Remsen House (ca. 1830-1936)

July 07, 2015 
/ Contributed By: Euell A. Dixon

The Remsen House

The Remsen House

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Owned by a prestigious African American couple, Elizabeth and Rev. James Gloucester, Remsen House was an upscale boarding establishment situated in the heart of Brooklyn Heights, New York. Located at 144 Remsen Street on the corner of Remsen and Clinton Streets in what is now Brooklyn, it was formerly known as The Hamilton Club, named after Revolutionary War leader and first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton.

The Hamilton Club was originally an exclusive menโ€™s club founded to provide a place for the cityโ€™s elite to gather to eat, drink, and discuss politics. By the 1860s, the club membership had expanded and could no longer be accommodated at the Remsen Street location. When the club moved, the building was sold to African American entrepreneur, Elizabeth Gloucester, and her husband, Rev. James Gloucester, shortly after they arrived in Brooklyn in 1865.

The Gloucesters were able to purchase the five-story building shortly after they sold all of their property in Manhattan. With approximately $150,000, they purchased the Hamilton Club and renamed it Remsen House after the street where it was located. The Gloucesters turned the top floor of their property into the family home where they frequently held meetings and dinners. The other floors were rented to commercial enterprises.

In 1878 the couple formally opened Remsen House as a boarding house, and the building became Elizabethโ€™s main occupation and source of income. She held meetings for the Freedmanโ€™s Friend Society, Union Soldier Associations, and the Ladies National Union Fair. She hosted family friend, Frederick Douglass, whenever he was in town. Many prominent white residents of New York City and Brooklyn (which at that time was still a separate municipality) like Henry Ward Beecher and his sister, Harriet Beecher Stowe, also frequently held or attended meetings at the property.

At the time of Elizabethโ€™s death in 1883, the property had increased in value to about $300,000, which in todayโ€™s standards is about $7 million dollars. The property was to be divided into seven parts and distributed among her husband and five surviving children. Elizabeth Gloucesterโ€™s funeral was held in Remsen House, and newspapers from all over the world reported the funeral service and wrote about โ€œthe remarkable colored womanโ€ who was said to have been the richest woman of her race.

After the death of Rev. Gloucester in 1890, the coupleโ€™s daughters ran the property for a few more years and then eventually sold it back to the Hamilton Club. Remsen House was demolished in 1936.

About the Author

Author Profile

Multiple business owner Euell Dixon (formerly Nielsen) was born on November 3, 1973, in Sewell, New Jersey. The youngest daughter of scientist and author Eustace A. Dixon II and Travel Agent Eleanor Forman, Euell was an early reader and began tutoring at The Verbena Ferguson Tutoring Center for Adults at the age of 13. She has owned and operated five different companies in the past 20 years including Show and Touch, Stitch This, Get Twisted, Dimaje Photography, and Island Treazures.

Euell is a Veteran of the U.S. Army (Reserves) and a member of the Order of Eastern Star, House of Zeresh #103. She is also the 3rd Historian for First African Presbyterian Church, the nationโ€™s oldest African American Presbyterian church, located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Additionally, Euell is also a photographer, storyteller, fiber artist, and a historical re-enactor, portraying the lives of Patriot Hannah Till, Elizabeth Gloucester, and Henrietta Duterte. Euell has been writing for Blackpast.org since 2014 and was given an award from the site in 2016 for being the only African American female who had almost 100 entries at the time. Since then, she has written over 300 entries. Euell currently lives in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Dixon, E. (2015, July 07). Remsen House (ca. 1830-1936). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/remsen-house-ca-1830-1936/

Source of the Author's Information:

Sarah Ottino, โ€œBlack Wealth and the 1843 National Colored Conventionโ€
www.ColoredConventions.org; โ€œClubs Playing a Big Part in Brooklynโ€™s
Life,โ€ Brooklyn Daily Eagle, April 3, 1933; โ€œWalkabout: The Gloucester
Family of Brooklyn,โ€ (Parts 1-3), www.brownstoner.com; “Mrs.
Gloucester’s Will to be Contested,” New York Globe September 22, 1883;
โ€œAfrican American Attendee,” www.African American Attendee,
http://www.nationalabolitionhalloffameandmuseum.org/african-american-attendee.html

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