"As good a place as any": Delbert Lee makes a home in Cuba City

Ask any Cuba City resident of a certain age about Delbert Lee and you'd better be prepared for a lot of feel-good memories. Think the end of It's a Wonderful Life feel-good. Lee was for decades Cuba City's sole Black resident and businessman, and by the time of his passing, his kind, quiet ways left him with countless admirers.

What brought Delbert Lee to our community? What was his life like before and after arriving in Cuba City? Thankfully, numerous sources, including interviews conducted later in his life, exist to help answer these questions and tell the story of this unique man's journey.

Photograph by Bob Coyle published in the Telegraph Herald (October 4, 1971, Page 20).

Like his parents before him, Delbert Calvin Lee was born in east-central Missouri, in a region sometimes called "Little Dixie" because it was settled by White residents of the Upper South, many of whom moved to the area with their enslaved laborers. All forms of slavery did not legally end in Missouri until 1865, and Delbert's father, Joseph Franklin "Frank" Lee, was born to enslaved parents. [1]

Delbert himself was born in Martinsburg, Missouri, on August 19, 1892 or 1893, depending on the source. He grew up in a self-described state of poverty on his family's tenant farm in Laddonia, a small, rural community of around 600 people just a short distance from his birthplace and about one hundred miles northwest of St. Louis. While his father farmed, Delbert's mother took in laundry or worked as a servant for nearby families. Though he was the only child of Frank and Mary Lee, he had several half-siblings, including Mamie, who was just a few years older and with whom he would remain close throughout his life. [2]

From Delbert's accounts, he had a fairly typical childhood for the time period. He walked one mile each way to a public school until the seventh grade. There, he enjoyed learning arithmetic but found his reading lessons less satisfactory. Also, like any kid, Delbert loved taking his pennies to the town's drug store for candy. To get those pennies, he worked odd jobs during his school vacations, whether it was hoeing corn for a farmer or pounding nails for a contractor. When he finished school, Delbert worked three summer seasons in Quincy, Illinois, repairing track for a street car company. [3]

Laddonia was home to far more people of color than Cuba City, but the Lee family was still very much in the minority. Race relations in Laddonia, at least as portrayed in the local newspaper, were probably common for early twentieth-century America. When African Americans' names were printed in the paper, they were almost always accompanied by the word "colored." Also, stereotypes of the time can be found in "compliments" bestowed upon Black residents by newspaper contributors, such as when Delbert's mother was praised for being "an honest colored woman" after finding and returning a class pin, evidence that the author considered this unusual behavior in a woman of her race. [4]

In 1915, Delbert, then in his early 20s, left Missouri and moved north with several members of his family, ultimately settling in Freeport, Illinois, a growing city with a population of over 17,000, including 300 African Americans. This move could have been spurred by the death of Del's father, who had died from congestive heart failure that year. Members of the Lee family may also have been joining large numbers of African Americans moving north at this time to take advantage of job opportunities. When Delbert, his mother, his half-sister, Mamie, and her husband settled in Freeport, many of the city's manufacturers had begun hiring Black Americans for the first time, and some of those businesses--Stover Manufacturing, Arcade Manufacturing, and Henney Buggy--would employ the young Delbert Lee. [5] 

Lee's early years in Freeport were notable ones. Not long after his arrival, he was hospitalized for the first and only time in his life, thanks to an accident while working at the Henney Buggy Company. In February 1916, Delbert and his brother-in-law, Roman Williams, were on their hands and knees cleaning paint off the factory floor when a nearby gasoline torch exploded into flames, injuring both men, and hospitalizing Lee for three days. [6]

Published in the Freeport Journal-Standard (February 3, 1916, Page 6).

One year later, Delbert found himself in a new kind of peril. The United States had been drawn into World War I and, in the fall of 1917, Lee and nine other Black residents of Stephenson County were drafted into the Army and sent to Camp Grant, near Rockford, for training.

Delbert Lee's World War One draft registration, accessed at Ancestry.com.

Published in the Freeport Journal-Standard (October 31, 1917, Page 10).

Published in the Freeport Daily Bulletin (October 30, 1917, Page 1).

