Edwin C. Berry

Edwin C. Berry (c. 18541931), often referred to as E. C. Berry and occasionally as Edward C. Berry, was an American hotelier who was among the most successful African-American hoteliers in the country during his era.

Early life and career Berry was born at Oberlin, Ohio, in about 1854, and was taken by his parents at the age of two years to Albany, Ohio, where unusual school facilities were offered African-American children. When he was old enough, he was sent to the Albany public schools, and when the Albany Enterprise Academy, a school for African-American children, was erected, he was able to attend it for a short time. His father died in 1870 and young Berry was compelled, at the age of sixteen, to leave school and help provide for his family, in which there were eight children younger than himself.

In his search for work he walked ten miles to Athens, Ohio, and was very happy to secure work in a brick yard at fifty cents a day. In a short time his work improved until he was earning $1.25 a day, the greater part of which he was able to divide with his family. He was never too proud to do any kind of honest labor, and although his work was hard and not inviting, it was the best he could do, and he decided to do it well. During the summers he remained at the brick yard, and in the winters was usually able to find employment in stores or elsewhere as a delivery boy or clerk. The hotel was so popular that men came from considerable distances just to spend Sunday there, and was a landmark on the trail of commercial travelers. Berry never refused to serve African-American men at his hotel—indeed, he said he would rather lose his customers than to be guilty of that sort of disloyalty.

Congressman Chas. H Grosvenor spoke highly of Mr. Berry: He is a man of first-rate character, a devoted and active member of the church, taking a leading part in Sunday School work, and a friend of his own race, to more than one of whom he has given a quiet lift of which the public has never known.