The “Crystal Palace” barbershop where Atlanta’s first Black millionaire survived racial massacre

Alonzo Herndon’s Journey from Slavery to Atlanta’s Millionaire

Alonzo Herndon was born a slave in 1858 but died a millionaire in 1927. After freedom came, he left home with just $11 and one year of schooling.

He learned to cut hair, moved to Atlanta, and built the South’s most luxurious barbershop with crystal chandeliers and gold fixtures.

Soon after, he bought a failing insurance company for $140 that would make him rich.

Yet in 1906, white mobs in the Atlanta Race Massacre smashed his shop and killed his employee. Still, Herndon rebuilt bigger than before.

The Herndon Home in Atlanta now tells this remarkable story of triumph and terror in the New South.

From Slave Cabin to Entrepreneur: Alonzo’s Early Years

Alonzo Franklin Herndon was born into slavery in Walton County on June 26, 1858.

His mother Sophenie was enslaved, and his father Frank Herndon was the white man who owned her. Frank never claimed Alonzo as his son.

When freedom came at age seven, the Herndon family found themselves homeless and broke. They turned to sharecropping in Social Circle, Georgia.

Young Alonzo helped support his family by selling peanuts and molasses. His schooling lasted just about a year.

He Left Home With Just $11 in His Pocket

In 1878, twenty-year-old Alonzo walked away from Social Circle with only eleven dollars and basic reading skills.

He first stopped in Senoia, Georgia, working on farms while learning to cut hair. After picking up barbering basics, he moved to Jonesboro and opened his first shop.

Over five years in Jonesboro, Alonzo built a good business and got a solid name as a skilled barber. Barbering gave formerly enslaved men one of the few chances to make money and climb up in society.

Atlanta Called and Alonzo Answered

Alonzo came to Atlanta in early 1883 and got a job at William Dougherty Hutchins’ barbershop on Marietta Street.

Within six months, he bought half the shop, joining forces with one of the few free Black barbers with their own business.

His barbering work grew fast, and by 1904, Alonzo owned three shops across Atlanta.

Each day, he sat at the back of the streetcar and went in through the rear door to get to work. The Atlanta Journal wrote that Alonzo and his Black staff were known as the best barbers from Richmond to Mobile.

The Most Luxurious Barbershop in the South

Alonzo’s shop at 66 Peachtree Street stood out with crystal chandeliers and gold fixtures. People called it the biggest and finest barbershop around.

After his 1912 honeymoon in Europe, Alonzo spent $12,000 to turn his shop into the “Crystal Palace.” The shop only served white customers, including Atlanta’s top lawyers, judges, and businessmen.

Customers walked through tall mahogany doors into a room with French mirrors and sparkling chandeliers.

The floors were white ceramic tile, and twenty-five custom barber chairs with green Spanish leather waited for clients.

Smart Investments and a Power Couple

Alonzo put his money into real estate in Atlanta and Florida.

In 1893, he married Adrienne Elizabeth McNeil, a professor at Atlanta University who helped him get more education. They had one son, Norris B. Herndon.

Adrienne studied acting in Boston and New York and won the Belasco Gold Medal for expression in 1908.

She planned their huge Beaux-Arts mansion, which became one of the largest homes in Atlanta and showed how far Alonzo had come from his start in life.

A $140 Purchase Launches an Insurance Empire

Alonzo bought the struggling Atlanta Benevolent and Protective Association for $140 in 1905. Reverend Peter Bryant had started this small insurance company.

Alonzo put down $5,000 with the state as needed money and renamed it Atlanta Mutual Insurance Association. The company grew quickly, reaching more than 23,000 policyholders by the end of 1909.

In 1916, the firm got stronger by becoming a stockholder company. Alonzo bought about 90 percent of Atlanta Life’s stock with his own money.

Racial Tensions Boil Over in Growing Atlanta

Atlanta grew from 89,000 people in 1900 to 150,000 in 1910. The Black community jumped from 9,000 to 35,000.

This growth put pressure on city services, created more job competition, and led to more rules about how working-class people should act.

Hoke Smith and Clark Howell used their newspapers to stir up white fears about successful Black citizens during the 1906 governor’s race.

Smith made things worse by talking about taking voting rights from Black men, saying they were getting “too uppity. ” Alonzo Herndon was exactly what some white men hated: a Black man who worked his way to wealth.

Newspapers Spread Lies That Sparked Violence

On September 22, 1906, Atlanta newspapers printed false stories about Black men supposedly attacking four white women.

The Atlanta Georgian ran a three-part series on “the reign of terror for seven women.”

Some white women said, “No, that’s not true. That didn’t happen to me,” but the papers printed the stories anyway. By midnight, between 10,000 and 15,000 white men and boys gathered throughout downtown streets.

The violence started after newspapers put out extra editions with wild stories meant to stir up anger and fear.

White Mobs Targeted Success and Destroyed Lives

The white mob attacked Alonzo’s barbershop first.

They broke the fine fixtures and ruined the fancy interior. The mob beat one of Alonzo’s workers, a bootblack, to death.

The old Herndon Barbershop survived. Luckily, Alonzo had gone home before his shop was attacked. Black barbers who owned a shop across the street weren’t so lucky.

The angry mob killed them as it swept through downtown Atlanta that night.

Refusing to Sell Despite Threats and Losses

Many people tried to buy his barbershop, but Alonzo refused to sell at any price. He wanted to make sure his barbers always had jobs.

By 1913, after spending $12,000 on European-style updates, the barbershop reopened as Herndon’s Crystal Palace.

The Monday after the riots, his shop brought in just $4.

75, down from the usual $30 a day. Alonzo pushed forward, growing Atlanta Life into Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Texas during the 1920s.

The company’s assets grew from $5,000 in 1905 to more than $400,000 by 1922.

From Slavery to Millionaire in One Lifetime

The company became Atlanta Life Insurance Company in 1922 and got legal reserve status, making it more stable.

Alonzo became Atlanta’s wealthiest Black citizen, owning more property than any other African American in the city.

He died in Atlanta on July 21, 1927, having climbed from slavery to become the wealthy head of a leading Black business.

His son, Norris B.Herndon, took over and expanded the insurance company after earning an MBA from Harvard.

Atlanta Life has lasted into the twenty-first century and still ranks among the top Black financial companies in America.

Visiting Herndon Home, Georgia

The Herndon Home at 587 University Place NW in Atlanta shows how Alonzo Herndon went from slavery to becoming America’s first Black millionaire.

You can tour the 15-room Classical Revival mansion with original family furnishings on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10am-4pm by appointment only.

Tickets cost $10 for adults and $7 for seniors and students. Groups of 15 or more can book tours any day except Sunday.

Call 404-581-9813 to reserve your spot.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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