and travel agent, had published The Negro Motorist Green Book beginning in 1936. It was an annual guidebook for African Americans to use to help keep themselves from running into difficulties and embarrassments when white owned businesses would not serve them. It was well known to blacks that whites in southern states practiced Jim Crow discrimination at their hotels, restaurants, gas stations and department stores. They also quickly learned that outside of the major cities of the north, the same Jim Crow discriminatory policies were practiced by white business owners. Many small towns were even referred to as "sunset or sundown" towns, that is, no blacks allowed after dark. [3]
Most, if not entirely all, of 1950s and 1960s summer resorters who came north every summer to the Petoskey area were caucasians. They came to visit their Lake Michigan cottages, vacation homes, and the many resort hotels. Accompanying many of these wealthy Midwesterners were maids on their days off. On that day Petoskey, known for its small downtown stores for shopping, would see a sea of blue descend on it for the day. Black maids would wear their blue uniforms to come to town to shop. Often they were driven by their employer's chauffeurs in expensive limousines. Though allowed to shop in the white-owned businesses, it was not standard practice for the Afro-Americans to eat or drink in the downtown stores. That had to be done either at the Tip Top Tavern on Petoskey's Michigan Street, or Ruby's, outside of town near Harbor Springs. Both establishments catered to Native Americans of the area or the summer Afro-American help. In nearby Harbor Springs, Mrs. Murray's Tea Room served the summer black servant crowd. [4]
The first Afro-American resort hotel and restaurant in the Northern Michigan area opened in the summer season of 1950. Former Pennsylvania Railroad (formerly the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad) employee and Afro-American businessman William Thomas West was the proprietor. The retired railway porter-chef, and wife Gail, both from Columbus, Ohio, decided that there would be enough business in the area to support such an endeavor. They chose the name "Rainbow Inn" with the idea in mind that their establishment might attract people of all color. And sometimes it did. While mostly summer black tourists, vacationers and local Native Americans frequented the Clarion Avenue dining spot, many white hunters and fisherman would also stay there in the spring and fall months of the year. The Rainbow Inn was a particular favorite of the Afro-American summer chauffeurs, maids, cooks and servants. The hotel restaurant was not far from the Victory Lanes bowling alley where people of color were also welcome. [4]
On March 9, 1965, the Rainbow Inn was totally destroyed by a kitchen stove fire that was too far gone to be put out by arriving firemen. The hotel structure at 1630 Clarion Avenue had been constructed in the late 1880s almost entirely of wood. It was originally built as the mansion for the Fredrick Bauerle family, a wealthy wooden ware factory owner in Petoskey. Over the years the three-story building had undergone many renovations which eventually had helped turn it into the Rainbow Inn after purchase by the Wests. Only a few months earlier the United States Congress had passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Specifically, Title II of the act outlawed Jim Crow racial discrimination in hotels, motels, restaurants, theaters, and all other public accommodations engaged in interstate commerce. That essentially was the beginning of the end of black-only resorts, hotels and or restaurants. Soon, Las Vegas and other venues for entertainment in the United States would be open to people of all colors, and establishments like the Rainbow Inn would be history. [5]
Charlevoix is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is the county seat of Charlevoix County. Part of Northern Michigan, Charlevoix is located on an isthmus between Lake Michigan and Lake Charlevoix, bisected by the short Pine River. Charlevoix serves as the main access point for Beaver Island, the largest island in Lake Michigan, which can be accessed by Island Airways or carferry. The population of Charlevoix was 2,348 at the 2020 census. Charlevoix is mostly surrounded by Charlevoix Township, but the two are administered autonomously.
Petoskey is the largest city and the county seat of Emmet County, Michigan, and is the largest settlement within the county. Petoskey has a population of 5,877 at the 2020 census, up from 5,670 at the 2010 census.
Reed City is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 2,490 at the 2020 census. It is located in southwestern Osceola County and is the county seat.
Grand Ledge is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan. The city lies mostly within Eaton County, though a small portion extends into Clinton County to the north. The city sits along the Grand River 12.7 miles west of downtown Lansing. The population was 7,786 at the 2010 census. The city is named for its sandstone rock ledges that are located between island park and Fitzgerald park. They rise 40 feet (12 m) above the Grand River and are used by recreational rock climbers.
The Bay View Association of the United Methodist Church, known as Bay View, is an example of two uniquely American community forms: the Methodist camp meeting and the independent Chautauqua. Designed for the first purpose in 1876 as the county's only romantically-planned campground, and adapted for the second from 1885 to 1915, Bay View has remained in continuous operation since its foundation.
