The Reopening of the Riverside Hotel Clarksdale, Mississippi
Several historical buildings lean precariously alongside the endangered Sunflower River in Clarksdale, in the heart of the Mississippi Delta.
The main building shifted and almost fell into the river. The walls were beginning to cave in after a tree fell on one of the buildings that was once a healing place for sick and injured souls and later a haven for “Negro travelers” in the South.
The Riverside Hotel, a multigenerational Black-owned property, is being repaired and renovated.
If these walls could talk.
There is a room-turned-shrine where blues legend Bessie Smith died in 1937 in what was, at the time, an African American hospital, Clarksdale Colored Hospital. She had been taken there after a car accident outside of Clarksdale while on her way to a performance.
In the basement was the morgue.
In the mid-1940s, Mrs. Z.L. Hill converted the hospital into the Riverside Hotel, which was listed in The Negro Motorist Green Book, a guide featuring hotels and restaurants for Black travelers in the Jim Crow South.
Throughout the years, many Black entertainers and blues legends stayed at the Riverside Hotel, including Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Ike Turner, Sonny Boy Williamson II, and Sam Cooke. Many affectionately called Mrs. Hill “Momma.”
In the early 1950s, Ike Turner and his band, Kings of Rhythm, rehearsed in the basement along with Jackie Brenston, who was credited with what some cite as the first rock ’n’ roll record, Rocket 88. The teens traveled up Highway 61 to record the future hit with Sam Phillips at Memphis Recording Service.
In 2021, the City of Clarksdale passed a resolution declaring the Riverside the “site where blues gave birth to rock ’n’ roll.”
The historic, fourth-generation, Black family-owned property is a museum and interpretive center overflowing with blues history. Eventually, the owners plan to offer lodging in the rooms, except for the sacred space where Bessie Smith passed away. The rooms are being restored to reflect the hotel’s earlier days, complete with original furnishings.
Visitors will be able to sleep where many music legends once slept.
In the 1980s, the basement morgue area was revamped into a hotspot and neighborhood disco, allowing guests to drink, dance, and forget their troubles, if only for a while.
“They came down these stairs and boogied all night,” says Justin Gates, whose family owns the hotel.
Family member Frank “Rat” Radcliff, who grew up in the hotel and around many of the blue’s legends, ran the club. “When you saw the light flick on, you knew he wasn’t working up here anymore — he was downstairs working on the club,” added another family member, Darrius Gates.
In the early 1990s, blues fan John F. Kennedy Jr. — likely influenced by his uncle Robert F. Kennedy’s Mississippi Delta poverty tour in 1967 — spent time tucked away at the hotel.
John F. Kennedy Jr., who had been named the “Sexiest Man Alive” at the time, came to listen to the blues and hide out. “He spent hours listening to stories by my great-grandmother,” says Gates of Z.L. Hill, who owned the hotel.
Clarksdale, about 75 miles south of Memphis, is rich in Black history, blues history, and culture.
The hotel is just down the street from the Crossroads, the spot where legend claims blues musician Robert Johnson “sold his soul to the devil” in exchange for musical mastery.
The building may have been saved just in time. In 2021, it was named to the list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Sunflower River itself is also considered endangered.
Mrs. Z.L. Hill’s granddaughters, Sonya Gates and Zelena Ratliff, are working to preserve the history, culture, and legacy and pass it down to their children.
“This was the foundation for my family to grow and do better things, this gave my mother a safe place to flourish as a woman.” says Justin “It’s time for me to come home and give back to the community and to take care of something that has taken care of me and the community and then pass it down to my children and family.”
Once repairs to the roof and sidewalks have been made, guests will be able to once again stay overnight at the hotel. The family is hoping by Spring of 2027. There is already a waiting list.
In the meantime, they will be holding special pop-up events. They are happy to give tours by appointment; schedule a tour by calling 662-624-7717.
Clarksdale prides itself on maintaining an authentic blues scene, with live music seven nights a week.
The hotel, with more than 20 rooms, has been added to the African American Civil Rights Network.
African American Civil Rights Network – National Park Service
It is also listed on the Mississippi Blues Trail.
Mississippi Blues Trail – Riverside Hotel
By Karen Pulfer Focht 2026 ©