August 2024 – Truxton Is In Shaw

Comparative White DC Home Owner- Georgetown- George Thomas- 1505 33rd St NW

It’s been a while since I have written up one of these comparative histories.

Although the African American home owners of Truxton Circle are my focus, I am looking at a few other blocks in Washington, DC to compare them to. So I looked at the census for blocks in the city that were in the F1 or red-lined category, but happened to be 90%-100% white. I included Georgetown, and this is the story of one household.

George W. Thomas was born in DC on November 15, 1870. His father was a carpenter and also named George W. and in 1880 the family lived in Georgetown. He was one of 10 children. In 1893 he married Elizabeth Schlosser. In 1900 he shows up twice in the census. He’s at 3042 P St NW with his wife and a family of boarders (Enumeration Dist 25 page 8). And he’s at his father’s on S or T St NW (Enumeration Dist 19 page 17) in Georgetown, with his siblings minus his wife.

Prior to the George W. and his wife Elizabeth moving to 1505 33rd St NW, they lived about a block over, renting 3042 P St NW in the 1900-1910 census. In the 1920 census they rented space in Dupont Circle at 2150 P St NW. George had been a carpenter, like his father, but then moved into cement mixing. It appears they had no children.

Looking at the land records the first few documents for the Thomas household are from 1923 and the lot numbers are (0163-0164) where Irene and William Ballenger sold the two lots to Nellie G. Stees. In the next numbered document, on that same day, sold it to Elizabeth and George W. Thomas. In the following document the Thomas borrowed $2000 at 7% from the trustees of the Northwest Savings Bank and $1000 for a 2nd mortgage from trustees R.E.L. Yellott and Raymond Read. A month later the Thomas’ were named in the release of the Ballenger’s 1920 mortgage. December 1923 George & Elizabeth took out a $3000 mortgage with the Home Building Association of the District of Columbia. It appears they used the money to pay off the Northwest Savings Bank.

In 1935 George and Elizabeth sold the home to Joseph A. Jr. and Edith Corinne Gargiulo.

So in the 1940 census they had moved out to the Palisades living at 5517 Carolina Place NW. At that point he was 69 years old and still in the concrete business. According to the social security office he died in 1952.

The difference I see between this White household and the Black households of Truxton Circle is the Northwest Savings Bank. I haven’t seen that bank operating in the TC.

Memory Lane: 1227 First Street NW

When I posted this back in 2007 it was a vacant house. It has been renovated and brought back to the land of the living.

Looking at the land records there was a lot of…. it looks very confusing and it appears to be an issue with the title in 2009. So from 5 minutes of poking around it appears in 2003 the city condemned the property and the owner did something to cancel that. From 2007-2009 there was a lien on the property, for back taxes. In 2008 Maryland B. Jackson sold her interest in the property to Read Investment Corp. for $160K. I am guessing Read Investment renovated the property because in 2009 they sold the property to Mark Beavers for $409K. And looking at Google Street view from 2008 and 2009 there is a change from a shell of a house to a house with the permits in the window.

It was last sold in 2015. Redfin says that the house is now worth $843,948.

Vacant house next to occupied homes. — 1223-1227 1st Street NW. Taken around December 20, 2007.

2007 post below

Okay, once again because all the cool kids are doing it, another vacant house. This also has been bought this year, so the pitiful state that it is in *might* not the new owner, Ms. M. B. Jackson’s fault. Ms. Jackson of McClean, VA acquired the house in May 2007 for an unknown amount. The unknown makes me wonder if it was a transfer, tax sale foreclosure, or something else. According to the DC.Gov tax assessment site, the place is assessed at $248,570, for 2007, and will go up to $296,570. The $570.00 at the end of both prices make me wonder if the assessor just decided, “OK, add $48K, viola!” Anywho, there is an interesting “Special Assessment” dated 7/30/2004 and 12/13/2007 for $62,213.03. I wonder what that’s all about.
It was built sometime during the turn of the century, as the DC government lists it as being built in 1900, which means they have no clue. My census of 1900 notes aren’t revealing any residents of the 1200 block of 1st, and my maps (which I admit neglects the Hanover/MVSQ crossover area of the TC) don’t show anything, so I have no clue either.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 19 Bates Street 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.

Okay, let’s get back to some depressing local history.

Why depressing? The WSIC properties tend to have a pattern where the properties were sold by business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. 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). And doing this over and over again, is depressing.

