Working Wednesday: Two Scott Brothers at the Arlington Hotel

Advertisement for the Arlington Hotel, found in the Atlanta City Directory for 1896, p.9. Archive.org.

 

One of the things I find enthralling about family history research is trying to picture what my ancestors everyday lives looked like, going beyond the dates and pedigree charts to try to see the world they walked through. So when I discovered that two of my maternal great-great-grandmother Scoatney Scott’s  brothers, James Solomon Scott and Daniel Scott, worked at the Arlington Hotel in Atlanta in the mid-1890s, you know what I had to do! Down the rabbit hole I went, and here’s what I’ve found so far.

My starting point for this research jaunt was the Atlanta City Directory, and specifically, the  1896 and 1897 editions. The 1896 directory showed Solomon Scott – a version of his name James Solomon Scott sometimes used – working as a porter for The Arlington. Then, in 1897, Daniel Scott appears as a porter at the Arlington, and James Solomon (listed as Sol) makes a repeat appearance, this time as a waiter.

My understanding is that city directories often printed information that was collected the year prior, which means James Solomon may have worked there in 1895 and 1896, and Daniel in 1896. But it’s possible both actually worked there longer. For example, Daniel is a waiter in 1899, but his place of employment isn’t listed.

James Solomon would have been in his early twenties at the time, his older brother Daniel in his early thirties. Most of their family – their parents and siblings - would have been miles away, in Washington, Hancock, and Burke counties, Southeast of Atlanta. But their brother, Sydney Borden Scott (possibly known as Ananius at the time), was also in the city, attending Atlanta Baptist College, and their sister Lula Scott would begin attending Spelman in Atlanta in 1897.

 

About the Arlington

So, what was the Arlington?  It seems to have functioned both as a hotel for travelers and a boarding house for longer-term stays. An advertisement for it actually appears in the 1896 Atlanta City Directory, the same one that shows James Solomon Scott working there – you can see that at the top of the page. Here’s another image and a description, from 1895:

Both images from The Looking Glass (Atlanta, GA) newspaper, 7 September 1895, found via GA Historic Newspapers.

During the period that the Scott brothers worked there, the business was run by Loderick M. Dimick, a former merchant from New England who moved to Georgia with his parents before the Civil War. After his death, his widowed son, Loderick W. Dimick, took over the business. But the property had functioned as a boarding house as early as 1883, when Mrs. E. Demick (likely L.M.’s wife) was listed as the proprietor.

Early listings for The Arlington place it at 67 Marietta Street, but when James Solomon and Daniel worked there, the address was 85 Marietta. This isn't because they changed buildings, it’s because the street was renumbered. The first map below is from 1886, the second is from 1899.

1886 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01378_003/.

1899 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map. Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01378_005/.

You’ll see from these maps that the Arlington stood at the intersection of Marietta and Cone Streets. Today, this would place it in the Five Points neighborhood of downtown Atlanta, just a few blocks from the Underground, the CNN Center, and the Centennial Olympic Park. Georgia State University and Coca-Cola World aren’t much further away.

Here's a modern Google map of the location:

Red marker indicates the location of the Arlington on a modern Google map.

But in the 1890s, it was close to the Post Office, the Columbia Theatre, a train roundhouse and repair shop, and several other hotels and boarding houses. Here is an 1892 Bird’s Eye View of the location, at three zooms, to give you a sense of the building and neighborhood back then. You’re looking for number 29.

Full zoom. Koch, A., Hughes Litho. Co & Saunders And Kline. (1892) Bird's eye view of Atlanta, Fulton Co., State capital, Georgia. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/75693189/.

Same map, zoomed out a bit. Now you can see the roundhouse and repair shop.

Same map. Can you find the Arlington?

 

The building was a 3 ½ story-tall brick structure with a steeply sloping Mansard roof made of either slate or tin. The front and back have wood frame porches, perhaps for sitting and watching the world go by. You can see this represented in the advertisement images above, but the detail is also explained in the Sanborn Fire Insurance Company maps, which have an accompanying key. Click here for the key for 1899.

Working at the Arlington

So what was it like for James Solomon and Daniel to work at the Arlington each day? What would their tasks have involved? As waiters and porters, they likely would have been responsible for serving food in the dining room or to private suites, handling incoming and outcoming mail, transporting luggage, packages, and supplies, and overall making the guests and boarders feel comfortable and well taken care of. Black men occupying roles as waiters and porters was written into the social and economic landscape in a time of limited opportunities for African Americans. Racism and nostalgia for slavery among those who had practiced or benefitted from it made carving out new types of careers difficult, and sometimes impossible.

The role – and image – of the crisply-dressed and happy to serve Black waiter had already permeated popular culture by the time James Solomon and Daniel began working at the Arlington.

Here's an 1880 image of a Black waiter holding glasses of beer:

African American waiter, smiling at the viewer, holding a tray of glasses of beer., 1880. [United States: publisher not transcribed, about] https://www.loc.gov/item/2018694714/.

