For another post at another time I was scouring my hard drive, my Flickr account, and various other spots because I swore I had a picture of the corner of 3rd and Q before the, um….. Interesting architecture appeared on the corner.
I took this image in 2017.
The developer added a mansard roof/ 3rd floor.
It looks different.
Anyway, I found a bunch of photocopies of photographs from what I think may be the late 1960s maybe the early 1970s of the corner of 3rd and Q Streets NW.
The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.
Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Then there was the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.
Let’s see the ownership history of 1505 3rd St NW:
All boxes checked. Foreclosure, checked twice. Transfer to George Basiliko, check. Eventual ownership by the DC RLA, check.
The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.
Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).
Let’s see if 1535 3rd St NW fit this pattern:
So all the boxes were checked. Foreclosure, check. Sold to George Basiliko, check. Sold to DC RLA, check.
The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.
Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Then there was the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.
Let’s see the ownership history of 1533 3rd St NW:
At first it looked like Mrs. Madden would save 1533 3rd St NW from the fate of so many other former WSIC homes. But alas, no. Her daughters Catherine and Dorothy sold it to landlord George Basiliko, who within a few years, sold it to RLA.
The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.
Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).
Let’s see what happened at 1531 3rd St NW:
Frances Guss died April 6, 1955 and William A. Guss died September 2, 1969. Other signatories, besides the Basilikos, were Elaine F. Barber, her husband Cornell D. Barber, Melvin Guss, Phyllis Robinson, and her husband Benjamin F. Robinson.
So Ward 5 Councilman Zachary Parker introduced legislation designating streets in honor of prominent Black figures with ties to Ward 5. The key word is “ties”.
For the Truxton Circle neighborhood, his office picked Rayford Logan. Logan’s tie? He went to Dunbar. sigh. A whole bunch of people went Dunbar, way more famous and notable than Logan.
I get why they didn’t pick Dunbar graduates such as Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, or Councilman Vincent Gray or Rev. Walter E. Fauntroy, because they aren’t dead yet.
But why not Dunbar graduate Dr. Charles Drew? Is it because he has a number of schools and health centers named after him? Is it because he got a postage stamp? Is colorism at play and Dr. Drew is too light skinned?
Okay, then maybe Billy Taylor, jazz pianist. He went to Dunbar.
I see another Dunbar graduate Sterling Allen Brown was designated to Brookland, where he lived. Which seems to be more of a tie than Logan’s “tie” to Truxton Circle.
I believe Rayful Edmond went to Dunbar. He’s the drug kingpin mentioned in TC author, Tony Lewis Jr.’s book, Slugg: A Boy’s Life in the Age of Mass Incarceration. Edmond had a huge impact on the Hanover St section of Truxton Circle, but I wouldn’t rename any streets after him.
You know what is across the street from Dunbar? Armstrong. It was a technical school or high school. Duke Ellington went there. But I understand not wanting to name another thing after the great Duke Ellington. I love Duke Ellington, but you can have too much of a good thing. Another jazz great went to Armstrong, Billy Eckstine, but no body cares about Billy Eckstine.
I hadn’t even touched on the people who ACTUALLY LIVED IN TRUXTON CIRCLE!
We have Dr. Peter Marshall Murray who was president of the National Medical Association and who lived at 1645 New Jersey Ave NW.
Next is female filmmaker, Eloyce Gist. Not only does she have a Wikipedia page, she has an IMDB page. She was married several times so she has a few different names, but she lived at 134 R St NW, which no longer exists.
Before this gets too long, I did decide to take a look at the other neighborhoods and the names Councilman Parker’s office ( don’t believe Mr. Parker came up with this list) came up with.
Edna Brown Coleman was a member of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority. She was one of the 22 founding members. Delta Sigma Theta planned and constructed the Delta Towers in Ward 5 in the 1970s, so therefore Coleman who died in 1919, gets a street. I mena her brother Sterling A. Brown gets Brookland, why not? Trinidad neighborhood, you have my sympathies. The link Logan has to the TC is kinda dumb, but not this level of dumb.
Moving on…
Ivy City gets Alexander Crummell. His tie? A school in the neighborhood was named after him.
The Carver-Langston area will get John Mercer Langston. Sure the whole neighborhood is kinda named after him. A street? Sure why not?
The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.
Looking at WSIC properties they tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold to a three business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. Those partners sold to African American buyers. There was usually a foreclosure. Then the property wound up in the hands of George Basiliko and or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Let’s see what happens at 1529 3rd St. NW.
Basiliko did not sell this property to DC’s Redevelopment Land Agency.
This is the last of my posts based on a set of photocopies of photos taken around the late 1960s, maybe the early 1970s. The cars on the street hint at maybe the 60s. I don’t know.
The caption says it is the 100 block of Bates Street NW. Take a look and you tell me. Is it?
The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a late 19th century charitable capitalism experiment that ended in the 1950s. This blog started looking at the homes that were supposed to be sold to African American home buyers, after decades of mainly renting to white tenants.
Unlike many properties in this series, I’ve already featured this address before. 141 Bates St NW- Newspaper Search from last year is interesting. It will be even more interesting when adding the land records component.
So as usual we will start off with the three fellows the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company sold the properties to, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars in 1950. Then they will sell two halves of the property to two different African American households who borrow the money from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman. After that it’s a bingo game with foreclosures, George Basiliko and the DC Redevelopment Land Agency. Let’s see what happens with 141 Bates Street NW.
And here are the newspaper mentions during this time (1951-1970):
Marriage License Applications– Evening Star, August 19, 1954, Page B-14. Harold Freeman, 18, 141 Bates st n.w. and Jo Stewart, 18, 1364 1st st s.w.
Deaths-Wilson, Eva L.– Evening Star, October 25, 1954, Page A-18. Eva L. Wilson died after a lengthy illness at 141-A Bates st. n.w.
Auction Sales- Thos. J. Owen & Son, Auctioneers– Evening Star, December 20, 1961, Page C-16; December 15, 1961, Page D-7. Auction for Sq. 552 lot 35 (141 Bates St NW), appears minimum price was $8,000.
Ah, let me get this over with. Most years I do Carter G. Woodson’s (father of Black History) Mis-Education of the Negro, his more popular book. Silly me decided, for the second year, tried to get through his History of Negro Church. I give up. This is not fun and it is the last of this year’s series. So I am going to get back to the stuff I love. I learned things, but it’s not an enjoyable read.
As many are aware it was illegal at some point in Southern States to teach slaves to read. Almost all Protestant denominations are biblically focused. Books, like the Bible, require the skill of reading.
Woodson beats up on the Episcopalians in the first part of the chapter because in his opinion they did a bad job of catechizing, and did not advocate for abolition. Woodson doesn’t mention, but I will, the Episcopalians have another book, the Book of Common Prayer. There’s a lot of reading.
Then he moves on to the Presbyterians. The frozen chosen were a tad better. They were interested in colonizing and missionary work using Black Americans. They established a training school, which later became the HBCU Lincoln University. They also provided religious instruction verbally, which was a temporary fix.
Presbyterian pastors such as Rev. Josiah Law, who provided instruction to Georgian Blacks, discovered that some opposed even verbal instruction for fear that it would lead to desires for literary instruction.
Woodson seems to have liked the efforts of the Methodists and the Baptists. Some white Christians were enthusiastic in their faith and would teach their servants how to read the Bible. “General Coxe of Fluvanna County, Virginia, had all his slaves taught to read the Bible in spite of the law and public opinion to the contrary, and so did a farmer whom Frederick Law Olmsted visited in Mississippi.”
