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.
- January 12, 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 141 Bates St NW to Bertha, Robert and Thelma Freeman
- January 1951 the Freemans borrowed $3,025 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- December 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the other one-half of 141 Bates St NW to Eva M. Richards.
- December 1951 Mrs. Richards borrowed $3,025 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- February 1954 the Freemans borrow $977.33 from the Columbia Federal Savings and Loan.
- In October 1954 the Freemans sold their half back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
- December 1961 there was a foreclosure against the Freemans and the property returned to Evans, Taube and Levin’s survivors via an auction. Not sure how that worked.
- November 1961 as part of a larger package, Evans, Taube, Badt (and their wives) and Levin’s survivors sell their interest in 141 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- June 1964, Mrs. Richards sold her half to George Basiliko.
- July 1970, as part of a larger package, the Basilikos sell to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.
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.