07-05-2025
Former Idlewild hotel listed as one of country's most ‘endangered' historic places
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — The National Trust for Historic Preservation has released its annual list of the country's 'most endangered historic places.' The 2025 list includes a hotel from Michigan's 'Black Eden.'
The Hotel Casa Blanca, in Idlewild, was included in the famous 'Negro Motorist Green Book,' written by Victor Green to help African Americans find safe places to stay during their travels. Now, it's on the NTHP's list.
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Idlewild, often referred to as 'Black Eden,' became one of the region's premier resorts for black families across the Midwest. The town outside of Baldwin served as a go-to vacation destination at a time when Jim Crow laws and racial animosity limited those options.
Founded in 1912, Idlewild quickly became a home away from home for prominent Black families. Vacationers would spend the day swimming, boating and horseback riding and spend the nights dancing and listening to the country's top African American performers. Louis Armstrong, Count Basie and Aretha Franklin all performed at Hotel Casa Blanca.
Since the end of the Jim Crow era, many formerly segregated Black resorts experienced 'lower visitation and economic disinvestment,' Idlewild included.
'Today, (Idlewild) has a population of around 700 residents, and Hotel Casa Blanca has been vacant and deteriorating for over 30 years,' the NTHP said.
Hotel Casa Blanca, a one-time draw to Idlewild, Michigan, has been named one of the 11 'most endangered historic places' in the United States. (Courtesy Roni McGregory/1st Neighbor)
Hotel Casa Blanca, a one-time draw to Idlewild, Michigan, has been named one of the 11 'most endangered historic places' in the United States. (Courtesy Roni McGregory/1st Neighbor)
The hotel was designed and built by Woolsey Coombs in 1949. It was identified in a 2015 report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Rural Development Agency as a 'viable development project' despite the costs.
According to the NTHP, the building was sold to a nonprofit, 1st Neighbor LLC, which had plans to renovate the hotel into a bed-and-breakfast. But the facility needs an additional $5 million in funding to complete the rehabilitation.
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'The project will protect the history inside the walls of the hotel,' 1st Neighbor Project Manager Roni McGregory said in a statement. 'To know that some of the greatest African American musicians, entertainers and thought leaders of the 50s, 60s and 70s stayed and played here is to be honored and supported.'
Some of the other locations on the list include Cedar Key, Florida and the Swannanoa River Corridor in North Carolina, which were decimated by Hurricane Helene, and the San Juan Hotel in Texas.
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