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GEORGE THOMAS DOWNING (1819-1903)
Restaurant Owner

George T. Downing followed his father into the restaurant business. The elder Downing owned the fabled “Downing's Oyster House” in New York City. George T. Downing first opened a restaurant in New York in 1842, then a branch of his father's restaurant in Newport, Rhode Island in 1846, and later a catering business in Providence in 1850. With his father's support, George T. Downing opened the Sea-Girt House in Newport in 1855. Frederick Douglass described its opulent furnishings, “The entire front of the house is capable of being thrown into one spacious saloon, unfolding the connecting doors, and is beautifully furnished with rich Brussels carpeting. The chairs are of rosewood, covered with heavy satin brocade. Expensive lace curtains descend from the ceiling and window cornices.” The Sea-Girt House was valued at $30,000. When arson destroyed the restaurant in 1860, Downing built a commercial real estate block on the site. After the Civil War ended, Downing operated a restaurant in the House of Representatives in Washington, D. C. for twelve years and continued to invest in real estate into the late 1880s.

George T. Downing was born in New York City to Thomas and Rebecca Downing. He attended schools on Orange and Mulberry streets, was home-schooled in his teens, and attended Hamilton College in upstate New York. In 1841, he married Serena Leanora DeGrasse, sister of Dr. John Van Surly DeGrasse. The younger Downings made their home in Newport.

Downing was a political activist for racial justice throughout his long life. He and his father were conductors on the Underground Railroad. He participated in national, regional, and local abolitionist endeavors. He was elected president of the New England Colored Citizens Convention in 1859. He brought refreshments to Boston's Twelfth Baptist church meeting in support of Osborne Anderson who had participated in the Harper's Ferry Raid in 1861. He vociferously opposed the American Colonization Society's repatriation to Africa schemes. He financed the equal school movement in Providence, Bristol, and Newport. He secured a pledge for equal treatment of black soldiers from Massachusetts Governor Andrew in 1863. He co-founded the Colored National Labor Union in 1869 and supported the Kansas Exodusters in 1879. He used his restaurant in the U. S. House of Representatives to promote the cause of equal rights for African Americans among his politician customers. When Downing died, the Boston Globe heralded him as “probably the foremost colored man in this country.”