Kimball Court site of historic sit-in

While much controversy surrounds Kimball Court and its expansion plans, the building at 545 N. Snelling Ave. does hold a unique place in history.
Kimball Court has been called out in various area historic studies, including city and county studies, and a 2018 study done as part of planning for Allianz Field and the area around it. The study was done by Minneapolis-based Streamline Associates in conjunction with an area-wide urban review (AUAR). An AUAR is conducted for larger projects, and is updated every five years to look at project impacts.
Kimball Court was built in 1925-1926 as the Kimball Hotel, at a cost of $175,000. Historic studies call out its patterned, detailed brick work and window bays.
The original building permit doesn’t tell us who built the three and one-half story structure, but Kimball was a contractor and could have overseen the work. His building proprietorship was brief as city directories and census records list a Louis Linden as owner by 1928.
Kimball managed the property, according to newspaper want ads. He sought tenants including a barbershop, bar or restaurant.
A person could lease a room with private bath for $12 per month.
In the 1930s, the building name changed to Hamline Hotel. It seems to have operated as an apartment-hotel with longer-term residents who worked in the area.
One of those residents has a sad footnote in Minnesota State Fair history. The 1933 Minnesota State Fair’s first-ever “Thrill Day” had attractions including a locomotive crash in front of the grandstand and a parachute jump by William Ash. Ash, 24, was a Minneapolis native and graduate of Minneapolis North High School.
Ash had more than five years experience as an aerial stuntman, airplane wing walker and parachute jumper. He’d pursued other careers and attended Hamline University for a time. He lived at the Hamline Hotel in 1933.
Ash was to present a staged jump, releasing his ripcords when he was about halfway to the ground. He used an open bag of flour to create a trail in the sky. But he never pulled his ripcords, crashed to the ground and died instantly. Why he didn’t pull the ripcords remains a mystery. A grandstand full of horrified spectators witnessed his death.
By the 1940s, the building was operating as a hotel again. And that is when the most significant event in its history took place.
Bayard Rustin was a Black activist and a leader with the Congress of Racial Equity (CORE). CORE rose to prominence by calling for direct, nonviolent action to draw attention to civil rights injustices.
Rustin was one of many activists who traveled the United States to hold workshops and demonstrations between 1943 and 1955. These included direct actions intended to desegregate public facilities. This work was instrumental in training thousands of activists, at a time when racial prejudice and discrimination were quite prevalent..
“In January 1947, Rustin was in Saint Paul for a week-long series of lectures and workshops at various institutions, including Hamline University and Macalester College. Professor Russel Compton of Hamline made a reservation for Rustin at the Hamline Hotel. However, when Rustin, who was African American, arrived, the clerk first claimed the reservation did not exist, then stated that, although a reservation had been made, no rooms were available. Rustin then stated that he would sit in the lobby until he could see the manager, thereby staging an impromptu sit-in. According to a newspaper account, Rustin sat in the lobby all night and was joined by Professor Compton and James Morrill, president of the University of Minnesota, who sat with Rustin for much of the night,” the Streamline study stated.
Media accounts indicate that local activists joined in. The next morning, Rustin left the hotel to attend his scheduled engagements. He informed hotel management that he would return for a room later that day. When Rustin returned, he was provided a room at the hotel, according to a St. Paul Dispatch account.