Nearest Cab Company

This was the precursor of the Howard University Hospital. Chrysler were the company's first cabs and many of the company's riders were off-duty blacks who were living there. 3 ] "It began with a non-radio company, then soon automobiles were sent to the radio," said William Collins, Jr., another grandson of Ralph Collin.

The Friendly Cab Company didn't just serve the Freedman clinic. Riders took travellers to targets across the entire area, among them Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. But if a friendly taxi was delivering a ticket to an Alexandria location, he was not welcome to come back to Alexandria later to collect his ticket and take it back to Arlington due to the separation in Alexandria.

Darryl Collins explained: "It was very important to see a bogeyman at the moment who had enough innovation to improve. "In fact, Ralph Collins had many original suggestions for serving the neighbourhood. As a savvy businessman, he and his spouse opened the Friendly Restaurant, the Friendly Hair Salon and resold block irons and charcoal on the same road as his taxi company.

Ralph Collins' relatives say nobody is sure why he called his company "friendly", but given its story, the name seems appropriate. Today, the Collins familiy still owns the company and serves the people of Arlington. It'?s a big private company, in the broadest possible way.

Following the demise of Ralph Collins, his son William Collins, Sr. ran the company until the mid-1990s, when it was transferred to William Collins, Jr., who ran it with the help of Charles Collins and later Darryl Collins. Darryl Collins: "We realize that we still have the customers' preferences for Friendly Cab over other businesses.

" Given the company's position at the service of the Afro-American communities of Arlington at a times when others did not, this allegiance seems appropriate. Many thanks to William Collins, Jr. and Darryl Collins for the Friendly Cab Company's original history. Thanks also to Susan Cochraham for helping us to clear up the Collins line of thought and each individual's contribution to the company and correcting mistakes in an early release of this paper.

Arlington Hospital: Arlington Magazine, Les, "Crossing the Divide", Nov 2013. Perry, Nancy et Nigel M. Waters, "Black Entrepreneurship in Segregated Arlington County, Virginia.