In front of you is the Swindall Tourist Inn, the last known surviving African American boarding house in Phoenix used during the Jim Crow era. The building itself was built in 1913. Until its selling in 1940 it was used as a boarding house, predominantly for African American lodgers. The building was sold in 1940. Since then the building has been converted to office use.
This place’s identity in Phoenix history is contained in those facts: built in 1913, serving as a boarding house through a period identified as the Jim Crow era, serving predominantly African American lodgers until it was sold in 1940, and later converted to office use. There are no other structures identified here in the record as surviving in this role; this one is described as the last known surviving African American boarding house in Phoenix used during the Jim Crow era.
As you look at the structure in front of you, these dates and descriptions anchor its presence: 1913; service as a boarding house for predominantly African American lodgers until its selling in 1940; and its later conversion to office use. Notice this survivor and the quiet streets around it.