LAURINBURG — Despite a coast to coast trek — from North Carolina to Oregon more than 20 years ago — Scotland County native John Goodwin plans to eventually retire in his hometown. That goal has kept him thinking about helping to improve the local community.
Goodwin, who is currently the major gifts officer at the Portland Art Museum, is starting to dip his hands into the revitalization of the old Central Historic Hotel.
The hotel was built in 1893 and the two-story brick building is the oldest building in downtown Laurinburg’s Historic District. First known as the Central Hotel and later Hotel Dixie, its proximity to the railroad greeted passenger trains arriving from Wilmington or points further inland.
But there’s another part of history at the root of the reason Goodwin chose to buy the old building.
“I decided to buy it because it’s an institution — it was the first place to offer black people a room to rent,” Goodwin said. “They could come into town, but they couldn’t stay anywhere. They’d have to leave in the evening or find someone to stay with. When I learned that, it made the building much more important.”
The building is marked on the Historic Register and sits at North Main and Bizzell streets. In more recent history, it hosted a much-beloved diner, known as Mildred’s Diner. It was run for 22 years by Mildred DePugh serving Southern home cooking for breakfast and lunch until it closed in January 1997. Goodwin remembers coming to the diner as a kid, as well as its matriarch.
“Now they call it soul food but back then it was just good food,” Goodwin said. “She was the kindest spirit around, she just wanted everyone to be fed and happy. Back in the ‘50s and ’60s, everything was so segregated, but this was one of the few places everyone ate at. It didn’t matter who you were, everyone gathered there because of Miss Mildred’s spirit.”
Goodwin’s plans include having a restaurant on the first floor along with an art gallery or public space for the community to use, along with office space on the second floor.
He also hopes to add a car-charging station which will put him on the map for those with electronic cars. All this is a way to get people to stop and travel off of the highway and into the downtown.
“Most of the hotels are by the highway and many who stop at them don’t venture into the town,” Goodwin said. “I hope to get people into town, not just to my place but to other local stores, and to make it more of a destination.”
Goodwin hopes, that similar to Miss Mildred’s Diner, he is able to bring in people who are traveling to the beach to the restaurant and become a hub for activity. But before he can begin the long work of revitalizing the building to suit his vision, he has to start with a new roof.
In order to help pay for that roof, Goodwin has launched a Kickstarter campaign with the hopes of raising $20,000. The city of Laurinburg has also offered to match any of the funds raised — up to $30,000 — to help restore the building. But Goodwin says that the Kickstarter is more than just a fundraising effort.
“What I’m really hoping to do is remind people that it’s there,” Goodwin said. “It’s going to be expensive to fix and if they want to help that’s great, but if not I’ll figure out another way to pay for it. This is something that needs to be done and I don’t plan on stopping once I finish this one. I have a couple of properties I have my eye on as well.”
Goodwin says he is thankful for the help being provided by the city of Laurinburg. The city has a facade grant for downtown businesses which allows for downtown business to receive matching funds for work on the buildings.
City Manager Charles Nichols said he is excited to begin working with Goodwin and bringing another building back to life in downtown.
“We’ve told him we’re here to help however he needs us and we’re really looking forward to working with him,” Nichols said. “He’s from here and he’s gone off and been successful elsewhere, but I think this is something special to him. He wants to give back to the community that raised him.”
Nichols added this is a key part in the vitalization of the historic downtown, which has been a major focal point of the city and recently was added as a part to the Main Street Program.
“We’ve been trying to get projects like this in our downtown,” Nichols said. “A lot of cities are realizing how important it is to revitalize their historic downtown and this is an important piece of the project to help keep it growing and to revitalize our downtown.”
Since Goodwin’s building is in on the Historic Register, one of the challenges will be finding a contractor who has worked on historical buildings, He has been in contact with Asheville architect John Yurko of Yurko Design, who has expertise in restoring historic buildings.
Another issue with finding a contractor is that, due to recent damage from Hurricane Florence, many North Carolinian contractors are helping fix homes across the state.
All that rain has also put stress on Goodwin, since it’s the roof that severely needs to be replaced.
But despite living across the country, Goodwin not only travels to Laurinburg as much as he can but also has plenty of eyes watching the building when he is unable to.
“I travel a lot for my job and they know that I’ve taken on this building,” Goodwin said. “So when I travel to the East Coast, I do my best to stop in Laurinburg. But I’ve got family who live around there still who help me keep eyes on everything.”
Through his work with the Central Historic Hotel, Goodwin hopes he’ll be able to inspire and encourage others.
“I want to encourage others, not just in Laurinburg but across the country, that we should care for these old buildings and they need to be revitalized,” Goodwin said. “I’d like to see downtown like when I was a kid — we’d get dressed up to go downtown. I’d like to see it like that again.”
To donate to the Kickstarter or to learn more information about the project, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/centralhistorichotel/central-historic-hotel-laurinburg-nc.
Reach Katelin Gandee at 910-506-3171 or at kgandee@laurinburgexch.wpenginepowered.com
