CITY DIRECTORIES

City directories have been a part of urban American life since the Dutch called New York City New Amsterdam. Although their roots can be traced back to the later part of the seventeenth century, city directories weren’t a significant part of American life until the mid 1800s. City directories became such a necessary part of record keeping that companies developed solely to provide directory services. In this commercial spirit, city directories continued to sell advertising space, and include more information to attract an increasing number of subscribers. It was city directories that provided information on a wide variety of residents in the area. In Harrisonburg, city directories provided marital and racial information as well as supplying an address and place of work for the individual, and a phone number if there was one.

In the 1929-1930 edition of the Miller’s Directory for Harrisonburg, twenty-nine employees are listed as working at the Kavanaugh Hotel, located at 131 North Main Street. Sixteen of these employees are listed as colored.

WALK TO WORK

 In a time when cars in Harrisonburg were as of yet the exception and not the norm, the majority of the employees resided, at the most, several blocks away from the Hotel. They could easily walk to work from home.

It is intriguing to note that with the exception of a few outliers, the majority of the colored employees lived close to each other on the north-eastern side of Harrisonburg. Roughly, these employees lived between East Gay Street on the north, East Market Street to the south, and North Main Street to the west and Myrtle Street to the east. This creates a 1.22 mile radius around the Kavanaugh Hotel. The closest employee to the hotel in this radius was Mr. Europe Johnson, who was simply listed as employed by the Kavanaugh. Europe and his wife Mazura lived at 108 East Wolfe Street, .08 miles from the hotel. Within this radius Mrs. Myrtle Alrey lived the farthest away, .33 miles from the Kavanaugh. The Directory says she lived at 398 East Market Street, was not colored and was employed by the hotel as a bookkeeper.

The few employees of the Kavanaugh Hotel who lived more than a few blocks away raise some questions. The farthest employee from the Hotel was Mr. William Plater who resided at 522 North Mason Street .55 miles away. The Directory listed him as a colored cook in the hotel. Perhaps they simply left earlier and still walked to work, however it is also possible that maybe someone had a car, or they knew someone with a faster means of transportation. Automobiles in the Shenandoah Valley changed the way Americans traveled, on a both large and small scale. It was easier for employees to live farther away from work, contributing to the growth of suburbia. 

HIGH JOB TURNOVER

Compared to the 1927 city directory, only six employees are listed in both directories explicitly as employed by the Kavanaugh. Two of the men were Kavanaugh’s,  Harry and James. There must have been a fairly highly turnover in the hotel if of the 59 employees listed in 1927, only six remain in 1929. However, those who remained had stable jobs. These men are listed as elevator operators, waiters, and bellmen in both directories. There seems to be little upward mobility for hotel employees, particularly those listed as colored. The total number of employees listed from 1927 to 1929 listed reduces by half. Perhaps technology was decreasing the need for employees, or the hotel was experiencing some internal changes? For more information on employment turnover in hotels see ‘WANTED: do YOU fit the post?’