Category: History

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 225 P 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.

photo of propertyLooking 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 was the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

Let’s see what happens with 225 P St NW:

  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 225 P Street  NW to Arthur V. and his wife Carlis M. Foust.
  • January 1951 the Fousts borrowed $3,150 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 225 P St NW to Mrs. Gladys V. Hill Hodge.
  • Jan 1951 Mrs. Hodge borrowed $3,150 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • May 1957 the Fousts lose their half to foreclosure. Their half of the property returned to Evans, Taube, and new partner Harry A. Badt via an auction.
  • May 1957, as part of a larger property package, the Badts (Harry A. and wife Jennie) transfer/sell their interest in 225 P St NW to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • June 1959, as part of a larger package, Badt, Evans, Taube, their wives and Levin’s survivors sold half of 225 P St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • February 1960, Mrs. Hodge lost her half of the property to foreclosure. This second half of the property returned to Badt, Evans, and Taube via an auction.
  • February 1960, the Badts, as part of a larger package,  transferred/sold their interest in the property to the Levin survivors.
  • August 1960, Evans, Taube, their wives, and the Levin survivors sold the remaining half to George Basiliko.
  • Sometime between 1973 and 1978 Basiliko sold/transferred the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.
  • Either in 1978 or 1979, as part of a larger package, the DC RLA sold the property to Bates Street Associates, Inc.

Let’s whip out our WSIC bingo card. Halves of one property sold to two separate households, check. The sole lenders were Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman, check. Foreclosure, double check. Sold to George Basiliko, check. Sold to DC RLA? Check.

Fifteenth Street Presbyterian 1899

Old-Church
Fifteenth St Presbyterian, ca 1899? Library of Congress

This is the old building, probably the same one that was in the 1957 Church Survey.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 223 P 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.

photo of propertyLooking 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 was the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

Let’s see what happens with 223 P St NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 223 P St NW to Daisy K. and Delaney Oliver.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Olivers borrowed $3,150 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 (recorded in February) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 223 P St NW to Mrs. Susie A. Baker, and Edna and Clyde Workcuff.
  • Jan 1951  Mrs. Baker and the Workcuffs borrowed $3,150 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • July 1952 the Olivers sold their half to Julius and Lucy J. Graves.
  • May 1954 Mrs. Baker and the Workcuffs lost their half of 223 P St NW to foreclosure. Evans, Levin and Taube regained the property via an auction.
  • March 1958, the Olivers, and by extension, the Graves, lost their half of 223 P to foreclosure. Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt regained the the property via an auction, thus bringing the whole property together.
  • March 1958, as part of a larger property package Harry and Jennie Badt transfer/sell their interest in the property to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • March 1959, as part of a very large property package, Evans, Taube and the Levin survivors sell 223 P St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • Sometime between 1972 and 1974 the DC Redevelopment Land Agency took ownership of 223 P St NW.
  • June 1980, as part of a larger package, DC RLA sold/transferred ownership of 223 P to the BSA Limited Partnership.

Let’s review again: Divided halves sold to two separate households, check. Foreclosure, double check. Sold to George Basiliko, check. Sold to DC RLA, check. I’ll note that later documents related to the property look messy.

Comparative White DC Home Owner- Capitol Hill- John F. Robey- 515 3rd St SE

So just to get an idea to see if what I am seeing with the Black Homeowners of Truxton Circle is normal, or not, I am comparing them with white home owners.  I am looking at blocks that were over 90% white in 1950 but also in the same “red lined” zone, which was F1.

photo of property

The District of Columbia Recorder of Deeds’ site goes as far back as 1921. The first document for 515 3rd St SE is a 1924 release for a mortgage with the Metropolis Building Association for a 1918 loan under the names of John F. and Joanna A. Robey. The next and last document is a June 1953 deed where the surviving spouse Joanna sold the property to Catherine A. and John C. Hartman.

