On this day in 1918, the Winston-Salem Journal announced that R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has purchased the Plaza Hotel.
Located on the corner of Chestnut and Third Streets, the hotel will be refurnished with the purpose of providing suitable housing for girl employees coming to the city. The hotel was suitably located because it was opposite the Union Railroad Station and Reynolds Factory #12.
The inn contained 60 bedrooms with running water, baths, a dining room, a kitchen, and a lobby on the first floor. Rooms in the inn cost $4.00 or $4.25 per week and included two meals a day and three meals on Sunday.
The inn operated as a rooming place for women until about 1929. The cafeteria continued to provide meals for company employees, with the other floors used for storage. The building was demolished in 1960.
Courtesy of Molly Grogan Rawls.
