Existing comment:
Keith Sutherland, Entrepreneur:
Sandy and Rachel Sutherland fled from slavery in Maryland into Washington DC, around 1863. They brought with them three children: Keith, Webster, and Josephine. After the Civil War, the Sutherland family went into business, selling coal at the corner of Vermont Avenue and R Street NW, an area then called Hell's Bottom.
As a young boy, Keith shined shoes near the Treasury Building. After the war, he joined his family's coal distribution business, before opening a saloon nearby. By the 1880s he was selling liquor and food from his pool hall.
As Hell's Bottom became more affluent, the area gentrified and Keith's saloon closed. Eventually he opened a food vending service, "Fairview Hotel," at Florida Avenue and 1st Street NW. Finally, even this venue was closed by the authorities, and by the 1920s Keith was working as a government employee. |