Mrs. L.E. Ricks Tourist Home
Mrs. L.E. Ricks Tourist Home was advertised in the Green Book from 1953-1957 and 1959-1967. An address was not included in the listing. The tourist home was listed as “Mrs. L.E. Ricks” under “Tourist Homes” in Kings Mountain from 1953-1955 and as “Mrs. L.E. Ricks Tourist Home” in Kings Mountain from 1956-1957 and 1959-1967.1
Mrs. L.E. Ricks Tourist Home was located in or near Kings Mountain, North Carolina. Launard Elizabeth Ricks (Cobb) was born in Barboursville, Virginia. She was a graduate of the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, New York and taught at the Brick Agricultural and Industrial School in Brick, NC and at Christiansburg Institute in Christiansburg, Virginia early in her career. She married Rev. Walter E. Ricks, also from Virginia.2
Before they moved to North Carolina, Walter and Launard Ricks lived in Amherst, Massachusetts. Walter, a minister and educator, served as the Assistant Pastor of St. John’s Congregational Church. The couple moved to North Carolina in 1922, when Walter accepted a position as the Director and Principal of Lincoln Academy, a private boarding school for African American students in Kings Mountain. Launard accepted a position as the school’s dining hall matron. Walter Ricks was the school’s first African American principal. They resided on the campus grounds with their young children.3
Walter and Launard remained at Lincoln Academy until 1935. Walter took a position as a public school teacher and the family operated two businesses – a cafe and gas station on Highway 74 known together as “Rick’s Place.” The family also had a large farm on Highway 74 / Route 1 in Kings Mountain, though the family is enumerated in the census in Crowders Mountain.4
Walter Ricks passed away in 1949. It is possible that Launard began running a tourist home to create an additional source of income for her family. The tourist home was first advertised in the Green Book in 1953. Although it continued to be advertised in the Green Book until 1967, Launard moved to Durham some time in the 1950s. It is not clear whether she continued to operate the tourist home after she relocated. Launard Ricks died in Durham, NC in 1976.5
Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2022
Notes
1. Victor Green, 1953 Green Book, 54; Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 53; Green, 1956 Green Book, 46; Green, 1957 Green Book, 46; 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. “Lincoln Academy Enables Negro Youth to Gain Good Education,” The Charlotte Observer, November 20, 1932, no page number, accessed from www.newspapers.com.
3. “Lincoln Academy Enables Negro Youth to Gain Good Education,” The Charlotte Observer, November 20, 1932, no page number, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Lincoln Academy, Kings Mountain, N.C., 1888-1955,” LibGuide, Gaston County Public Library, https://gastonlibrary.libguides.com/lincoln-academy/introduction; “Prof. W.E. Ricks Taken by Death,” The Gastonia Gazette, January 24, 1949, p. 8, accessed from www.newspapers.com; 1920 United States Federal Census, Taylor Street, Amherst, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, digital image s.v. “Walter E Ricks,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; 1930 United States Federal Census, Lincoln Academy, Crowder Mountain, Gaston County, NC, digital image s.v. “Launard E. Ricks,” accessed from www.ancestry.com.
4. 1940 United States Federal Census, Crowders Mountain, Gaston County, NC, digital image s.v. “Lannard E. Ricks,” accessed from www.ancestry.com; Walter Edward Ricks, 1949, North Carolina, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1665-1998, accessed from www.ancestry.com.
5. Walter Edward Ricks, January 22, 1949, Gaston County, North Carolina, U.S., Death Certificates, 1909-1976, accessed from www.ancestry.com; Launard C. Ricks, Hill’s Durham (Durham County, NC) City Directory, 1956, alphabetical listing, p. 499; Launard Elizabeth Ricks, September 8, 1889, U.S. Find a Grave Index, 1600s - Current, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Mrs. Launard E. Ricks,” The Durham Sun, September 28, 1976, p. 8-A, accessed from www.newspapers.com.
Did you know?
- This entry was included in the Green Book without an address.