Having received an overview of Orlando area history at the Orange County Regional History Center, I wanted to dig a little deeper into Orlando area social history, and the Wells Built Museum of African American History and Culture was it will give me a deeper look into Orlando’s African American history.
To this day, this area west of I-4 is primarily inhabited by African Americans and the difference in housing and facilities between this area and the city center is quite noticeable. In fact, the very name “Division Street” points to a distinct historical line of demarcation between black and white residential areas.
The origins of the Wells Built Museum can be traced back to a prominent local African physician named Dr. William Monroe Wells, who began building the Well’s Built Hotel in 1926 to provide housing for African-Americans during an era of segregation when lodging was not available for others. areas of Central Florida.
Adjacent to Wells’ Built once stood the South Street Casino, a performance venue, featuring musicians traveling the ‘Chitlin Circuit’ performing for audiences across the country. The hotel opened with three storefronts on the first floor and hotel rooms on the second floor.
Dr. William Monroe Wells was one of Orlando’s first black physicians, coming to the area in 1917. Born in Ft. Gaines, Georgia, in 1889, Dr. Wells completed his medical training at Meharry Medical College. During part of World War II, Dr. William Monroe Wells was the only African-American doctor in Orlando.
During segregation, white doctors did not treat African-American patients. African-American doctors, therefore, earned their money from people of their own race. He worked very hard to serve the growing African American population in Orlando. With the help of her assistant, Ms. Josie Belle Jackson, Dr. Wells is known to have delivered over 5,000 babies in Orlando.
He treated patients suffering from pneumonia, influenza, scarlet fever, and other serious illnesses before drugs such as penicillin were introduced. Many of Dr. Wells’s patients were extremely poor. He treated their illnesses even though they often couldn’t pay his fees. This allowed them to speak out strongly against the poor conditions that existed in the African American community without fear of losing their livelihood.
Although African Americans were taxpayers like other Orlando residents, they did not have access to recreational facilities, good schools, police protection, health care, and other services that were provided to white citizens. This led him to build the South Street Casino and the hotel next door.
Dr. Wells hired bands and other renowned artists to perform at the South Street Casino. Many famous entertainers we know today played at South Street Casino within the Chitlin Circuit. Some examples of these artists are:
-Ray Charles
-BB king
-Louis Armstrong
– slim guitar
-Bo Didley
African Americans came from all over Orlando to shop and attend performances by popular musicians at the South Street Casino. After the casino performances, the performers checked into the historic Wells’ Built Hotel. In its heyday, Wells’ Built provided housing for clients such as Pegleg Bates, Ella Fitzgerald, Roy Campenella, Thurgood Marshall, and Jackie Robinson. The artists and athletes who frequented this establishment made it one of the most popular places for African-Americans in the South.
Today, the museum has more than 6,000 square feet of exhibit space. It retains the hotel’s original façade, a room with authentic furniture, beads and decorations from the 1930s, and also has an original interior wall that reflects important architectural elements and unique designs of the time. Exhibit material collected for display includes: official hotel documents, an original Negro League baseball jersey, photographs, artifacts, books, multimedia exhibits, slave records, and other items of historical significance.
Dr. Well’s house has been moved to the Casino site and will be restored and open to the public. The Well’s Built Museum of African American History and Culture is located just west of I-4 near Church Street at 511 West South Street, Orlando 32801, tel. (407) 245-7535.