Mrs. Lewis Tourist Home

Mrs. Lewis Tourist Home was listed in the Green Book as “Mrs. Lewis—829 E. Market St.” under the “Tourist Homes” category in Greensboro from 1939-1941 and 1947-1955 and as “Mrs. Lewis Tourist Home—829 E. Market St.” in Greensboro from 1956-1957 and in 1959. The Legion Club was also listed in the Green Book at this address.¹

Mrs. Lewis Tourist Home was located at 829 E. Market Street in Greensboro. Mrs. Hattie B. Lewis was the original operator of the tourist home. She began accepting lodgers into the home after she separated from her husband, Lester, in 1936. Lester continued to live at 829 E. Market until 1939 and the divorce was finalized in 1941. Eight lodgers were living at the tourist home in 1940.²

Mrs. Hattie Lewis left Greensboro around 1942. Her Sister, Climax M. Bigby, was the householder from 1943-1953. She also worked at Orchid Beauty Salon.³

Mrs. Alice Moseley, a beautician at Rose Beauty Salon, was listed as the householder in 1954. Margaret Saunders took over in 1955; unlike her predecessors, she advertised furnished rooms at 829 E. Market Street in the Greensboro city directory. Finally, Samuel L. Davis was listed as the householder from 1958-1959.⁴

The tourist home is no longer standing.⁵

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2024

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1939 Green Book, 33; Green, 1940 Green Book, 35; Green, 1941 Green Book, 35; Green, 1947 Green Book, 64; Green, 1948 Green Book, 62; Green, 1949 Green Book, 56; Green, 1950 Green Book, 62; Green, 1951 Green Book, 53; Green, 1952 Green Book p. 53; Green, 1953 Green Book, 53; Green, 1954 Green Book, 53; Green, 1955 Green Book, 53; Victor Green, 1956 Green Book, 46; Green, 1957 Green Book, 46; Green 1959 Green Book, 51. 
2. Hill’s Greensboro City Directory, 1938-1959; Lester Lewis and Hattie Ethel Bigby, April 8, 1935, Guilford County, North Carolina Marriage Records, 1741-2011, accessed from www.ancestry.com; “Greensboro Grist: Suit for Divorce,” The Greensboro Record, September 9, 1941, p. 9, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Divorces Granted Fourteen Persons In Less Than One Hour,” News and Record (Greensboro, NC), October 29, 1941, p. 11, accessed from www.newspapers.com; “Hattie Lewis,” 829 E. Market Street, Gilmer Township, Greensboro, Guilford County, NC, 1940 United States Federal Census, accessed from www.ancestry.com. 
3. Hill’s Greensboro City Directory, 1943-1953. 
4. Hill’s Greensboro City Directory, 1954-1959. 
5. 829 E. Market Street, Greensboro, NC, Google Maps.