[3][5][6] Insurance maps show a three-story tower, and a nearby house on Pearson street has the same floor plan.

John Reed ran a grocery store on Elm Street which experienced significant water damage from a nearby fire in 1890.

His wife died the same year but the house remained in the family, rented to her parents Dr. Calvin and Caroline Graves, among others.

[5] The Greensboro City Directory called the tourist home Magnolia House as recently as 1968.

Annie Lou Gist was their youngest child; she graduated from Bennett College and in 1956 for her Ph.D. from the New York University School of Education.

[10] Since the civil rights movements of the 1960s removed segregation in the hospitality industry and generally obviated the need for overnight lodgings for traveling African Americans, the Magnolia House had not served as a hotel.

[11] Under her guidance, the site received a $3,667 Catalyzing Creativity Grant, from the City of Greensboro's office of arts and culture.

[11] The project was also partially funded by the National Park Service’s African American Civil Rights Grant Program.

[14][15] Among the more famous guests were James Brown, Ike and Tina Turner, Ray Charles, Martin Luther King Jr., Robinson, and Satchel Paige.

[3] Others included Sam Cooke,[16] Gladys Knight,[10] Lionel Hampton,[10] Louis Armstrong,[7] Count Basie,[7] Lena Horne,[8] Five Blind Boys of Alabama,[6] Joe Tex,[5] and James Baldwin.