Mrs. S. Foster Tourist Home

Mrs. S. Foster Tourist Home was advertised in the Green Book from 1957-1967. It was listed in the Green Book as “Mrs. S. Foster Foster Tourist Home . . . 88 Clengman [sic] Ave.” A tourist home was a private home that provided furnished rooms to travelers for a fee.¹ 

88 Clingman Avenue, built around 1914, began as a home for a white family in a predominantly white neighborhood. After World War I, the demographics of Clingman Avenue changed as the area grew into a vibrant African-American community. The one-story bungalow at 88 Clingman was inhabited by working-class African American renters during this era. As the African American community surrounding Clingman Avenue grew, middle-class African Americans began to purchase homes in the neighborhood.

88 Clingman was purchased by Pullman Porter and Brickton, North Carolina, native Samuel Clinton Foster in 1925. He began as a porter on the train route running from Asheville, NC, to Jacksonville, Florida, later moving to the route running from Asheville to New York. His first wife, Bell Foster, was the first director of Asheville’s Industrial Home for Girls. After her death in 1947, Samuel Foster remarried, to Laura Jo Erwin. 2

Like Mr. Foster, Laura Jo Foster was an active member of Berry Temple Methodist Church. They were also both community-minded people. Mr. Foster joined the board of the Market Street YMCA around 1915 (a position he held for fifty years). Mrs. Foster was a member of the YWCA (also listed in the Green Book), was active in the local Red Cross and the Negro Hospital Auxiliary, and was active in the ladies auxiliary for the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters.⁴

In 1957, two years after Mr. Foster’s retirement,  Laura Jo Erwin Foster began to market her home as “Mrs. S. Foster Tourist Home” in the Negro Traveler’s Green Book. Mr. Foster passed away in 1965, and Mrs. Foster continued to offer her home to tourists through the Green Book until her death in 1967.⁵

Although no longer used as a tourist home, 88 Clingman continued to function as a hub for African American life in Asheville following Mrs. Foster’s death. The home was purchased by Mrs. Louise McMorris in the late 1960s, and she hosted meetings of the Asheville City Federation of Negro Women’s Club there from 1969-1980. The home continues to be a private, single-family residence today.⁶

Essay by Brandie K. Ragghianti, 2019

Notes

1. Victor Green, 1957 Green Book, 46; Green, 1959 Green Book, 51; Alma D. Green, 1960 Green Book, 72; Green, 1961 Green Book, 62; Green, 1962 Green Book, 73; Green, 1963-1964 Green Book, 57; Green, 1966-1967 Green Book, 57.
2. National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Clingman Avenue Historic District, prepared by Bowers Southeastern Preservation (Asheville, NC), November 10, 2003, accessed from https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/BN1826.pdf. 
3.  National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, Clingman Avenue Historic District, prepared by Bowers Southeastern Preservation (Asheville, NC), November 10, 2003, accessed from https://files.nc.gov/ncdcr/nr/BN1826.pdf; “Death Claims Mrs. Foster at Her Home,” Asheville Citizen-Times, November 4, 1947, p. 2, via newspapers.com; North Carolina Certificate of Death for Samuel C. Foster, August 27, 1965, Buncombe County, via ancestry.com.
4. Samuel Clinton Foster, March 15, 1884, U.S. Social Security Applications and Claims Index, 1936-2007, via ancestry.com; “Foster Retires after 36 Years As Porter,” Asheville Citizen-Times; March 10, 1955, p. 18, via newspapers.com; “Death Claims Mrs. Foster at Her Home,” Asheville Citizen-Times, November 4, 1947, p. 2, via newspapers.com; “Negro Hospital Auxiliary to Meet,” Asheville Citizen-Times, December 2, 1951, p. 4, via newspapers.com; ; “Formal Disaster Readiness Plan is Announced for Buncombe,” Asheville Citizen-Times; August 8, 1954, 9B, via newspapers.com;  “Mrs. Laura Foster” (obituary), Asheville Citizen-Times, February 6, 1967, p. 3, via newspapers.com; “Mrs. Laura Foster” (death announcement), Asheville Citizen-Times, February 5, 1967, p. 22, via newspapers.com; Photograph of Asheville Ladies Auxiliary, Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, Erline McQueen Photograph Series, Ties That Bind Project Collection, YMI Cultural Center Archives.
5. “Mrs. Laura Foster” (obituary), Asheville Citizen-Times, February 6, 1967, p. 3, via newspapers.com; “Mrs. Laura Foster” (death announcement), Asheville Citizen-Times, February 5, 1967, p. 22, via newspapers.com; North Carolina Certificate of Death for Laura Jo Foster, February 3, 1967, Buncombe County, via ancestry.com.
6.  “Asheville Calendar,” Asheville Citizen-Times, February 7, 1969, p. 10, via newspapers.com; “Clubwomen,” Asheville Citizen-Times, January 27, 1980, p. 36; Listing for 88 Clingman Avenue, Asheville, NC, accessed from www.realtor.com/.

Did you know?

• The street name for this entry was misspelled in the Green Book. Foster’s Tourist Home was located at 88 Clingman Ave.