Lewis Hotel

Lewis Hotel was listed in the Green Book as “Lewis—220 E. Cabarrus” under “Hotels” in Raleigh in 1941 and 1947; as “Lewis—220 E. Cabarrus” under “Tailors” in Raleigh from 1948-1951; and as “Lewis Hotel—200 Cabarrus Street” under “AND “Tailors” in Raleigh from 1952-1955. The Lewis Hotel later operated as the DeLuxe Hotel, which was advertised in the Green Book from 1954-1957 and from 1959-1967.¹

Hattie J. Wooten Lewis and her husband, Needham Lewis, built a 26 room hotel at 220 E. Cabarrus Street in the early 1920s. Prior to the hotel opening, Needham worked as a bricklayer and Hattie worked as a domestic. Hattie filed for divorce from Needham in 1934 on the grounds of two years of separation.²

Hattie began advertising furnished rooms after she separated from Needham. The business first appeared in Raleigh city directories in 1939, with furnished rooms offered at both 216 ½ Cabarrus Street and 220 Cabarrus Street. This expanded in 1942 to include 218 ½ Cabarrus Street and was reduced to just 220 Cabarrus in 1943 Her hotel hosted prominent celebrities, including Fats Waller, Louis Armstrong’s band, Clara Ward, and Nat King Cole’s Band.³

Hattie Juanita Wooten Lewis was born in Wayne County and was a 1921 graduate of Shaw University. She passed away in 1945. She left the Lewis Hotel to her niece, Beadie Lucille Griswold. Griswold moved to Raleigh with her sisters, Gloria Griswold Jeffers and Fannie Griswold, to attend Shaw University and help their aunt run her business. Gloria and her         husband ran a small restaurant (“The Shop”) on the ground floor of the hotel, which also housed a beauty parlor. Griswold changed the name of the business to DeLuxe Hotel and       continued to advertise it in the Green Book. The building was destroyed in a fire in 1992.⁴

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2024

Oral History

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1941 Green Book, 36; Green, 1947 Green Book, 65.; Victor Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Victor Green, 1955 Green Book, 54; Victor Green, 1948 Green Book, 63; Green, 1949 Green Book, 57; Green, 1950 Green Book, 63; Green, 1951 Green Book, 54; Victor Green, 1952 Green Book, 54; Green, 1953 Green Book, 54; Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 54; Victor Green, 1956 Green Book, 46; Green, 1957 Green Book, 47; Green, 1959 Green Book, 52; Green, 1960 Green Book, 73; Green, 1961 Green Book, 69; Green, 1962 Green Book, 74; Green, 1963-1964 Green Book, 58; Green, 1966-1967 Green Book, 58.
2. Hattie Wooten and Needham Lewis, June 25, 1913, Wayne County, North Carolina, US Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com; (“Hattie J. Lewis, South Saunders Street, Raleigh Ward 4, Wake County, 1920 United States Federal Census, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s 1921 Raleigh City Directory, street listing; “Hattie J. Lewis,” 220 Cabarrus Street, Ward 3, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1930 United States Federal Census, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Hill’s 1934 Raleigh City Directory, alphabetical listing, street listing;  “Around the City,” The News and Observer, July 8, 1934, p. 24, accessed from www.newspapers.com.
3. Hill’s 1939 Raleigh City Directory, street listing and alphabetical listing, Hill’s 1940 Raleigh City Directory, street listing, alphabetical listing; Hill’s 1941 Raleigh City Directory, street listing and alphabetical listing; Hill’s 1942 Raleigh City Directory, street listing and alphabetical listing; Hill’s 1943 Raleigh City Directory, street listing and alphabetical listing; Bowers, Katherine, Derek Huss, and Rachel Jacobson, “The Green Book Assignment, North Carolina, Durham, Wake, Halifax, Vance: Historical Structure Report for the North Carolina Historic Preservation Office,” HI 587: Cultural Resource Management, North Carolina State University, Spring 2016, 22.
4. “Mrs. Hattie Juanita Wooten Lewis Passes,” The Carolinian, June 23, 1945, p. 2, accessed from http://newspapers.digitalnc.org; Linda Arrington, email correspondence with NC Green Book Project, March 13, 2019;  “Hotels, Parks for Race Use in NC Listed,” The Carolinian, August 18, 1951, Page 5, North Carolina Newspapers/DigitalNC, digitalnc.org.