CHICAGO BEE / HALF-CENTURY
Chicago Bee Building
National Register of Historic Landmarks, 1986
National Register of Historic Landmarks, 1986
Overton was born in Louisiana shortly before the end of the Civil War. His family relocated to Topeka, Kansas, as part of a wave of African American migrants known as 'Exodusters' who headed west during Reconstruction and the Gilded Age.
By his mid-twenties Overton had established a grocery store in Kansas City, and in 1898 he expanded into cosmetics and pharmaceutical production with the formation of the Hygienic Manufacturing Company. A little over a decade later, Overton relocated himself and his business to Chicago. He initially operated out of an address at 57th and South State Street, before moving to 5830 South Wabash Aveune following the death of his wife, Clara, in 1912. |
We have erected a monument; a building inside and outside that will stand as a memorial to Negro enterprise and thrift...this is the finest building ever erected and owned by colored people