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A historic Raleigh funeral home was severely damaged in a fire Tuesday.
At 1:10 a.m., the Raleigh Fire Department received a call about plumes of smoke coming from the Lightner Funeral Home on Martin. Luther King. Jr. Boulevard near downtown Raleigh.
Fifteen total units responded to the fire, and one firefighter sustained minor injuries, according to Jamie Cheveralls, a spokesperson for the department.
No one was in the funeral home at the time, Cheveralls said.
After more than an hour and a half, the fire was deemed “under control,” around 2:45 a.m.
Cheveralls said the cause of the fire has not yet been determined and remains under investigation.
Lightner Funeral Home was founded by Shaw University alumnus Calvin Esau Lightner in 1911. It served as the first funeral home for Black customers in Raleigh.
In the 1920s, Lightner went on to build the Lightner Arcade and Hotel in Raleigh, a spot beloved by jazz musicians like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington. By the mid-20s, Lightner sold the hotel.
He remained an active member in local politics and ran for several municipal positions, despite the Jim Crow restrictions of the time.
In 1959, he passed his funeral business on to his son Clarence Lightner who became Raleigh’s first Black mayor in 1973.
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