Lee, one of the roughly 370,000 African Americans who served in World War I, was assigned to Company K, 365th Infantry, 92nd Division, one of two all-Black infantry divisions in the segregated U.S. Army. During the war, he served as a mechanic, stationed in England, France, and Germany, and was involved in the Battle of the Argonne Forest in northeastern France, a brutal 47-day offensive that brought about the end of the war, but at a very high cost. With over 26,000 American soldiers killed and over 95,000 wounded, it is still America's deadliest battle. [7]

Lee and his fellow soldiers served in combat with the French Army, which did not object to its soldiers serving beside their Black American counterparts. In fact, the French so valued Lee's regiment that they awarded each soldier the Croix de Guerre for their "gallant fighting." By contrast, when the war was over, America's Black soldiers were forbidden by the United States government from marching alongside White soldiers in victory parades. [8]

Delbert Lee considered his participation in the war a great experience, albeit one he did not want to repeat. In his later years, he said: "Words can't express what it was like. I never wanted to be in another." [9] Some of that emotion was expressed in the poem below, written by Lee and mailed home and published in the Freeport Journal-Standard shortly after the war ended.

Delbert Lee's poem published in the "Letters from the Yanks" section of the Freeport Journal-Standard (December 18, 1918, Page 7).

After this life-changing experience, Lee returned to the United States in February 1919 and was honorably discharged from the Army the following month, his papers stating that his character was excellent and his service was honest and faithful. The war seemed to have brought out Lee's entrepreneurial side because, after returning to Freeport, Delbert purchased a pool hall and went into business for himself. Though it must have offered more flexibility than his previous factory jobs, Lee found that he did not care for the work "because of all of the strangers that came to town to the pool hall to loaf." Worse than the loafing was the fighting. One altercation in particular nearly turned fatal, the memory of which stuck with Delbert throughout his life. [10]

Published in the Freeport Journal-Standard (July 28, 1919, Page 8).

Delbert may have decided the pool hall trade was not for him, but he never gave up on being self-employed. Roughly four years after returning from the war, he left Illinois and briefly resided in Manchester and Waverly, Iowa, where he had a shoe shining and dry cleaning business and worked at a combination barbershop and restaurant. [11] By 1924, he opened a shoe shine parlor in Portage, Wisconsin, with business partner, L. B. Bell. It is not clear when Lee joined forces with Bell, or how long the pair worked together, as the gentleman is never mentioned in Lee's later interviews.

Published in the Portage Daily Register (May 21, 1924, Page 4).

Soon after Delbert arrived in Wisconsin, he set his sights on larger markets and considered opening his own shoe shine shop in the Park Hotel on the Capitol Square in Madison. The hotel wanted $60 a month for rent, however, and Delbert passed on the offer, saying he "wasn't going to work for the rent man." The thought of paying such exorbitant rent was actually what led Lee to Cuba City. When asked many years later how he ended up in the small town, Lee responded: "It's as good a place as any. And the rent was $5." [12]

Drawn by the low rent and the opportunity to open a dry cleaning business, Delbert Lee and L. B. Bell moved to Cuba City, a small, rural community along the Chicago and North Western Railroad, on August 12, 1924. As one might imagine, the arrival of Lee and his business partner did not go unnoticed in the city of roughly 1,200 people, and the local newspaper closely followed their progress. The location of Lee's first shop is uncertain, though it was situated on South Main Street and was referred to at the time as "the Conlon building." The location had previously been home to another dry cleaning shop operated by Chinese man Charley Pong. [13]

Published in the Cuba City News-Herald (August 8, 1924, Page 1).

Published in the Cuba City News-Herald (August 15, 1924, Page 1).

Cuba City the year Delbert Lee arrived in 1924.

As evidenced by the shop's previous Chinese owner, Cuba City wasn't quite as closed off to the world in 1924 as one might imagine. In fact, while their arrival drew interest, Delbert Lee and L. B. Bell were not the community's first African American residents or businesspeople. They were preceded by Amelia Hopper, who for decades worked for families in the area and even operated a bakery in Cuba City. 

