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 were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.
Let’s see what happens with 36 O St NW:
- June 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 36 O St NW to Evelyn M. and Henry T. Venson.
- June 1951 the Vensons borrowed $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- March 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 36 O St NW to Lottie B. and Albert J. Paul.
- March 1951 the Pauls borrowed $3,125 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- August 1954 the Vensons lost their half to foreclosure. Evans, Levin and Taube regained ownership via an auction.
- November 1961 as part of a larger property package, new owner Harry A. Badt, Evans, Taube, their wives and Levin’s survivors sold half of 36 O St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
- December 1965 the Pauls paid off their mortgage.
- July 1971 it appears that Basiliko sold his half to Housing System Dev. and Construction Corporation in a large property package. However…..
- April 1978 Basiliko sold his half to Lottie B. and Linda Marie Paul, finally bringing the whole property under the Paul family.
So there was one foreclosure and it became a Basiliko property, but it has a happy ending with the Pauls.
For fun, and because their names were unique, let’s look at the Vensons. According to an Ancestry family tree Henry Truitt Venson was born in 1918 in Atlanta, GA and died in 1964. During WWII he was living 1126 6th St NE, and his mother was in the TC at 1333 1st St NW. February 1955, his mother Hattie Venson Thrasher had been living at 43 Florida Ave NW. In 1959 he was charged with operating a lottery (running a numbers game), living on Morgan St. NW.
His wife, Evelyn Mary Robinson, was born the daughter of Madeline Swann and George W. Robinson April 7, 1926 in Washington, DC. She married Walter Bail Fields in 1943 and had a daughter Mary. In 1959 she married Henry T. Venson…. the dates aren’t lining up, but people are complicated. During the 1950 census she was separated, living with her parents and her children at 201 O St NW. In 1959 when she and Harry officially tied the knot, they were both living at 221 Morgan St NW, in Truxton Circle.
In 1954 the Vensons purchased 1625 4th St NW, also in Truxton Circle. However the previous owner was foreclosed upon and they lost that house too in 1956.
Evelyn moved to Rocky Mount, NC at some point, and that is the city where she died.