The Colbrook Motel, shown here in its early years along
Route 1 in Chesterfield, served as a safe stop for Black
travelers during segregation. The historic site is now
being redeveloped into a $60 million, 144-unit affordable
housing community.
Stories this photo appears in:
Chesterfield County redeveloping historic Colbrook Motel site into affordable housing
In 1946, a decade before the new Interstate 95 became the most heavily traveled north-south highway on the U.S. East Coast, a trio of African Americans — William E. Brooks, his wife, Audrey W. Brooks, and Dr. Cortlandt M. Colson — opened a motel along Route 1 in south Chester.
