In High Point’s early history, the question “to board or not to board” must have been asked by the many black folks who visited, passed through or decided to settle in High Point.

According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, the main difference between a rooming house and boarding house is that meals are provided at a boarding house.

This gets confusing because the High Point City Directory listed boarding houses — but not rooming houses — until the 1960s.

No matter the classification, I am sure some of the boarding houses, especially in my community, were rooming houses.

My community was fortunate to have the Hinton, Kilby and Henley hotels, which offered short-term accommodations. However, these hotels may not have been appropriate for the many young, single and educated black teachers who moved to High Point.

Why didn’t the name of everyone who ran a boarding or rooming house appear in the city directories?

Perhaps some landlords did not want that classification, either because of fees and inspections or because they didn’t want to be taxed on the rental income.

Rented rooms provided a safe and affordable place for both white- and blue-collar workers who decided to make High Point their home. Many black people who rented out rooms in our early history were never listed in the directory.

Let’s visit a few that were listed in the city directory, starting with 1916.

• 1916-19: The only black person running a boarding house was Mary Cheek, 226 Leonard St.
• 1923-25: Mary Cheek, 309 Leonard St.; Sallie Holland, 226 Leonard St.; Maggie Lindsay, 108 Magnum Ave.

This is a good place to prove some boarding or rooming houses weren’t listed. I have the names of all the schoolteachers, both black and white, and the schools where they taught from 1924 to 1950. Under “Negro teachers in the High Point Public Schools 1924-1925,” 30 people are listed, including 16 who rented rooms.

None of the following landlords listed were in the city directory. Were they boarding houses or rooming houses?

• Maggie Brooks and Dorothy Whitaker rented from Harrison Matthews, 100 Hoover St.
• Daisy DeLootch, Vera Land, Nettie Moss and Mattie Robinson rented from Andrew Stevenson, 210 Vail St.
• Ella Elliott, Mary Jackson and Margret Johnson rented from Edward Allen, 208 Hobson St.
• Anita Foreman, Ruth Lee and Ellen McFall rented from E.C. Wright, 722 E. Washington St.
• Lottya Graye and Mytrolene Graye rented from William Saunders, 312 Worth Ave.
• Louise Lee rented from Elmer Davis, 611 E. Washington St.
• Sarah Foust rented from the Rev. S.A. Peeler, 635 E. Washington St.

Things started to pick up about 1926, but I am sure the count was incomplete.

• 1926: Mary Blair, 308 Taylor St.; Mary Cheek, 309 Leonard St.; Hattie Davis, 100 Spring St.; Laura Gray, 110 Fairview St.; Ethel Hall, 106 Spring St.; W.M. Love, 115 Baptist St.; Maggie Phifer, 225 Bynum St.; Lelia Simons, 410 E. High St.; Isabella Smith, 1 Hedrick Flats; Mamie Thompson, 104 Loflin St.; Esther Young, 108 Leonard St.

The flats I recall and that people talk about consisted of two or three rooms. Where did the boarder live?

• 1927: Smith; Gray, 610 Fairview St. (the house numbers on Fairview changed this year); Della Hoover, 1006 Leonard St.; John Strickland, 833½ Hoover St.; Mamie Winston, 208 Kivett Drive.
• 1928-29: Mary Blair, 612 Hulda St.; Mary Carter, 1117 Downing; Julia Hartman, 840 Hoover St.; Maggie Johnson, 1302 Kivett Drive; Susie Sanders, 509 Grayson St.; Ada Strickland, 845 Hoover St.
• 1930: Julia Hartman, 840 Hoover St.; Mary Manning, 515 Vail St.

After 1930, I found no black people listed under boarding houses until 1953. There had to be at least some black people renting rooms during those 23 years.

Starting again with 1953, these are the black people listed as running a boarding house:

• 1953 and 1954: Laura McCall, 708 E. Washington St.
• 1956: Thomas Byrd, 723 E. Washington St.; Dorothy Harris, 1200 Pearson St.
• 1957 and 1958: Byrd; Jane Portee, 611 Hulda St.
• 1959: Byrd.
• 1962: Emma Griffin, 746 E. Washington St.; Dorothy Lipscomb, 627-A E. Washington St.

I remember well when a team from the Christian Street YMCA in Philadelphia, led by Wilt Chamberlain, came to High Point in 1953 to play the High Point YMCA for the national title. The players, coaches and staff roomed with members of the community. When Curt Flood and other black men played for the Hi-Toms in the 1950s, they roomed with the Nelson family on Underhill Avenue.

If you were writing a book about black boarding or rooming houses and used the city directories as your only research source, you would not have an accurate accounting.

Just about any black person in High Point born between 1920 and 1962 can give you the names of at least one person in the community who rented homes but were not mentioned in the directory.

It just goes to show that research and changes in recorded history information may be necessary from time to time for the sake of accuracy.

Glenn Chavis researches and writes about High Point’s black history. Contact him at Storytime40@aol.com.