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 1547 3rd St NW:
- January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 1547 3rd NW to Alfred E. and Edna M. Williams.
- Jan 1951 the Williams borrowed $3,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 1547 3rd St NW to Mary M. Fair.
- Jan 1951 divorcee Ms. Fair borrowed $3,375 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- April 1962 Mary M. Fair was released from her mortgage and owned her half free and clear.
- June 1964 the Williams borrowed $6,500 from United Mortgage Company Inc.
- August 1964 the Williams were released from their United Mortgage Co Inc mortgage.
- February 1965 the Williams were released from their Levin and Weightman mortgage.
- March 1966 there was another United Mortgage release. I don’t understand it.
- March 1966 the Williams got a mortgage from Security Home Mortgage Corporation of Silver Spring, MD $2,193.12.
- November 1967 the Williams were released from their Security Home Mortgage Co mortgage.
- September 1973 Mary M. Newton formerly Mary Fair borrowed $5,000 from trustees Harry M. Stern and Jay S. Weiss to pay Harry A. Payne.
- November 1978 Mary Newton was released from her September 1973 mortgage.
Another good result. No foreclosures. The original 1951 buyers continued to own their halves into the 1980s.