If you’ve ever been Black for any period in your life, you’ve probably heard the complaint, “Every group of people has their own business districts; Chinatown, Germantown, Little Italy, etc. Why can’t we have a Blacktown?”
Quiet as it’s kept, we’ve had those – in cities across the country. Some even argue we still have Black business districts. To some extent.
And though the Defender spotlighted past pockets of national Black economic excellence elsewhere – including the Greenwood Section of Tulsa, OK; Jackson Ward of Richmond, VA; the Hayti District of Durham, NC; Chicago’s Bronzeville; and more – locally, we went back in time to look at Houston’s former Black business pockets.
We also inquired if such areas exist today and, if so, where are they and asked what must we do to revive, rebuild, and/or support them to make of these Black business areas what we as a collective both want and need them to be.
Houston Historic Black Business Districts
Lyons Avenue, Fifth Ward, Houston
During its heyday in the 1940s and ’50s, Fifth Ward was dubbed the “Harlem of the South” for its vibrant musical heritage and bustling Black-owned businesses.
The stretch of Lyons between Gregg and nearby Denver Harbor became one of the most vibrant Black neighborhoods of that era, and included many businesses like the Monte Carlo Night Club, Poor Man Café, Huckle-Buckle Inn, Harlem Shine Parlor, the Peacock Record Shop, the Congo Beer Bar, Silver Shoe Barbecue & Hot Links, and Rochelle’s Market.
Dowling Street, Third Ward, Houston
Between 1910 and 1930 Third Ward’s Black population nearly tripled from 22,929 to 66,357. The result – an explosion of Black-owned businesses, especially along the area’s main drag, Dowling Street (now Emancipation Ave.).
Some described the strip as “Black Vegas” because of the many entertainment venues that lined the street, including blues clubs and the Eldorado Ballroom attracting any and every big name and local Black entertainer in the business – like Ray Charles, B.B. King, James Brown, Illinois Jacquet, Arnett Cobb, Jewel Brown, etc.
And those performers were said to get suits at the Slack Rack and then head across the street to Wolf’s for the extras – jewelry, shoes, and hats.
Dowling also offered sock hops at the YWCA, churches aplenty, summer days at the neighborhood pool, and a headquarters for civil rights organized by the likes of Eldrewey Stearns, George Washington, Jr., Hamah King, and others. The historic Wesley Chapel AME Church (2209 Dowling Street) was designed by one of the country’s first Black architects, William Sidney Pittman.
Milam Street
Though most don’t think of Milam Street as a bustling Black Business district on the level of back-in-the-day Dowling and Lyons, many would argue it deserves to be mentioned.
“J. Vance Lewis lived in Freedmen’s Town. His law practice and his business was on Milam Street, right across from Market Square. Ned Pullum, who owned a brickyard, a pharmacy, and was part of the original creation of Union Hospital, owned a shoe repair store. One of those two pharmacies was The People’s Pharmacy located near downtown on Milam Street,” said Zion Escobar, former executive director, Freedmen’s Town Conservancy and current founder of the Freedmen’s Town Community Investment Project.
“Judson Robinson Sr.’s Pleasantville neighbor Andrew Brooks was the only Black club owner downtown,” said Pleasantville resident Margaret Chachere, “[Brooks] used to have his club on Milam. That was the street for the Blacks. That’s where all kinds of shops and stores for Blacks were located back then.”
Current Houston Black Business Districts
Many Black Houstonians, like Blacks across the country, lament the loss of local Black business districts. However, Carol Guess, former interim president of the Greater Houston Black Chamber, shared her insights on areas where local Black businesses are congregated; areas that should be considered modern-day Black business districts.
“These days, I would say the Black business corridors, especially from my time serving in leadership at the Greater Houston Black Chamber of Commerce, were typically the Third Ward area, with the Emancipation Corridor , which is coming back. There’s more investment there along Emancipation Avenue with the Eldorado Ballroom, Project Row Houses revitalization, and then across the street with the Community Center,” said Guess, who now serves as the vice chair of the Texas Association of African American Chambers of Commerce. “And there are several other Black businesses around that area that are popping up.”
Guess also identified the Martin Luther King/South Park area, Griggs between OST and MLK , and OST from Hwy 288 to Cullen . Additionally, Guess pointed out today’s Lyons Ave in Fifth Ward .
“My mom was born and raised there. She let me know that the correct pronunciation of the word ‘Lyons’ is LEE-YONES.”
“And then in southwest Houston, the Hiram Clarke area has several Black-owned businesses. During my service at the Chamber, most of our businesses at the GHBC were located on the southwest side of Houston, extending up to I-10 West.”
Guess added that during her GHBC tenure, “There were more and more businesses popping up on the north side, in the spring area.
Judson Robinson III, president and CEO of the Houston Area Urban League (HAUL), agrees with Guess’s assessment but added an additional candidate.
“I’d include the Almeda Corridor that includes multi-story buildings, high rises, parks, and residential spaces,” he said.
Do We Need Physical Black Business Districts
Still, many contend the aforementioned areas don’t operate on the level of Chinatowns across the nation or Black Wall Streets of the past. And in 2024, with so much business taking place online, are in-person, geographic Black business districts even feasible these days?
Guess says they are not only feasible but needed.
“I think we would benefit from more than one area of concentration of Black businesses, north, south, east, and west. It’s important we recognize that place is important. There are many retail businesses doing their bidding online as well, which is not a bad thing. But I do think that businesses would benefit from touching their customers in person. I think when there is personal interaction between a business owner and a customer, you can develop more brand loyalty, and, in the long run, sell more because they will be repeat customers based on the feelings they experienced by meeting you in person. I don’t think the storefront should be completely abandoned.”
Promoting and Growing Black Business Districts
Guess offers a laundry list of specifics needed to make this happen, including Black communities taking responsibility for creating and maintaining safe and clean places for businesses to operate; using TIRZ (tax increment reinvestment zones) money to help improve infrastructure like sidewalks, curbs, lighting, and expanding community greenspace; and partnering with Metro, various chambers of commerce, and even HOAs (homeowners associations).
“HOAs look at neighborhood issues, but business is a neighborhood issue. Because if you want to keep your property values at a certain level, having a business sector located near your property can only help,” added Guess.
Robinson added other levels of support needed to make the dream of vibrant Black business districts, modern-day “Little Africas” and “Black Wall Streets,” possible.
“We need economic and marketing incentives from the state and city hall to stimulate additional business and affordable housing support for these areas to survive and balance gentrification with their rich history of Black economic trade, pre-integration.”