Northern Michigan, also known as Northern Lower Michigan, is a region of the U.S. state of Michigan. A popular tourist destination, it is home to several small- to medium-sized cities, extensive state and national forests, lakes and rivers, and a large portion of Great Lakes shoreline. The region has a significant seasonal population much like other regions that depend on tourism as their main industry. Northern Lower Michigan is distinct from the more northerly Upper Peninsula and Isle Royale, which are also located in "northern" Michigan. In the northernmost 21 counties in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, the total population of the region is 506,658 people.
The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad at its height provided passenger and freight railroad services between Cincinnati, Ohio, and the Straits of Mackinac in Michigan, USA. The company was formed on January 18, 1854.
The Boyne City Railroad was a railway based at Boyne City, Michigan, U.S., during 1893–1978.
Northern Arrow was one of the named passenger trains of the Pennsylvania Railroad, starting at Cincinnati, Ohio and ending at Mackinaw City, Michigan. It had merging branches originating from Chicago, Illinois, converging in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and a train from St. Louis, Missouri from the west, converging at Richmond, Indiana. Carrying the number #519 northbound and #520 southbound, it used the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad, a leased subsidiary of the Pennsylvania system.
Idlewild is an unincorporated community in Yates Township, located just east of Baldwin in southeast Lake County, a rural part of northwestern lower Michigan. During the first half of the 20th century, it was one of the few resorts in the country where African-Americans were allowed to vacation and purchase property, before discrimination was outlawed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The surrounding area is within Manistee National Forest. The community encompasses Lake Idlewild, and the headwaters of the Pere Marquette River extends throughout the region.
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Lake Wawasee is a large, natural, freshwater lake southeast of Syracuse in Kosciusko County, Indiana. It is the largest natural lake within Indiana's borders.
The history of commercial passenger shipping on the Great Lakes is long but uneven. It reached its zenith between the mid-19th century and the 1950s. As early as 1844, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. By 1900, fleets of relatively luxurious passenger steamers plied the waters of the lower lakes, especially the major industrial centres of Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto.
The Negro Motorist Green Book was a guidebook for African American roadtrippers. It was founded by Victor Hugo Green, an African American, New York City postal worker who published it annually from 1936 to 1966. This was during the era of Jim Crow laws, when open and often legally prescribed discrimination against African Americans especially and other non-whites was widespread. While pervasive racial discrimination and poverty limited black car ownership, the emerging African American middle class bought automobiles as soon as they could but faced a variety of dangers and inconveniences along the road, from refusal of food and lodging to arbitrary arrest. In the South, these dangers were particularly severe, where Black motorists risked harassment, physical violence, or even murder for minor infractions or for being in predominantly white areas. In some cases, African American travelers who got lost or sought lodging off the beaten path were killed, with little to no investigation by local authorities. In response, Green wrote his guide to services and places relatively friendly to African Americans. Eventually, he also founded a travel agency.
Club Manitou was an infamous mid-west summer resort nightclub-casino located in Harbor Springs in northern Michigan, United States that existed from 1929 until 1952. It was a speakeasy run by The Purple Gang during Prohibition and the Great Depression years featuring a hidden basement of gambling and alcohol for wealthy Midwestern summer resort goers.
The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Station is a railway depot located in Pioneer Park on West Lake Street in Petoskey, Michigan. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1970. The building now houses the Little Traverse Historical Museum.
Harbor Springs is a depot located at 111 West Bay Street in Harbor Springs, Michigan. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2000 as the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad Harbor Springs Depot. As of 2016, the building houses the Depot Club and Restaurant.
The Chicago and West Michigan Railroad Charlevoix Station is a railroad depot located on Chicago Avenue in Charlevoix, Michigan. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1995.
Grand Rapids Union Station was a union station in Grand Rapids, Michigan. A Georgian Revival building of two stories, it was built in 1900 on 61 Ionia Avenue SW and was closed in 1958. The building was demolished in 1958 and 1959 to make space for the U.S. Route 131 highway.
The Resort Special was a seasonal night train from Chicago, renowned for serving resort towns such as Traverse City, Charlevoix, Petoskey on the northwestern part of Michigan’s lower peninsula. Begun by the Pere Marquette Railway, it was a rare instance of a named Pere Marquette train continuing after the Chesapeake & Ohio absorbed the Pere Marquette Railway in 1947. In 1960s, the C&O shifted the Resort Special name to a White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia to New York City route.