Jackson Ward: Then and Now - Images from Souvenir Views: Negro Enterprises & Residences, Richmond, Va, 1907.

From: Souvenir Views: Negro Enterprises & Residences, Richmond, Va, 1907:

The image above is from Souvenir Views: Negro Enterprises & Residences, Richmond, Va, 1907.  It is one of the first images in the booklet. It is listed as "Miller's Hotel and Cafe, Corner Second and Leigh Streets, Mr. W. M. Miller, Proprietor." [541 N. Second Street] I thought I would see what I could find out this image in the booklet - here are my steps.

To find out more about it, I  first checked Chronicling America.

From Chronicling America:

 May 18, 1907, Richmond Planet. PDF of the entire page.

That was the only item I found during a brief search of Chronicling America. 

I then checked this VCU Libraries' Digital Collection called "Jackson Ward Historic District" that you can access HERE.
Unfortunately, the building does not appear in that collection.

I then did a Google search and found that Miller's Hotel became the Eggleston Hotel. Turns out that the building had quite a history in Jackson Ward.  I found that it had a historic marker.

 

Miller’s and Eggleston Hotels Marker, SA-105

"Opened in 1904 and demolished in 2009, the hotel that stood here hosted regional and national black luminaries, celebrities, tourists, and leaders including Booker T. Washington. Built by William “Buck” Miller, Miller’s Hotel was one of a handful in Richmond to offer black customers fine accommodations, a rarity in the segregated South. Its success reflected the entrepreneurial and professional efforts of the residents of Jackson Ward, widely considered “The Birthplace of Black Capitalism.” Under subsequent owner Neverett Eggleston, the renamed Eggleston Hotel was a hotspot beginning in 1943, hosting such entertainers as Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, and Redd Fox."

Image of Eggleston Hotel, corner of Leigh and 2nd Street. 

Then and Later (2000s):

Demolition crews take down the remainder of the former

Hotel Eggleston after it partially collapsed on April 11, 2009.

(Richmond Times-Dispatch photo and caption)

And from Google Maps Street View

accessed on Feb. 15, 2016:

 And now it's gone. 

- Ray