Manufacturer: W.H. Grindley
User: Dale Hotel
Date of platter: unknown
Notes: The Hotel Dale located on the corner of Lafayette and Franklin Streets, in Cape May, New Jersey, was originally built in 1850 as a brick residence for Dr. Samuel S. Marcy. Later a three-and-half-story wooden frame section was added and it became known as the Whitehall Hotel.
In 1911, Edward W. Dale, a local African-American businessman, purchased the hotel, then added a new bar, entertainment hall, poolroom and laundry to the existing structure. He reopened the 50-room hotel as the Hotel Dale, which operated as a summer hotel exclusively for African-American guests. Mr. Dale advertised his hotel in the June 1924 issue of The Crisis magazine, the official publication of the NAACP. Dr. Booker T. Washington and Dr. W. E. B. DuBois were among the hotel's distinguished guests. Although the hotel dining room was not large, it was equipped with custom-crested china.
The hotel closed in 1935 and the wooden section was torn down; yet, the original 1850 brick house section stands as of 2015.
Sources:
Cape May in Vintage Postcards, By Don & Pat Pocher, Arcadia, 1998.
Cape May Star & Wave, Sept. 4, 1986, Feb. 10. 1994, Feb. 24, 1994.
White body with dark green band border. Topmarked with a dark green transfer shield containing "Hotel Dale" and rampant winged griffins flanking the shield. The location "Cape May New Jersey" appears beneath the shield.
For related info:
Dale Hotel by Jackson China
ID contributed by Larry Paul