In lieu of a February Black History post, WSIC continues, because it is Black History.
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. In 1956 Nathan Levin died and Colonial Inv. Co. vice president Harry A. Badt took his place in the foreclosure paperwork. 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 26 Bates St NW:
- December 1950 (recorded July 11, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold 26 Bates St NW to Leon and Lucy M. Owens.
- Dec 1950 the Owens borrowed $6,250 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
- September 1967 the Owens were released their mortgage.
The house remained in the Owens family until the mid 1990s. This is a pretty good story. No foreclosures or any of the other stuff that follows.