Here’s a circa 1889 poster advertising Bock beer that show a Black waiter being knocked over by a goat (the symbol of the beer company).

Bock Beer Ad. Baltimore: R.H. Eichner & Co., Lith. & Pub. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2005691053/.

And here’s a 1901 satirical print on the cover of Puck magazine of a Black waiter exerting a larger-than-life influence on the dining experience of white patrons (and making sure they tip).

Dalrymple, Louis, Artist. The summer version of "Pay! Pay!! Pay!!!" . United States, 1901. N.Y.: J. Ottmann Lith. Co., Puck Bldg., June 5. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2010651415/.

Who would James Solomon and Daniel been responsible for serving at the Arlington? The 1896 and 1897 city directories give us some answers. For example, J.L. Cummings was a boarder at the hotel, and an electrician at Atlanta Cotton Mills. A.M. Hinman, another boarder, was a clerk at Weinfeld & Severance. Angus MacDiarmid boarded for at least 2 years while he worked as a bookkeeper for W.T Crenshaw. And Miss Mary Johnson boarded for at least 3 years, while working as a schoolteacher at a boys’ night school. Other boarders during the Scott brothers’ time there included a solicitor, a clerk, a physician and surgeon, a contractor, another bookkeeper, and a horse dealer.

The city directories also tell us who the Scott brothers were working with, and with the exception of the Dimicks, the service staff seem to be entirely Black. William Reed served as a cook for at least one year, while Frank Smith served as a waiter for at least two. Kennedy Norcross and Aaron White were waiters alongside James Solomon and Daniel as well.

The images above show that respect and appreciation for the work of Black waiters in mainstream white culture were, at best, mixed with other feelings. But the Black men who worked together in these positions could take pride in the skill and knowledge they might develop in these jobs. In 1904, the Head and Second Waiters’ National Benefit Association even published a 172-page book called Commanders of the Dining Room: Biographic Sketches and Portraits of Successful Head Waiters that highlighted the accomplishments of over 50 head waiters serving in hotels, restaurants, and even steamboats. 

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Jean Blackwell Hutson Research and Reference Division, The New York Public Library. "Commanders of the Dining Room" The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1904. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/2c507960-c15f-0134-d209-00505686a51c

Samuel R. Wilson and William E. Tucker, two Georgia headwaiters profiled in Commanders of the Dining Room.

While the Arlington doesn’t seem fancy enough to have its staff recorded in such a collection, the book also notes that dining rooms in general were a starting point for many men of distinction outside of the field. Who knows what James Solomon and Daniel wanted or thought their prospects would be?

It's worth noting that Black men working as waiters sometimes organized themselves into unions for better pay and benefits. This could be a deep dive of research unto itself, so I’ll just tantalize you with this image of Black waiters in Georgia standing in front of a Waiters Union sign. 

African American men posed at entrance to building, some with derbys and top hats, and banner labeled "Waiters Union" in Georgia. Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/95507092/.

 

W.E.B. DuBois actually took this picture with him to include in an exhibit on African Americans at the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. I don’t know if the Scott brothers were a part of a union, but how fascinating would it be to find out that they were! Whatever they were doing, it seems that Daniel was doing it as a residential member of the staff, while James Solomon lived offsite.

What Happens Next?

Both brothers continue in service and labor jobs after their time at the Arlington. By 1902 or 1903, Daniel has landed a job at a place called the Farlinger Café. James Solomon works as a laborer, a janitor, a woodworker of some sort, and then a porter at an unknown location in the early 1900s. Then, in the 1909 Atlanta City Directory, he turns up as a janitor at a place called…The Farlinger! That’s right – the same place his brother had landed around 6 years earlier. So you know I’ll be digging into this business as well!

And what of the Arlington itself? Loderick M. Dimick passes away in 1896. An article about his death, published on November 19th in the Atlanta Constitution, notes,

"On Tuesday night he went to his room as usual, feeling in good health, or if he was ill he said nothing of it to any member of his family. When one of the porters of the hotel went to his room yesterday morning Mr. Dimick complained that the room was too close, and asked that the window be raised so as to allow the passage of more air.

From the general tone in which Mr. Dimick had spoken the porter knew that he was seriously ill, and immediately summoned the family and a physician, but before the latter had arrived Mr. Dimick had breathed his last.”

James Solomon was listed as a porter in the 1896 Atlanta city directory, the same year that L.M. Dimick passed away. I wonder if he was the porter being referenced?

Two years later, L.M. Dimick’s son, Loderick W., passes away as well.

The Morning News (Savannah, GA), 23 February 1898. https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn86063034/1898-02-23/ed-1/seq-9/

The business changes hands frequently over the next decade. Eventually, it is torn down. Now a parking garage stands in its place, across the street from the State Bar of Georgia.

Corner of Marietta and Cone, old site of the Arlington, today. Courtesy of Google Maps.

Do you know anything about the Scott brothers’ time at the Arlington Hotel? Drop a note in the comments – I’d love to learn more!