This painting adorns the Community Recreation Center in Emory Grove .
in Montgomery County , you came Ike and Tina Turner . Fats Domino . to Emory Grove . This is where it Wilson Pickett . James Brown . . . was happening . That ’ s because if he played the Du-Drop a bunch of you were a Black entertainer in times . Chuck Berry . Ray Charles . America , you came here , too .” Chubby Checker .”
Tyler , the son of Ruize Tyler ,
A Who ’ s Who of Music once the neighborhood ’ s most prominent grocery store owner , The names of headline acts at started delivering food to the Du- Emory Grove ’ s most legendary Drop Inn during daylight hours nightclub roll off Richard Tyler ’ s before he was old enough to legally tongue like a Who ’ s Who of American musical icons : “ Jackie Wilson . age 21 , the nightclub ’ s owner ,
drink alcohol . Even after he turned William “ Bub ” Duvall , always turned him away from the front door at night .
“ Bub said , ‘ There ’ s nothing for you here . Now head along ,’” said Tyler , one of the neighborhood ’ s many unofficial historians . “ I became a teacher and Bub figured I needed to keep my reputation intact around town , so I never went in . But I saw everyone who came and went , including all the entertainers .”
The locals say Bub Duvall opened the first version of a nightclub sometime in the 1930s on land that now intersects Emory Grove Road and Woodfield Road . The Du-Drop Inn became official on Sept . 18 , 1947 , after Duvall cut a deal with a local white man , Frank Davis , who was running for county sheriff in 1946 .
“ Bub had helped the sheriff get the Black vote in the county and the sheriff had promised Bub a favor in return ,” said Tyler . “ That favor turned out to be the liquor license . There was no way a Black man was going to get a liquor license in this county otherwise . Bub was politically connected to the white community and he was able to get things done .”
When the neighborhood helped Duvall rebuild the Du-Drop Inn into a much larger cinderblock structure , measuring about 75 by
The Du-Drop Inn brought legendary Black entertainers , like James Brown and Chuck Berry , through its doors every week .
plenty I spring sowing 2023 29 Photo : courtesy of Montgomery History Special Collections