Avalon Hotel
National Register of Historic Places

Avalon Hotel

Rochester, Olmsted County, Minnesota
Listed
March 19, 1982
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
82002992

About this property

Avalon Music is a historic three-story red brick building in Rochester, Minnesota. It opened in 1919 as the Northwestern Hotel. The Sam Sternberg family operated it as a kosher restaurant and hotel for Jewish travelers, including many visitors to the nearby Mayo Clinic. In 1944, Vern Manning bought it and renamed it the Avalon Hotel. As the only hotel in the area which welcomed African Americans before desegregation, its guests included Duke Ellington and boxer Henry Armstrong. It housed the Avalon Café, one of two restaurants in the city which served people of color. It became a local focus of the Civil Rights Movement and opposition to it; both a march for racial equality and a cross burning occurred at the property on August 23, 1963. After renovation in 1987, the property became Hamilton Music with studios and a store for musical instruments and audio equipment. In 2008, the building changed ownership and became Avalon Music to reflect its history. An expansion project was started in 2018 to turn the building into a restaurant, office space, and apartments.

Location

301 N. Broadway
Rochester, Olmsted County, Minnesota
44.02646, -92.46325

Categories

COMMERCEBLACKSOCIAL HISTORY
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Whiting, Timothy A., House
Industrial
0.1 mi
Rochester Armory
Industrial
0.1 mi
Chateau Dodge Theatre
Industrial
0.3 mi
Rochester Public Library
Industrial
0.4 mi
Maass and McAndrew Company Building
Industrial
0.5 mi

Questions about this property

When was Avalon Hotel listed on the National Register?

Avalon Hotel was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 19, 1982.

What type of historic resource is Avalon Hotel?

Avalon Hotel is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Avalon Hotel?

The period of significance for Avalon Hotel is recorded as the industrial era, specifically around 1919.

Can I research the history near Avalon Hotel?

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