Still, some residents had their doubts about Lee. Though Delbert rarely mentioned his experience as a Black man in Cuba City when interviewed later in life, one interviewer recorded the following recollections from Lee's first years in town:

"Some folks were quite surprised that he had the strength to stick it out. He has been told that one lady predicted that he wouldn't stay for more than three or four months. When she realized that he had been there for two years already she was surprised. Another man had always heard that negro people were bad. After Mr. Lee had been in Cuba City for a few years the man wondered why Mr. Lee hadn't gooten [sic] into trouble. He concluded that maybe he hadn't heard the truth about negro people!" [14]

Despite what some residents may have thought, Lee's business got off to a running start. Cuba City Cleaners, as the dry cleaning shop was called, initially operated as an agent for Dubuque's Lorenz Laundry. After renting a space for six months, Lee purchased a small shop at 223 South Main, a location that would be linked to Delbert for decades to come. [15] Built in 1892, the building on the corner of Main and Calhoun Street had served as a drugstore, bank, and, most recently a millinery shop before Lee moved his dry cleaning business there.

Published in the Benton Advocate (October 24, 1924, Page 8).

Delbert Lee's business at 223 South Main Street. Photograph by Bob Coyle published in the Telegraph Herald (October 4, 1971, Page 20).

Lee would do a little bit of everything in this shop over the years--anything "to make an honest dollar." He cleaned, pressed, and repaired clothing and furs, shined shoes, and upholstered furniture. Where did he learn the skills of his trade? According to Lee, he taught himself to clean and repair clothes and took a home study course to learn how to repair fur. [16]

Published in the Cuba City News-Herald (August 21, 1925, Page 3).

Published in the Cuba City News-Herald (December 18, 1925, Page 7).

Published in the Cuba City News-Herald (May 21, 1926, Page 7).

With success also came some volatilty in the first few years of Lee's dry cleaning business. In March 1926, the Cuba City Cleaners announced they were opening a second location in Benton but, by the end of the year, Lee decided to close up shop entirely and move to Moline, Illinois. His absence was brief and he returned to Cuba City and re-opened the dry cleaning shop in February 1927. The thought of moving on was still with Lee a few years later, however. In November 1928, the cleaners was listed for sale in area newspapers. [17]

Despite the siren call of new locations and opportunities, Lee recalled that this period--particularly from 1927 to 1932--was his most lucrative: "Back then business was real good. People would come in all day to have me fix their coat or press their pants." He used to stay open until 11 p.m. to accommodate his work load. Business swung the other way in 1932, during the Depression, but he returned to good times in the 1940s and 50s. Lee reported working 60 hours a week in the 1940 census, though volume never reached the levels of those early years. [18]

At some point, Delbert Lee and his business partner, L. B. Bell, parted ways. The last newspaper reference to Bell was published just four months after the pair's arrival in Cuba City. Lee did not operate the business entirely on his own throughout the years, though. By 1950, Delbert was joined by Palestine White, a Black woman from Missouri who the census referred to as his housekeeper, but also indicated that she was working in the shop, "dressing suits." [19]

While settling into his new community, Lee remained closely connected with his mother and sister in Freeport, and he visited them, along with his niece and nephew, regularly. Lee also had many accomplished great-nieces and nephews, two of whom--Gerry and Mary Hickman--attended college in Platteville in the 1950s and 60s. Gerry was a talented basketball player at the university and Mary, through her work with a Methodist student group, saw Dr. Martin Luther King speak during her college days. [20]

Over the years, Lee made plenty of friends in his new home, as well. Cuba City residents who recall visiting with Delbert cannot say enough about his kind, gentle ways. Always ready to strike up a conversation, Lee could often be found seated on a bench outside his shop, quick to offer passers-by a smile or a friendly word. Sometimes he gave out pennies with those smiles and enjoyed watching the neighbor children's "little faces light up." There were a few friends, such as Frank Jeffrey and Sherman Hird, who regularly sought out Lee's company and were frequent fixtures at the shop. [21]

Delbert Lee watches the 1971 homecoming parade outside his shop. Photo courtesy of Diann Morris Winchester and Marilyn Roth.

Delbert Lee accompanied by Ed Hartung, Sherman Hird, and Francis Jeffrey. Photo by Ray Barth published in the Tri-County Press (February 1972).

