Alonzo Herndon’s Crystal Palace
66 Peachtree Street, Atlanta
1906
No photograph of this place in 1906 is known to survive.
Today
Alonzo Herndon was born into slavery and built the most celebrated barbershop in the South at 66 Peachtree Street — marble, crystal, mahogany, and a white clientele that included the city’s business establishment. He would go on to found Atlanta Life Insurance Company and become the wealthiest Black man in Atlanta.
On the night of 22 September 1906 his shop was among the first targets. The mob destroyed the fittings and attacked the barbers who had been cutting white men’s hair.
Audio — 3:31
Not yet hosted here. WABE, produced with historian Clifford Kuhn for the 2006 centennial. Permission pending.
Sources
- Carole Merritt, The Herndons: An Atlanta Family (University of Georgia Press, 2002)