Wiley H. Bates
Wiley H. Bates (August 1, 1859 – April 1, 1935) was an American businessman, civic leader, and philanthropist in Annapolis, Maryland. Born into slavery in North Carolina, he did not receive formal schooling but cared deeply about education his whole life.
He moved to Annapolis with his mother in the early 1870s after his father died. He worked many jobs, including in the oyster and crabbing industries, and around 1883 opened a grocery store on Cathedral Street. The store made him wealthy, and he became one of the town’s richest Black residents.
Bates served one term as an alderman on the Annapolis City Council beginning in 1897, the third Black person elected to that role. He donated to education, giving $500 to buy land for a new all-Black high school—the first in Anne Arundel County. The school opened in 1932 as Wiley H. Bates High School; after integration it became Wiley H. Bates Middle School, which closed in 1981. The building now houses a senior living facility and the Annapolis Senior Center.
He married Maggie in 1884; she died in 1892. He later married Annie “Addie” E. King; she died in 1921. The couple had no children, but a younger woman named Mattie Holt lived with him as an adopted daughter. Bates died on April 1, 1935 and is buried at Brewer Hill Cemetery in Annapolis.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:17 (CET).