Lee enjoyed the friendship of animals, as well. He had a series of dogs, all named Blondie, who kept him company throughout his life. On the subject of his canine companions, Lee responded: "I've always had a dog, all my life. Pretty hard to beat a dog." [22] Cuba City residents also remember Delbert having chickens, ducks, and geese in the back of his shop.

Delbert Lee with Blondie. Photo by Ray Barth published in the Tri-County Press (February 1972).

As a younger man, Lee involved himself in local organizations, becoming an active member in the American Legion and the VFW. He participated in funeral color guards and, in 1932, was elected Sergeant-at-arms of the Cuba City American Legion post. As he got older, Lee stood down from these pursuits:  "I let the young kids take over. They do a whole lot of things I don't do." When pressed, he admitted that the drinking and playing cards turned him off. "I don't have time for that. I am busy listening to the little still voice within." [23]

Faith was a huge part of Lee's life, particularly in his later years. After one of the neighborhood children encouraged him to attend Cuba City's Methodist Church in 1952, he was a nearly constant fixture at Sunday services and, as far as he could recall, had not missed more than six Sundays. He taught an adult Sunday School class and was a member of the church's Christian Education Committee. [24]

Despite his involvement with the Methodist Church and regular attendance at services, Lee never became a member and believed faith was all about reading the Bible rather than participating in organized religion. He admitted to being a foolish person when he was younger, but it was through reading his Bible and personal contemplation that he came up with his own moral code and value system. [25]

Photo by Bob Coyle published in the Telegraph Herald (October 4, 1971, Page 20).

Despite his simple lifestyle and his faith, Lee was not without any worldly pleasures. Two cars--a 1929 Model A Ford and a 1947 Studebaker Starlight coupe--were his prize possessions and when they weren't in storage, they could be found parked in front of his business. Many Cuba City residents recalled getting a ride in the Model A, which Lee bought new and used to take his family to the Chicago World's Fair in 1933. Lee told one interviewer that he kept his vehicles running with parts from an antique car shop in Chicago, and he had no need for a new automobile. [26]

Photo from the "Remember When" DVD put together by Beanie Loeffelholz and the City of Presidents.

Photo courtesy of Jackie Coyle and Gina Rollins.

Photo by Ray Barth published in the Tri-County Press (date unknown).

By the 1970s, business at Lee's shop had died down and he considered himself semi-retired by 1980, when he lived off his Army pension, social security, and the small amount he took in at the shop. Not much changed at the business over the years, and Lee kept his original equipment, including a steam press and foot-operated Singer sewing machine, which he preferred to more modern options. [27]

Photos by Bob Coyle published in the Telegraph Herald (October 4, 1971, Page 20).

Lee carried on with his quiet, unassuming lifestyle until 1983, when his time in Cuba City drew to a close and he died on September 3 at age 91. Funeral services were held at the United Methodist Church, where Lee had attended services so faithfully for decades, and he was buried in Cuba City's Mount Pleasant Cemetery. [28]

Delbert Lee's arrival in Cuba City may have aroused curiosity and doubts, but he became a beloved part of the community. Decades of smiles, kind words, pearls of wisdom, and other small kindnesses made him numerous friends and admirers. It's no wonder the following verse, found in an abandoned jacket and kept by his cash register, was Lee's favorite he liked to quote, because he embodied the words:

"Wouldn't this world be better

If the folks we meet would say,

'I know something good about you;'

And then just treat us that way." [29]

Delbert Lee posing with his World War I portrait. Photo by Ray Barth published in the Tri-County Press (February 1972).

 

Acknowledgements

Several journalists and academics saw the value of Delbert Lee's story and left behind invaluable photographs and interviews conducted late in his life that make this piece much richer than it otherwise would have been. You'll find their names and works listed in the notes below. Also, thank you to the many Cuba City residents, past and present, who have shared their memories of Delbert Lee on Historical Jottings Facebook posts over the years.

Notes

[1] "Missouri's 'Little Dixie,'" The Story Center at Mid-Continent Public Library, accessed January 6, 1924, https://www.mymcpl.org/story-center/about/woodneath-landscape/missouris-little-dixie; Valerie Clingan, Biography of Delbert Lee based on an interview, "Essays, 1980" (SC 2316, Madison, WI: Wisconsin Historical Society), 1; "Slaves and Emancipation," The Civil War in Missouri, Missouri History Museum, accessed January 6, 1924, http://www.civilwarmo.org/educators/resources/info-sheets/slaves-and-emancipation; Joyce Salter Johnson, The Early Black Settlers of Stephenson County, Illinois, 1830-1930: A Hundred Year Journal of Social History (Madison, WI: RoyTek Publishers, 2011), 105.

