Last reviewed 16 October 2026 · A three-minute read · 1914–2016
On Mulberry Street in Memphis stands the ground of the old Lorraine Motel, opened in 1925 as the whites-only Windsor Hotel, renamed in 1945 by its new owner Walter Bailey, and marked forever by the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968 before its rebirth as the National Civil Rights Museum.
The short answer
The National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis stands around the old Lorraine Motel, where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead on the balcony outside Room 306 on April 4, 1968. Built as the whites-only Windsor Hotel in 1925, the property was bought in 1945 by Walter Bailey, who renamed it for his wife Loree before it became a civil rights landmark.
Lorraine Hotel, where Martin Luther King jr was assassinated. Today this is part of the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. — 2018 · Bjoertvedt · CC BY-SA 4.0
1925 to 1945
A whites-only hotel became a refuge for Black travellers
The National Civil Rights Museum is a museum built around the old Lorraine Motel at Mulberry Street in Memphis. The building began life in 1925 as the Windsor Hotel, a small sixteen-room establishment for white guests only. It later traded under the name the Marquette Hotel through the 1930s and into the 1940s.
In 1945, Walter Bailey, an African American businessman, bought the hotel. Walter Bailey renamed it the Lorraine, after his wife Loree and the song "Sweet Lorraine." Under segregation, the Lorraine became a rare safe place for Black travelers in Memphis. Starting in 1952, it appeared in the Green Book, the guide that listed hotels and businesses willing to serve African American guests. Jazz musicians Cab Calloway and Count Basie stayed there, and later Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, and Nat King Cole came through its doors. Stax Records artists, including Isaac Hayes, gathered by its pool. Bailey expanded the property through the 1950s and 1960s, adding a second floor and drive-up motel rooms, turning the old hotel into the Lorraine Motel.
April 4, 1968
King was shot dead on the Lorraine's balcony
Martin Luther King Jr. Came to Memphis that April to support striking sanitation workers. He checked into Room 306 at the Lorraine with Ralph Abernathy and Andrew Young, and at 6:01 p.m. On April 4 he stepped onto the second-floor balcony outside his room. A rifle shot fired from a rooming house across the street struck him. He died an hour later at St. Joseph Hospital.
Loree Bailey, Walter's wife, collapsed with a stroke when she heard the shot. She died five days later. James Earl Ray was later convicted of the killing and sentenced to 99 years. Walter Bailey closed Room 306 to guests, keeping it as a shrine while running the rest of the motel until bankruptcy forced its sale in 1982.
1982 to 1988
The motel fell into disrepair after bankruptcy
After the sale, the Lorraine fell into disrepair. Reports from the time describe the building slipping into use as a brothel before a rescue effort began. A group called Save the Lorraine bought the building at auction in 1982 to stop it from going to foreclosure.
1984 to 1991
A foundation turned the motel into a museum
In 1984, organizers formally created the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation to turn the old motel into a museum. The foundation bought the Lorraine itself in 1987, along with the rooming house across the street, the building James Earl Ray fired from. D'Army Bailey, a civil rights activist, author, and judge, led the project to build the museum.
The National Civil Rights Museum opened on July 4, 1991, with a formal dedication that September 28. Its exhibits trace the civil rights movement from the 1600s to the present day.
2001 to 2016
The museum expanded into the sniper's rooming house
In 2001 and 2002, the museum expanded into the Young and Morrow Building and the rooming house itself, opening the new wing on September 28, 2002. These are the buildings connected to the shooting: the rooming house held the sniper's position, and the Young and Morrow Building was where Ray reportedly confessed, before recanting. Ray's conviction still stands as the official record, though the King family and others have long questioned it.
The museum closed for major renovation and reopened in 2014 with new multimedia displays and short films. In 2016, it became an affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.
Today
Room 306 remains preserved exactly as King left it
Room 306 is preserved as King left it, with his unmade bed and belongings still in place. The museum holds about 260 artifacts and more than 40 films, and in 2018 the Lorraine Motel was named part of the African American Civil Rights Network, a National Park Service program.
A few streets over, the ground around Mulberry Street carried its own violence long before 1968. In 1919, a man named R. J. Smith, known as Blackie, shot and killed Jessee Campbell at the carnival grounds on this street. Neither death is marked today, but both were recorded in the same city where, decades later, the nation's most famous civil rights leader would be killed a few doors away.
The Lorraine Motel's sign and balcony still stand over Mulberry Street, now the entrance to the museum built around King's death.
Sourced records, high and medium confidence. Era background is marked as such.
Modern
The museum sits within the South Main Street Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places listing covering the surrounding blocks of downtown Memphis.
Era background — not a record of this tile · Wikipedia: South Main Street Historic District
1914
Central Station, a short walk north, opened in 1914 as a major passenger rail terminal and is the oldest dated structure recorded anywhere near this spot.
On March 1, 1919, Jessee Campbell was shot and killed by a man known as 'Blackie' at the Carnival grounds on Mulberry Street, a short walk from where the motel would later stand.
In 1945 Walter Bailey, a Black businessman, bought the hotel and renamed it the Lorraine for his wife Loree and the song 'Sweet Lorraine,' turning it into one of the few upscale lodgings for Black travelers in segregated Memphis.
Through the 1950s and 60s, musicians recording at Memphis's Stax Records — including Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, and Lionel Hampton — stayed at the Lorraine.
After the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended legal segregation, Bailey added a second floor, a pool, and drive-up rooms, renaming it the Lorraine Motel to compete with newly integrated hotels.
At 6:01 p.m. on April 4, 1968, a sniper's bullet struck King through the neck as he stood on the second-floor balcony of the Lorraine Motel, and he died an hour later at St. Joseph's Hospital.
James Earl Ray, a 40-year-old resident of a rooming house facing the motel, fired the fatal shot, was indicted for murder weeks later, and pleaded guilty to a 99-year sentence he soon tried to take back.
The motel's owner's wife, Loree Bailey, suffered a stroke the moment she heard the gunshot and died five days later, never knowing the building would become a memorial to the man who was killed there.
In 1982 Bailey filed for bankruptcy and the Lorraine was ordered sold at foreclosure, and the building reportedly fell into disrepair before preservationists stepped in.
After years of fundraising by the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation, the museum opened to the public on July 4, 1991, built around the preserved motel.
What was here before the National Civil Rights Museum?
The site began in 1925 as the Windsor Hotel, a small sixteen-room establishment for white guests only, later known as the Marquette Hotel before Walter Bailey bought it in 1945 and renamed it the Lorraine.
What happened at the Lorraine Motel in 1968?
On April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot on the second-floor balcony outside Room 306 at 6:01 p.m. and died an hour later at St. Joseph Hospital; the shot was fired by James Earl Ray from a rooming house across the street.
Who shot Martin Luther King Jr.?
James Earl Ray fired the fatal shot from a rooming house across Mulberry Street and was later convicted and sentenced to 99 years, though he soon tried to recant his guilty plea.
When did the National Civil Rights Museum open?
The museum opened to the public on July 4, 1991, after the Lorraine Civil Rights Museum Foundation, led by D'Army Bailey, bought the Lorraine Motel in 1987 and restored it.
Is Room 306 still preserved at the Lorraine Motel?
Yes, Room 306 is kept as King left it, with his unmade bed and belongings still in place.
What happened to Loree Bailey, the motel owner's wife?
Loree Bailey suffered a stroke the moment she heard the gunshot that killed King and died five days later.
