McCollum Hall is a historic building block that was an entertainment venue in Fort Myers, Florida. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and is a site on Florida's Black Heritage Trail. It included a gas station and was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book guide for African Americans. Murals are now next to it. A rope line segregated the upstairs area where performances and dancing were located. It was "at the heart" of Fort Myers' Dunbar Community. It is at 2701 Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. It is an Art Deco style building.
It was built in 1938 by Clifford "Buck" McCollum, Sr. and his wife Gertrude and became a center of entertainment and commerce. It hosted performers including Louis Armstrong, B. B. King, Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie, and Duke Ellington between the 1930s and 1960s. In 2022, a developer was contracted to renovate the building and to add apartments adjacent.
It was used by the U.S.O. (United Service Organization) to host black servicemen from Page and Buckingham Army Air Fields. It was also a site for black professional baseball players visiting during spring training and hosted boxing matches.
See also
References
- ^ Montgomery, Annette (February 9, 2023). "Neighbors reflect on past and future of McCollum Hall for Black History Month".
- "THE FLORIDA BLACK HERITAGE TRAIL". Tampa Bay Times.
- ^ "City of Fort Myers works to bring McCollum Hall back to life" – via www.youtube.com.
- Runnells, Charles. "McCollum Hall's new murals: Louis Armstrong, dancing and more revealed at Dunbar landmark". The News-Press.
- ^ "Florida Stories Walking Tours". floridastories.stqry.app.
- Montgomery, Annette (June 29, 2022). "New developer approved for restoration of McCollum Hall".