Category: Business & Entrepreneur
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Estrella Alonso Martinez
1924-1998 Estrella Martinez, with her husband Antonio, founded a Spanish restaurant, Spanish Tavern, in the Ironbound on McWhorter Street in 1963. This may have been the first Spanish restaurant in the area. Later they founded the Spanish Pavillion in Harrison. Estrella was a member of the Centro-Orensano Club. Estrella was a lifelong Newark resident, the…
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Diane Sutton
1941-2001 Co-owned Je’s Restaurant. The first restaurant in Downtown Newark founded by people of color. Mayor Sharpe James called her “the heart and soul of downtown Newark”. Photo from Newark NJ Memories. Bibliography Kukla, Barbara J. Newark Women: From Suffragettes to the Statehouse. Roberts, Reginald. “Diane Sutton the soul of southern cooking” Star Ledger Aug…
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Marie Foster Whigham
1923-2006 Marie Whigam helped her husband Charles Whigham to found Citi National Bank (1973) and Whigham Funeral Home. Mayor Sharpe James called her “the queen of our city”, saying “she was a role model for young and old”. Marie also founded the Women’s League, which raised money for scholarships and was active in the Boys…
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Amealia Steward
1915-2001 Amealia Steward owned Steward’s Restaurant and later redesigned Peppermint Lounge. She was a self-made millionaire. “She was our queen in the city said Mayor James, “She had wealth, beauty and fame.” Steward’s Restaurant first opened in 1949 on Prince Street and later moved to Avon Ave. Black Mirror News wrote, “When most people become…
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Grace Murphy
1882-1966 Grace Murphy (born Mary Grace Murphy) founded Murphy Funeral Home on Roseville Avenue and operated it until her death for 26 years. Her obituary listed her as one of “the few women morticians in New Jersey” and “one of few women in business”. Grace was active in Catholic organizations, including former President of the…
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Ella Wright Moncur
1919-1999 Ella Moncur was born in Newark, lived in NYC in 1930. She was the wife of jazz artist and owned the Theatrical Beauty Salon in Newark, and also a salon called Monte’s Powder Puff. Ella later retired to Florida and taught there, her going away party featured in New York Age. She also was…
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Emma Holman Coleman
1864-1935 Emma Coleman ran and served as President of Coleman National Business College, at Academy and Halsey, in Newark after the death of her husband in 1903. She worked to adapt the school to the 20th century including expanding shorthand and practical offerings. Born in Poughkeepsie, as Emma Holman, Emma was the second wife of…
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Eugenia “Jeanne/Jean” (Byrd) Dawkins
c. 1926-1978 Eugenia Dawkins owned the Key Club, one of Newark’s most famous jazz clubs, with her husband. She ran the club after her husband died In 1976 she was named Newark’s Woman of the Year and received a Key to the City. In 1977, she organized the “Newark Salutes Jazz” festival. Eugenia was a…