Historic Colson Hotel in Sarasota was once a lively and welcoming place for Black travelers to stay during the days of Jim Crow and the deep divide of the segregated South. The old landmark hotel in Sarasota is now shuttered and faces the possibility of being torn down.
A building is often more than just a building and the Colson Hotel is one such — it has a lot of stories to tell.
“Oh yes ... these buildings speak," says Vickie Oldham, the founder of Newtown Alive and president and CEO of the Sarasota African American Cultural Coalition. Her passion is to share the stories of who and what came before in Sarasota.
“This started out as historic preservation. Just saving the history before it’s totally lost," said Oldham. "Because we are right now standing in a community called Overtown. Overtown is totally gentrified right now."
The Overtown area where the Colson sits was once a vibrant area for Black people in Sarasota. The hotel was built in 1925 by Edwin O. Burns, one of the first settlers in Sarasota.
The hotel, designed to host and welcome African Americans during segregation, is now in a state of disrepair and a long way from the once-thriving glory days.
“Well, from people that I've interviewed, who shared with me what it was like to live near the Colson or whatever, it was a very, very lively place. Can you imagine entertainers that were on the Chitlin Circuit coming through there to stay the night, after they had played, say, at one of the local juke joints, you know, they were celebrating a great, performance at the Colson Hotel," Oldham said. "Can you imagine what it was like for Negro Baseball League players to stay there over the night and be going to play competitively another Negro Baseball League game. Buc O’Neil says in his memoir, that he stayed there as a young kid, and it was a lively place.”
The hotel is on 8th Street and named after Rev. Lewis Colson. He is recognized as the first known free African American to settle in Sarasota in 1884. He’s also credited with driving the first stake to plat the town of Sarasota.
Dr. Clifford Smith is the senior planner for the city of Sarasota-Historic preservation. He says a community's history is what often gives a city its distinctive character.
“It has its unique history. And that’s what you need to look at. What makes Sarasota Sarasota is its unique history. And these buildings, these sites tell that history," Smith said.
The current owner and developer, Maximillian Vollmer of JDMAX Developments in Tampa, wants to tear down the Colson and build new townhomes. However, the city’s historic preservation board denied the demolition.
The developer appealed the decision saying the current building in its condition is beyond feasible to renovate and bring up to code.
Vollmer declined to comment to WGCU.
Oldham hopes the history will be preserved just like other Sarasota’s historic buildings.
“There have been other historic structures here in Sarasota in bad condition, just as this one is. But they were rehabbed, renovated and reused. And that is what we’re hoping will happen to the Colson Hotel, says Oldham.
A building is more than just wood and stone. It has a way of connecting the past to the here and now as well as to the future.
Smith says, “If you don’t save it today, it won’t be here in 200 years to tell its story to future generations. I’m from Nantucket, the first house in Nantucket was built in the 1600s and it’s still there. It’s still telling the story, because everyone since that time saved it.”
The next meeting and public hearing to determine the future of the old Colson Hotel has not been scheduled but could be held sometime this summer.
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