AV 76 C.W. Bryant Jr. Collection

              AV 76
C. W. Bryant Jr. Collection
Page 1
OHIO HISTORICAL SOCIETY
Manuscripts/ Audiovisual Collections
AV 76
C. W. Bryant Jr. Collection
Ca. 1915- 1960’ s
OVERVIEW OF THE COLLECTION
Number:
AV 76
Title:
C. W. Bryant Jr. Collection
Creator:
R. Neil Bryant
Dates:
Ca. 1915- 1960’ s
Media:
Black & White Photographs, ephemera
Quantity:
.50 Cubic Ft.
Location:
Ohio Historical Society
HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COLLECTION
Born in Dayton in 1882, Charles William Bryant Jr., a prominent African- American businessman, began his career as a farmhand with a 3rd grade education. Bryant was paid for his farm work with large logs and equipment that he and his boss had used to move barns. At age 16, Bryant took the materials and started his own moving business, eventually owning and operating one of Columbus’ largest construction firms. The self- taught engineer began his business using logs and horses, moved to railroad ties and trucks and finally designed his own dollies with rubber wheels. With his construction company, Bryant took on some notable tasks. He built a temporary Broad St. bridge after the 1913 flood which brought him to prominence within the construction community. His company also removed the lighting arcs from High St., demolished parts of the Supreme Court building in 1922, and dismantled the Hanford Village area in 1962 for the construction of I- 71. Other construction projects undertaken by Bryant’s company included moving apartment complexes, shoring up downtown Columbus buildings and moving airplane hangars at Lockbourne Air Force Base.
As an African American businessman in the late 19th and early 20th century, Bryant faced discrimination. Even though he was a successful businessman by 1918 Bryant had to ask a white friend to buy his family’s home with cash in an all- white neighborhood. The Bryant family experienced racial threats, including a brick with a drawing of a bomb thrown through their front window. The realtor took out an ad in the paper disavowing all responsibility for a black family moving into the area. The steelworkers’ refusal to admit Bryant’s black employees into the union effectively ran the Bryant Company out of steel building construction in the 1950s.
In addition to his construction work, Bryant expanded into other business areas. He owned fourteen Bryco gas stations, a coal and oil business, a beer distribution company,