[2] Clingan, 1; U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, Ancestry.com; "Obituaries," Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA), Sept. 7, 1983, 18: Lee's obituary lists his birthplace as Montgomery City, Missouri, which was not far from Martinsburg; "Historical Data," Missouri Census Data Center, accessed January 6, 1924, https://mcdc.missouri.edu/population-estimates/historical.html; Dave Fyten, "Nobody came in yesterday or today...but I had a real friendly customer the day before," Telegraph Herald (Dubuque, IA), Oct. 4, 1971, 20; 1900 United States Federal Census; 1910 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com.

[3] Clingan, 1.

[4] Laddonia Herald (Laddonia, MO), Aug. 8, 1907, 1.

[5] Missouri, U.S., Death Certificates, 1910-1969, Ancestry.com; Clingan, 1; Statistics for Illinois (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1913); Johnson, Early Black Settlers, 70, 130; Johnson, Hundred Year Journal, Section 7.

[6] Clingan, 2 ; "Two Colored Men Injured," Freeport Journal Standard (Freeport, IL), Feb. 3, 1916, 6. In his interview with Clingan, Lee remembered this event happening at the Stephens Motor Company rather than the Henney Buggy Company named in the 1916 article. 

[7] "Cuba City Businessman Since 1924," Tri-County Press (Cuba City, WI), Feb. 1972; Matthew Margis, National Archives, "A Brief Look at African American Soldiers in the Great War," The Unwritten Record (blog), February 13, 2017, https://unwritten-record.blogs.archives.gov/2017/02/13/a-brief-look-at-african-american-soldiers-in-the-great-war; Clingan, 2; Jessie Kratz, National Archives, "'It is Now or Never': Final Victory in the Great War," Pieces of History (blog), September 28, 2018, https://prologue.blogs.archives.gov/2018/09/28/it-is-now-or-never-final-victory-in-the-great-war.

[8] Complete History of the Colored Soldiers in the World War (New York: Bennett & Churchill, 1919); Margis.

[9] Clingan, 2.

[10] [U.S., Army Transport Service Arriving and Departing Passenger Lists, 1910-1939, Ancestry.com; Clingan 2)

[11] Clingan, 2-3. 

[12] Ray Barth, "Delbert Lee Takes a Look at Life," Capital Times (Madison, WI), Mar. 18, 1972, 23.

[13] Clingan, 3; Cuba City News-Herald (Cuba City, WI), Nov. 15, 1918, 4; Grant County Herald (Lancaster, WI), Mar. 11, 1925, 5) 

[14] Clingan, 6-7. 

[15] "Nobody."

[16] Clingan, 3.

[17] Benton Advocate (Benton, WI), Mar. 26, 1926; Cuba City News-Herald, Nov. 26, 1926, 4; Cuba City News-Herald, Feb. 11, 1927, 5; Capital Times, Nov. 17, 1928, 10. 

[18] Clingan, 3; Barth; 1940 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com.

[19] Cuba City News-Herald, Dec. 26, 1924, 5; 1950 United States Federal Census, Ancestry.com.

[20] "Nobody"; "Gerry Hickman Plays on Platteville Squad," Freeport Journal-Standard, Nov. 25, 1959, 16; "Student at Conference," Freeport Journal-Standard, Jan. 8, 1965, 2; "9 Hickmans FHS Graduates," Freeport Journal-Standard, Dec. 4, 1968 , 3. 

[21] Clingan, 4; "Cuba City Businessman." 

[22] "Cuba City Businessman."

[23] Telegraph-Herald and Times-Journal, Sept. 22, 1932, 12; Clingan, 4.

[24] Clingan, 5.

[25] Barth; Clingan, 5-6.

[26] Clingan, 7; "Nobody."

[27] Clingan, 3-4; "Nobody."

[28] "Obituaries."

[29] "Nobody."