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 19 Bates St NW:

December 1950 (recorded Feb 14, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 19 Bates St NW to Miss Elsie M. Mitchell.
December 1950 (recorded Feb 14, 1951) Mitchell borrowed $1,900 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 19 Bates St NW to Theodora and Thomas Ferguson.
Jan 1951 Fergusons borrowed $1,900 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
March 9, 1953 Thomas Ferguson borrowed $965.83 from trustees Roland Brown Jr and Jacob Sandler in order to pay for work done by Consolidated Eng. & Dist. Co. Inc.
September 1954 Thomas Ferguson borrowed $575.65 from the Irving Trust Company.
April 1958 the Fergusons lost their half of 19 Bates St NW to foreclosure.
July 1958, as part of larger property package, new Colonial partner Harry A. Badt transferred their interest in the foreclosed half to the survivors of Nathan Levin.
June 1959 the Colonial Investment Co partners and the Levin survivors, in a larger property package, sold their interest in the property to Sophia and George Basiliko.
January 1962 Mitchell was released from her mortgage, thus owning her half free and clear.
December 1969 Elsie Mitchell Traylor and her husband Melvyn H. Traylor sold their half to notorious landlord George Basiliko.
November 1981 Sophia and George Basiliko sold 19 Bates St NW, along with two other WSIC properties to the Bates Street Ventures, Gerald Diaz and Edward A. Kassoff.

There was a foreclosure. But on the other hand the other buyer, Elsie Mitchell, was able to pay off her mortgage, thus one success. But she and the Colonial Investment Co wound up selling their halves of the house to George Basiliko. Despite owning it prior to 1970 Basiliko did not sell the property to the DC RLA. I’m not sure if Bates Street Ventures is pretty much the same as Bates Street Associates (BSA) and all that mess.

Memory Lane: 1555 4th St NW

1555 4th St NW. Photo taken December 15, 2007.

What do I want to say about this house?

Well for most of my tenure living on the 1600 block of 4th St, it was a rental home. In the last handful of years I was on the street, the tenants were well meaning nice people with jobs. They unfortunately had a front view of the rear of the commercial block that was the 1500 block of New Jersey Ave NW. If it weren’t the screamy teenagers hanging out behind the commercial block, it was the old guys who sold heroin hanging out. The nice thing about the old guys who sold heroin was that they tended to call it a night most nights….. well that was until they had members who hung out who decided every other day was bring your kid to work day.

It couldn’t have been easy there.

1920 to 1930- White to Black- 1725 New Jersey Avenue

1700 Block NJ Ave NW, 1930. Brown= AfAm residents; White= No data

In this series of looking at the odd numbered side of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW from 1920 to 1930, I decided to look at the other end of the block. The change from 1920 to 1930 for most of the block was from white renters to black home owners. My post The sell off of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW pretty much explains the why.

1920 White Renters

There were two households living at 1725 NJ Ave NW in 1920. The first was Thomas Errington (spelled Ewrington in the 1920 census), a Michigan born laborer and his family. The second, was Ernest L. McDowell, a Printer who worked at the Government Printing Office.

The Errington household consisted of 42 year old Thomas, his 51 year old wife Ida (previously Crutchfield) and their 5 year old adopted daughter, Mary Callahan. In the previous 1910 census, the couple lived at 505 Q St NW. He was a house porter and she worked as a dressmaker. Ida died after they moved from New Jersey Ave in 1921. In the 1930 census, Thomas had a new wife and family with stepdaughter and step-granddaughter in Baltimore. I could not locate Mary.

The McDowells consisted of 29 year old Ernest Linwood McDowell, his wife 24 year old Eunice (formerly Eunice Ruth Townsend) and 1 year old daughter Dorothy. Ernest was a printer at the GPO and had just married Eunice Ruth Townsend in 1917 in their hometown of Richmond, VA.

After they left New Jersey Ave NW they lived at 2207 Otis St NE and owned the home. By 1930, Ernest moved up to Proofreader at the GPO and he and Eunice had another daughter. They lived on Otis through to the 1950 census. Ernest died in 1963.

1930s Black Owners

According to the land records the owner in 1926 were Alice and George B. Oliver where in a deed they transfer the property to Henning C. Nelms who in the next document transferred it to Alice. A few months later the mortgage with W. Wallace Chiswell and Harry A. Kite was paid off or released. Alice owned the house until her death and the house was sold by her heirs in 1976.

Unfortunately, I could not find out much about the brother and sister George Bruce James Oliver and Alice Oliver prior to their time. They were both Black and born in Virginia. I was able to find George’s draft card to discover he was born in Danville, VA in 1898 and get his two middle names. That lead to finding his 1947 funeral notice where it mentions his wife Ruth, who does not show up in the 1940 census.

Speaking of the census. in 1930 George is listed as Alice’s brother. In 1940 he is listed as a lodger.