Ernest Collins Hotel was owned by one of Spartanburg's most influential Black leaders, Ernest L. Collins. He graduated from Cumming Street High School and went on to Johnson C. Smith University. He was a great entrepreneur who owned and operated E.L. Collins Funeral Home, a service station, bus service, taxi company, liquor store, cafe, hotel, grocery store, automobile paint shop, bail bond service, and a cemetery, many of these establishments were located in the Southside. At the time when Spartanburg businesses were segregated, he owned the only hotel and liquor store that served Black patrons. He was a strong force in the community and during the Civil Rights Movement, he actively used his bail bonds service to get participants out of jail.