Howard Street, Akron, photograph   Save
Akron, Ohio
Description: This image shows Howard Street in Akron, Ohio, in 1890. Streetcar rails run down the middle of the busy street. Horse-drawn wagons are parked on both sides of the street, and pedestrians are visible on the sidewalk. An advertising banner hangs above the street. Patches of snow are scattered on the street and walkways. Telegraph/telephone poles line the street. Miller & Roche, wholesale and retail grocers, were located on Howard Street. One of their establishments is visible in the left foreground. Another establishment in this photograph is S.E. Allen, a drugstore located at 193 Howard Street (far right, middle). By the mid-20th century, Howard Street become the center of African-American culture. It was home to many of the city's black-owned business and entertainment establishments, and provided an atmosphere in which minority-owned businesses could thrive. Attracted to the vitality of the neighborhood, entrepreneur George Mathews (1887-1982) established a barbershop here in 1920 and in 1925 opened the adjoining Mathews Hotel. The hotel quickly became the anchor of the Howard Street district. Mathews' success allowed him to endow a scholarship fund at the University of Akron in 1964. View on Ohio Memory.
Image ID: AL06153
Subjects: Akron (Ohio); Streets--Ohio; Small business--Ohio; Business enterprises--Ohio; African Americans--Ohio
Places: Akron (Ohio); Summit County (Ohio)