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Treasure Inn on Rice Street in 1948 and 1691 RJ •••

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Treasure Inn on Rice Street in 1948 and 1691 RJ ••• Transcript of an oral history Interview with Richard Morris Mann May 7, 2004 at Mr. Mann's home Saint Paul, Minnesota Interviewed by Kateleen Hope Cavett as part of the HAND in HAND's RONDO ORAL HISTORY PROJECTProject Saint Paul, Minnesota Society At ninety years of a:ge, Mr. Mann shares his recollections of the economics and the business community of Rondo. He discusses the minimal opportunities for Black men to get good paying jobs. The war Historycreated significant employment opportunities for Blacks, but economics changed after the war when Black people were often the first to be laid off, creating a significant economic and social change for the neighborhood. Blacks' primaryOral opportunities Historical of employment were lower paying jobs often with disadvantages like being away from home a lot as a railroad waiters, or the dirty work of the packinghouses, or the service work of elevator operator or hotel waiter. The civil service jobs were great opportunities as Black and Whites were paid the same. He shares how his family came to Saint Paul and remembers his grandfather's barbershopRondo that catered to rich White patrons. He owned a bar the supported the Rondo community and a nightclub outside of the neighborhood that openly welcomed Black patrons and sponsored Black musicians. Mann goes on toMinnesota discuss the hardships the people and community experienced when the freeway was built. He describes in detail the history of the Sterling Club, a prestigious Black men's club founded in 1919. This is a transcript of taped interviews, edited slightly for clarity. A signed release is on file from Mr. Mann. 3 KC: Kateleen Cavett RM: Richard Mann KC: We are at Mr. Mann's home in the north end of Saint Paul. Can you introduce yourself to me? RM: My name is Richard Morris Mann. 1 I live at _ Western Avenue, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55117, and I have consented to this interview with Ms. Cavett. KC: Thank you. You've been a member of the Sterling Club2 for quite a while. Can we talk about the Sterling Club? Can youProject share some of the history, and why the Sterling Club was important in the RondoSociety Community? RM: I have been a member of the Sterling Club in Saint Paul, Minnesota since 1949. At this time I am a Life Time Member, having become an honorary member three years ago. TheHistory Sterling Club was incorporated and founded in 1919. The purpose of the Sterling Club was founded as a social, charitable and Oralcivic organization. Historical The Sterling Club encourages its members and club to cooperate with other organizations and provide beneficial activities and programs for the community. Another purpose of the club is to provide leadership in the community. I have made notes and Rondoprobably this sounds like a record, but I have made these notes and I am reading from my notes. The club was chartered as a non-profit cooperativeMinnesota organization. In order to be a member of the Sterling Club, 1 Richard Morris Mann was born March 8, 1914. 2 Sterling Club was founded in 1918 and incorporated in 1919. It was located at 315 North Dale Street at Rondo. In 1958, it built a new home at 300 North St. Albans at Carroll, This private club was formed to give prestigious Black men , who were not allowed in White facilities, a place to meet and network, 8 originally was [males only,] age of fifty-five and older, and this is the reason we obtained our non-profit organization, because it was organized as a non-profit organization for senior members, and we're incorporated under the State of Minnesota. Membership classifications include regular members, incorporated members, life members and honorary members, of which I am now a life member. We have our regular meetings on [the second] Friday evening of each month and the board, which consists of nine members, meets on the first Friday of each month. KC: Why was the Sterling Club Important? Originally the facility was located in the Rondo neighborhood. Why was the SterlingProject Club important in the Rondo neighborhood? Society RM: The Sterling Club first started - their first meetings were in the old Hallie Q. Brown Community Center,3 which didn't last too long. Originally there was a membership of nine membersHistory who got together and put a few dollars together and bought some property on Dale and Rondo. I think today it is called Concordia.Oral ThatHistorical was prior to the freeway , freeway 94, going through the area. They built a five-room structure that was designed by the late Clarence Wigington,4 who also designed several other buildings in Saint Paul, including the Harriett Island [Pavilion], several Rondo 3Hallie Q. Brown Community Center was opened in 1929 as a community center