Restoration of a Bluefield icon: Hotel Thelma

BLUEFIELD, WV (WVNS) – What do Etta James, Ike and Tina Turner, James Brown, and Little Richard all have in common?

They all stayed at this iconic hotel and community crossroad in Bluefield, West Virginia in the 1950’s and 60’s. But it has fallen far from what it once was in its glory days. Now people from near and far are coming together to preserve and restore this historic and cultural landmark.

Hotel Thelma was built in 1949 by Thelma Stone, lovingly known by the community as “Mama Thelma”. In the time of segregation Mama Thelma created a safe place for the black community, both local and passing through Bluefield. She created a hotel, restaurant, and grocery store. For the children that grew up in that era, it is best remembered for the candy store located in the hotel.

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Mama Thelma’s niece, Dr. Carolyn Foster Bailey Lewis (one of many of the hotel’s residents that went on to do incredible things), recalls Thelma’s importance to the town of Bluefield.

“She was something to everybody. A community woman. And you really at the time didn’t think about it, but looking back now, she was a pioneer. She was a role model. I always tell everyone she’s my hero because everything I’ve ever done, I’ve always kept her in mind and how would she do it? So, it’s really important for women to look back today and see if she could do it in those kinds of conditions. I certainly can do it myself.”

The hotel hosted a variety of patrons over the years, many of whom are now enshrined in musical history. As African Americans began to accumulate wealth and began to travel more frequently in the Jim Crow era, a historically and culturally significant publication called the “Green Book” was released, which featured safe places for black travelers to stay as they traveled around the segregated and often unsafe south. Hotel Thelma was featured in the Green Book, and as a result saw a number of African American musicians on tour stay at the hotel. These guests include revolutionary artists like Etta James, Sam Cooke, Little Richard, James Brown, and Ike and Tina Turner.

While those artists went on to have spectacular careers, Hotel Thelma’s trajectory was one of decline. The building sat empty and unused for decades, visited only by critters, addicts, and thieves. In the past few years, Rev. James Mitchell Sr. has assumed ownership of the decrepit building and has made it his mission to restore it, saying its preservation and restoration is important on many levels.

“Well, the historical aspect of it. Number one, it is a historical hotel. It’s listed in the Green Book. It was established by a woman of color at the height of segregation. It also has a history, not just a history of people of color, but the history of a city, which is Bluefield. And it shows the point in time in history when segregation was real, when we were not allowed, but in certain areas that we could live in, eat in, or whatever. And that history needs to be saved because it’s a part of American history as well.”

Since word of Rev. Mitchell’s ownership and intentions of the building spread, leaders and volunteers from around the country have banded to help with the effort to restore the historical icon.

To find out more on restoration status or to find out how to help, check out the hotel’s Facebook page “The Hotel Thelma Project.”

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