Wash (W N) Jackson

Washington (Wash or W) N Jackson was remembered as “Hotel Jackson.”  He was one of the first large black hotel owners in Alexandria, Virginia, and it was located on King and Peyton Streets. 

It was noted in a 1927 article that “for more than 30-years occupied as a hotel for colored.”  W N Jackson ran his establishment as a hotel and a civic meeting place for the African American community.  The 40^th celebration of Lincoln’s emancipation proclamation celebration was held at “Hotel Jackson”.  Also in 1905, the local branch of the National Negro Men’s Business League used Hotel Jackson as their venue.

Not only was W N a hotel owner, but he also owned a Grocery Store at 200 N Payne Street.  He acquired large real estate holdings and was associated with three churches in his lifetime.  The first Church he belonged to in the 1870s was Shiloh Baptist Church, and he was one of the trustees.  Because of a strained relationship with the Church members, Wash left Shiloh Baptist Church.  With two of his associates, Moses Stevens and John A. Wilson, Wash founded and became a trustee of Mt. Jezreel Baptist Church in 1890.  By 1915, Wash and several other trustees were having problems.  He left Mt. Jezreel and became a member and trustee of Third Baptist Church, and remained at that church until his death in 1939.

Washington Jackson was born in Loudoun County, Virginia in 1856.  He was on the 1870 census in Alexandria, Virginia.  Wash married Elizabeth Lucas in 1885, and after her death in 1933, he married Mildred. 

He married twice, became a Merchant, Grocer, hotel owner, real estate owner, trustees of three churches, civic organizer, member of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP), member of the National Building Association of Baltimore City, MD and a private financial lender to African Americans.   He also owned stock in several associations.

When Shiloh Baptist Church hosted the colored Republicans congressional district of Virginia conference, W N Jackson presided over the conference and William A. Carter was the secretary.  Wash announced his organization’s endorsement of Colonel Theodore Roosevelt for President.

W N Jackson died on February 19, 1939 at his residence at 429 North West Street in Alexandria, Virginia.  In his last will and testament, he made his last generous gift.  Outside of Wash’s relatives, he gave his shares of stock that he owned in the Colored Fair Association of Fairfax, Virginia to the trustees of Third Baptist Church of Alexandria.  He was also very generous to the Taylor family.  He gave Catherine Taylor, Charles Taylor, Finley Taylor, Ellen Taylor and others $25 each in 1939. 

The descendants of the Taylor family still leave in Alexandria, Virginia.  They are the children of Mrs. Dorothy Napper Taylor.  This family is also the descendants of people who were buried at a Civil War Cemetery called the “Alexandria Freedmen Cemetery” on Washington and Church Streets.

For all his achievements, Wash was remembered in Alexandria, Virginia as “Hotel Jackson.”