Hotel Metropolitan Museum

Built in 1908 in Paducah’s Upper Town district, the Hotel Metropolitan became the city’s first African American-owned hotel and gave Black travelers lodging denied them under Jim Crow. Founded by Maggie Steed, it joined the network of dependable places used by African American travelers and was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book. It also became part of the Chitlin' Circuit, hosting figures such as Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Thurgood Marshall. Its Purple Room served as a social and music space, and the building now houses a museum on African American history and the hotel’s legacy.

Paducah, Kentucky · United States