Lewis and Lucretia Taylor House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Taylor House
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TAYLOR HOUSE PHOTOGRAPH
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 Location in Florida
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| Location | Tallahassee, Florida |
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| NRHP reference No. | 15000127 |
| Added to NRHP | April 6, 2015 |
The Taylor House is a special old home in Tallahassee, Florida. It's so important that it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in the United States on April 6, 2015. This means it's officially recognized as a historic place!
The Taylor House Museum, located at 442 West Georgia Street, was also added to the Tallahassee-Leon County Register of Historic Places on October 26, 2011. On July 27, 2012, the Florida Department of State named the home a Florida Heritage Site.
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The Taylor House Museum
The Taylor House is a very important landmark in the Tallahassee area. It was built in 1894 by Lewis Washington Taylor and Lucretia McPherson Taylor. Today, it serves as a historical museum and a place for research about Leon County, Florida.
Lewis Washington Taylor
Lewis Washington Taylor, often called L.W. Taylor (1865-1931), was a well-known teacher, businessman, and community leader. He taught at several schools, including Centerville School, Old Lincoln High School (Tallahassee, Florida), and Bel Air. Bel Air was a small, one-room schoolhouse located on land that used to be a large plantation.
Mr. Taylor helped open doors for African-Americans in Leon County. He even taught and tutored White children from wealthy families for a small fee. Besides teaching, he owned a jewelry store. He made his jewelry from gold wire, which he kept in an upstairs bedroom of the Taylor home.
Lucretia McPherson Taylor
Lucretia Taylor came from the Edwards family, who were early settlers in Leon County. She was a very skilled cook and seamstress. Lucretia was born a slave on May 19, 1865, in Tallahassee. This was just one day before the Emancipation Proclamation was read downtown at the Knott House.
She cooked for the family of Lewis M. Lively. The Lively Technical Center, located at Tallahassee Community College, is named after him. Lucretia and Lewis were married on December 17, 1887. They had 13 children, and all of them spent time learning in a classroom.
History of the Home
The Taylor family owned the home for many years. However, it was left empty in 1978. In 1995, the Taylor House was almost torn down by the city. But then, Aquilina Howell, who was a granddaughter of the Taylors, stepped in. She was a famous community leader and later became the first woman assistant school superintendent in Leon County.
Aquilina Howell reached out to the Tallahassee Urban League, Inc. The Urban League bought the two-story house and worked to make it look like it did originally. The restoration was finished in 2001. Today, the home is known as the Taylor House Museum of Historic Frenchtown. The Tallahassee Urban League, Inc. owns and runs the museum.