specifically to serve the Black community when the Black YWCA closed in 1928. Hallie Q, as it is affectionately known , has served all ages through child care, youth and Minnesotasenior clubs, athletics, music and social events. The original location was in the Union Hall at Aurora and Kent Streets. In1972, Hallie relocated in the Martin Luther King Building at 270 Kent Street at Iglehart in Saint Paul. The center's namesake was an educator who pioneered the movement of Black women 's clubs in the late 1800's. 4 Clarence Wesley "Cap" Wigington (1883 -1967) was born in Kansas City and raised in Omaha. He moved to Saint Paul in 1913, and for thirty-four years was a municipal architect for the City of Saint Paul , designing numerous Minnesota historical landmarks including the Roy Wilkins Auditorium , the Harriet Island Pavilion , and the Highland Water Tower. 9 schools, and Highland Golf Course [Club House and the Highland Water Tower on South Snelling Avenue]. Mr. Wigington designed the Sterling Club as a bungalow living quarters for tax purposes, in order that we would not be classified as a commercial building. It had four rooms on the top floor, including a kitchen and a bath. The lower level, which was the basement at that time, was never finished until later years. In fact, the furnace was installed on a cement slab in the basement. After the Sterling Club had occupied these quarters for several years, the Redeemer Arms, which is a senior apartmentProject building, bought the property behind the Sterling Club and they negotiatedSociety with the Sterling Club in order to buy our property. The Redeemer Arms paid us a small amount of money. It was enough money in order for us to put it into construction of a new buildingHistory on the corner of Saint Albans and Carroll. The new building was constructed in the years of 1957, between '57 and '58. That was theOral time that theHistorical freeway ran through that area. The building was constructed with funds from the sale of the old Sterling Club, plus we obtained a mortgage signed by, or guaranteed by, a couple of the members, including the president of the club. The president of the club at Rondothat time was Ted Hatcher. If I'm not mistaken, he was president for 1957, 1958. Some past current members [are] now deceased, [like] Clarence Wigington.Minnesota 10 Some of the current members of the Twin Cities currently is Chief of Police William Finney; Bill Wilson, who was at one time a city council member; Jim Griffin, the late James S. Griffin, who was the Deputy Chief. Project Society Sterling Club 300 Saint Albans [Another member, who was raisedHistory in Saint Paul and attended school in Saint Paul] is Gordon Parks, who is a photographer. [He] is an honorary member. Judge StevenOral Maxwell Historical was a past member. Doctor Kerman Gaines, [at one time] the superintendent of schools is a past member. [Gaines moved out of the city after being replaced as Superintendent of Schools in Saint Paul.] KC: WhatRondo I'm hearing, Mr. Mann, is that this was a club for the professional men inMinnesota the community. The names you're giving are people that have degrees and are working as professionals in the community. Why did they need the Sterling Club? RM: Actually, the Sterling Club was not created for professional people alone. It just so happened that it was an asset to professional people to belong to 11 a community organization like the Sterling Club. The Sterling Club also caused professional people to have a closer contact with the Afro­ American people in the vicinity. Also, it was prestigious to belong to the Sterling Club, because of the membership, because of their background, the close background, and because of the original creators and members who were the majority of social, prominent Black people in the Twin Cities, [not always professional people.] KC: Saint Paul is an old city. There are a number of prestigious organizations for people to belong to in Saint Paul. Would they invite Black people in? [Clubs like the Saint Paul Athletic Club, the ProjectMinnesota Club, Kiwanis.] Is that why the Sterling Club was created? Society RM: I am not following that question. Would you restate that? KC: Was the Sterling Club created because the prestigious Black men in the community were not invitedHistory to join other prestigious organizations to be able to network? RM: That is not exactlyOral the reason Historical for the creation of the club. The reason for the creation of the club was to have a place for Black males to congregate, socialize. As the majority, a lot of the members not only were the professional members, but some of the original members were railroad Rondomembers and people that were in and out of town, and they liked to have a placeMinnesota to go in the afternoons and socialize, play checkers, play bridge, play whist, maybe ten cent tonk or poker, whatever.
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