John Fairfax Robey died February 25, 1953 and according to his obit he lived a good long life:

John F. Robey, 90, Retired Railroader, Dies After Home Fall
John F. Robey, 90, retired veteran railroad man, died Wednesday at Casualty Hospital. He had suffered a fall earlier at his home, 515 Third street S.E.
Mr. Robey, who had living in Washington since he was a boy, began his career with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1881. He was employed as an engineer with the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac Railroad about the turn of the century.
At the time of his retirement in 1932, he was assistant superintendent of motive power for the R. F. & P.
One of the high spots of Mr. Robey’s career was when he piloted the first passenger train across the newly opened Long Bridge over the Potomac River in 1907.
Served on Garfield Train-
Mr. Robey was an engineer wiper on President Garfield’s funeral train in 1881.
While still with the Pennsylvania, as an engineer on the Washington-New York run, he was trapped on the road for 10 days during the blizzard of 1898.
For many years he was foreman of the roundhouse at Potomac Yards.
Mr. Robey, a native of Newport, St. Marys County, Md., had lived for the last 40 years at the Third street address.
Married 63 Years.
He and his wife, the former Johanna Bradshaw, had celebrated their 63d wedding anniversary there last August 1.
In addition to his widow, who is 80 Mr. Robey is survived by two daughters, Mrs. Malvinia Prather 5525 Fourth street N.W., and Mrs. Ethel Fischer, 9703 Bristol avenue, Silver Spring, Md., and four sons, Ralph E. Robey, 2016 Thirty-seventh street N.W.; Joseph O. Robey, 3007 Medway street, Silver Spring; John P. Robey, 7302 Foster street, District Heights, Md., and Paul W. Robey, Newton Center, Mass.

As far as getting information about loans and comparing this to the Truxton Circle home owners, this provides no info.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off-227 P 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.

photo of property

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 was the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

Let’s see what happens with 227 P St NW:

  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 227 P St NW to Anna B. and Louis E. Brown.
  • January 1951 the Browns borrowed $3,150 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 227 P St NW to Alice O. and Herbert F. Williams, Sr.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Mitchell borrowed $3,000 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • September 1959 the Browns lost their half to foreclosure. The property returned to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt via an auction.
  • September 1959, as part of a larger property package, Harry and wife Jennie Badt transfer their interest to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • November 1961, as part of a very large property package, Badt, Evans, Taube (and their wives), and the survivors of Nathan Levin sell their half of 227 P and other properties to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • April 1968 the Williams sold their half to George Basiliko.
  • Sometime between 1971 and 1974 the property was sold to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.
  • August 1979 (I suspect 1978 but there are pages missing from document # 7900028039) the DC RLA sold/transferred the property (as part of a larger deal) to Bates Street Associates, Inc.

Alright looking at the WSIC bingo card we have property sold as two separate halves to two different households, check. At least one foreclosure, check. Purchase by George Basiliko, check. And also sold to the DC Redevelopment Agency, check.

Piecing Together Lost Truxton Circle or What the what am I looking at? Pt 5

In the previous postings for parts 1-4 we looked at buildings south and north of the Dunbar High School field in 1942. Now let’s look west.

Just to orient you, here is a USGS aerial map from 1951.

And now a look on the west (left) end of the field.


Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information photograph collection (Library of Congress), ca 1942

Those buildings no longer exist. It is now just part of the Dunbar track. I wonder it that taller 3 story detached building was the old Twinings school?

Memory Lane: Dunbar

Dunbar High School taken December 20, 2005

It was an ugly building.

It looked like a prison.

I’m glad it is gone.

Piecing Together Lost Truxton Circle or What the what am I looking at? Pt 4

This is more of a continuation of part 3.

Untitled photo, possibly related to: Washington, D.C. Military unit in Armstrong Technical High School which is trained by the regular Army, a tradition in all Washington schools. Library of Congress. 1942.

We are looking north from the Dunbar High School field. We see the bleachers. We do not see Armstrong in the background which means we see more buildings that no longer exist on the 200 block of O St NW.

Below, more of the same.

Swinging to the other end of the bleachers looking along O Street, we see another part of the field with female Dunbar students.

Review girl cadets at Dunbar High School. 1942.

Here we clearly see Armstrong High School in the background.