[3][4] In 1866, Hepburn Jr. established the Magnolia House, a three-story brick inn with nineteen rooms located on 300 East Miner Street in the predominantly African American Georgetown district of West Chester.

The Magnolia House was the only lodging and tavern in the borough that catered to African Americans, whom de facto racial segregation excluded from similar local establishments.

Due to his community engagement, flourishing businesses, and extensive properties, Hepburn became the "wealthiest and best known colored man in Chester county," with a net worth exceeding $29,000 at his death.

After warnings that the African American community would boycott elections or vote for Democratic candidates, Republicans agreed to a wards system that could enable Black representation for the town's eastward of Georgetown.

[3] In 1892, the Republican Party machine, which dominated West Chester politics, switched to an at-large electoral system, diluting the Black vote and eliminating African American representation on the borough council for nearly 75 years.