Homer B. Roberts

Homer B. Roberts (c. 1885–1952) was a Kansas City automobile dealer and World War I signal-corps officer who built Roberts Motor Mart in the 18th-and-vine district and is widely described by historians and the automotive press as the first African American to own a new-car dealership in the United States.¹²³ Roberts began selling cars to Black buyers in Kansas City in 1919 and in 1923 opened a purpose-built commercial block at 1826–30 Vine Street housing his showroom alongside a restaurant, shops, and professional offices.¹⁴ He moved his business to Chicago at the end of the 1920s and died there in 1952.¹³

Biography

Early life and education

Roberts was born in Ash Grove, Missouri — the African American Registry gives the date as April 22, 1885 — and grew up in Wellington, Kansas.²⁴ He attended Tuskegee Institute and studied electrical engineering at Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University), afterward settling in Kansas City.¹²⁴

World War I and the Signal Corps

During World War I Roberts enlisted in the U.S. Army and, by several accounts, recruited some thirty other men with him.² He served in the Signal Corps and reached the rank of first lieutenant; multiple sources describe him as the first Black man to attain that rank in the Signal Corps.²³⁴ He returned to Kansas City in 1919.⁴

Selling cars in Kansas City (1919–1923)

Roberts began selling used automobiles in 1919, working at first from what contemporaries called a “curb stone office” before moving indoors.¹⁴ He advertised directly to Black readers in the local African-American press and had sold roughly sixty cars by the end of that first year.⁴ He offered auto insurance and payment terms — services white dealers frequently withheld from Black buyers — and staffed his operation entirely with Black employees.¹

Roberts Motor Mart and the Roberts Building (1923–1929)

In 1923 Roberts developed a roughly $70,000 building at 1826–30 Vine Street, at the corner of 19th and Vine, in the 18th-and-vine district.¹⁴ Beyond the Roberts Co. Motor Mart showroom, garage, and service area, the block housed a restaurant and more than a dozen retail businesses and professional offices run by Black entrepreneurs.¹⁴ Accounts of the showroom’s size vary from about 1,750 to 1,800 square feet, with space to store and display roughly sixty vehicles; at peak the operation employed some fifty-five people.³⁴ Wikipedia dates the formal opening to July 29, 1923, and reports attendance of more than three thousand.³

Roberts held new-car franchises from Hupmobile (1923), Rickenbacker (1925), and Ford, and by 1925 his Rickenbacker volume is reported to have ranked third in the nation.⁴ By 1928 his cumulative sales exceeded $2 million, made mostly to Black customers.¹²

Chicago, World War II, and later years

Roberts relocated to Chicago at the end of the 1920s, opening a Hupmobile dealership with businessman Kenneth Campbell in the Hotel Grand on South Parkway in 1929 — described as the second Black-owned automobile dealership in the country.¹³ Both his Kansas City and Chicago operations closed during the Great Depression.⁴ He returned to the Army in World War II, serving as a major heading the Black-interest division of the Pentagon’s public relations department and receiving the Legion of Merit in 1945 according to Kansas City Black History.²⁴ He continued in public relations work in Chicago until his death there in 1952.¹²³

Significance to Kansas City

Roberts is one of the clearest examples of the Black commercial enterprise that made 18th-and-vine a self-sustaining business district rather than only an entertainment quarter. His Vine Street block bundled a car dealership with a restaurant, shops, and offices, concentrating Black-owned commerce on one corner and employing dozens of Black workers at a time when white dealerships would not hire them.¹⁴ The Kansas City Automotive Museum in Olathe maintains a Homer B. Roberts showroom in his memory.⁵

Sources

Footnotes

1. The Pendergast Years (Kansas City Public Library) — “Homer B. Roberts.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹²

2. Kansas City Black History — “Homer B. Roberts.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

3. Wikipedia — “Homer B. Roberts.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

4. The Community Voice — “Kansas Citian Roberts: The First African American to Own an Auto Dealership.” ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

5. Jalopnik — “Homer Roberts: The First Black Dealership Owner.” ↩