James Wormley – Founder of the Most Expensive Hotel in Washington D.C. in 1800s – the Wormley Hotel

Once upon a time in Black Entrepreneur History lived an ethnic Black American man named James Wormley who became the founder of the most expensive and prestigious hotel in all of Washington D.C. in the 1800s called the Wormley Hotel. He became one of the most widely known hotel proprietors in the country.

Early Life of James Wormley

Born in 1819, five years after his parents, both free and from Virginia, relocated Washington D.C. in order to work in the city. His parents were both Black American, his father named Lynch is described as a dark-skinned man and his mother, a Black American woman, who could pass for white. It was even thought that his children, due to the racial mix were or could have had indigenous background as well^[1].

African Americans, also known as ethnic Black Americans, come in various shades - some appearing white while others obviously racially black. The African American ethnic group formed within the laws of the one drop rule, thus anyone with a drop of Black blood, no matter how they appeared, was Black American. Therefore, it is/was never by skin color that one can tell if someone is ethnic Black American or not. 

James Wormley grew up knowing of and eventually working for Washington’s elite, learning from his father Lynch’s livery stable business to whom he was a hack driver for those same elites. Through working in his father’s business, James Wormley learned the skill or the art of adding value to the lives of he and his patrons. One of those values was trustworthiness, and news of him spread through the leadership in Washington D.C.

James Wormley was so popular as a trusted hack driver that some of the leaders of the city put him in charge of a club house on G Street, and his communication skills and talents as a steward proved themselves yet again, so much so that he was eventually steward on the Mississippi Steamboat. Throughout his work at the club house and the steamboat, James Wormley networked and formed very strong relationships with some very powerful people. Later, he was able to form his own restaurant and eventually James Wormley founded the Wormley Hotel in 1871. It was through is way with people and the fondness that people of had of him that he already had patrons, and his hotel was the most famous in the entire country.

The Wormley Hotel was no small feat as it was five stories high and a sight for many eyes, and the interior of the hotel greeted patrons with music and delightful service. Despite Mr. James Wormley being a Black American owner of the Wormley Hotel, the hotel only or mostly catered to white elite clientele, similar to Alonzo Herndon’s The Crystal Palace in Atlanta, Georgia. With the massive profits the hotel earned, Mr. James Wormley would actively put it into the Black community.

It was in 1871 that Mr. Wormley secured money from Congress to fund the first African American public school in the city, called the Sumner School, and it was only one year after his death that the Wormley School opened. However, as much as Mr. Wormley did for the Black American community, there was a major blow hit to the newly freed southern Black American community in the year of 1876, and it started at the Wormley Hotel.

The Wormley Agreement, Known as the Compromise of 1877

As mentioned, the most elite of the white American population would reserve rooms and hold meetings and events at the Wormley Hotel. No Black patrons were allowed, so it is speculated that several secret meetings were being held between high ranking white politicians in the hotel, and as a consequence of those secret meetings, the Compromise of 1877 was put into play, removing the Union Troops from the South, leaving Reconstruction undone for the newly freed Black American population. This deal, or resolve, was supposedly made to end the infighting of the 1876 election.

This left the Black American population in the south devastated, as they had already won political seats and were just really getting started on their free lives. Reconstruction was left unfinished, as it only finished historically “on paper”, destroying what was being built by the Black American community.

Illness & Death of James Wormley

James Wormley passed away in the year 1884 on October 18th in Boston at the age of 68 years old, following a surgery for calculus. He had been reported as seriously ill, and the doctor gave the prognosis of Mr. Wormley having a one and a thousand chance of survival^[2]. Mr. Wormley wasn’t excited about having to have the surgery, however, he had been ill for some time. Immediately after the surgery, his state rapidly declined unto his death.

His funeral was held at the Wormley Hotel, and the funeral was packed from people all over, white and black. As far as his casket, it was decked in white roses with violets that spelled out “No Ordinary Man” with a large heart and a cross of white tea roses^[3].

Mr. Wormley, at this death, is recorded to have amassed at least a quarter of a million dollars which equates to about 8 million dollars in 2025. During his life, he’d owned a ten acre farm, five boarding houses, a horse racing track along with the Wormley Hotel. He was buried in Columbian Harmony Cemetery.

Sources:

• Wyoming Democrat, Fri, Oct 24, 1884 ·Page 2
• Evening star, Sat, Oct 18, 1884 ·Page 1
• National Republican,Wed, Oct 22, 1884 ·Page 3