COLUMBUS, Miss. (AP) — A ceremony will be held Saturday to unveil a Mississippi Blues Trail marker in Columbus in honor of the Queen City Hotel and what was once a thriving African-American business and entertainment district.
The unveiling at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 15th Street coincides with the annual Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival, which runs Friday through Sunday.
Gov. Haley Barbour says in a news release that the Queen City Hotel was an icon of the northeast Mississippi blues scene for generations.
Officials say Robert Walker, a former slave, opened what became the Queen City Hotel around 1910 on Seventh Avenue, and ran it until his death in 1931.
The hotel was later purchased by Ed Bush, an African-American business owner.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
The unveiling at the corner of Seventh Avenue and 15th Street coincides with the annual Seventh Avenue Heritage Festival, which runs Friday through Sunday.
Gov. Haley Barbour says in a news release that the Queen City Hotel was an icon of the northeast Mississippi blues scene for generations.
Officials say Robert Walker, a former slave, opened what became the Queen City Hotel around 1910 on Seventh Avenue, and ran it until his death in 1931.
The hotel was later purchased by Ed Bush, an African-American business owner.
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.
