SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (KY3) – Alberta Northcutt Ellis, a Springfield native and former owner of Alberta’s Hotel, provided Black travelers along Route 66 a safe, reliable, and welcoming place to stay during the Jim Crow era.
Ellis and her family ran the hotel on North Benton while she also worked at Southwestern Bell.
“The hotel itself, the family was so multi-generational, right? And so, we’re going from great grandparents all the way down to grandchildren, and then they remember being at the hotel and working, but also experiencing this, this very vibrant community,” said Bridget Haney, historian with the State Historical Society of Missouri…