Category: Truxton History

1957 Church Survey: Redeemer Italian Baptist Church

In 1957 there was as survey of churches in the Northwest Urban Renewal Area, which included Shaw, Downtown, and the area near Union Station. One of the churches was Redeemer Italian Baptist Church . To learn more about the 1957 Church Survey read my previous posts, The Uniqueness of the 1957 Church Survey and Church Survey Northwest Urban Renewal Area October 1957.

photo of propertyRedeemer was a mystery. It was this odd ethnic Italian Baptist church in a largely Black neighborhood. I’d been told, by the owner of Catania Bakery that there was a decent sized Italian population in Truxton Circle. They are no more. I have no idea where they went or how many were here in the first place.

So I will do something new. I will look at the land records.

Redeemer Italian Baptist Church was at 1200 Kirby St NW, sitting on Square 555, lots 62 and 63. In 1923 the trustees of Chiesa Del Redentore Italian Baptist, Leonardo Dell Erba, Olindo Marseglia, and Pasquale Vasco took out a loan of $10,000 from the Perpetual Building Association, a lender that did a lot of business in Truxton Circle. The debit was settled in 1943. In 1964 the church sold the property to New Birth Baptist Church.

According to a website regarding corporations, Redeemer Italian Baptist Church of Washington, DC dissolved in 1967. As I have learned from Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s History of the Negro Church (yes, this is an Italian church), individual Baptist churches can be rather independent entities. As you will see below from the survey, most of the church’s parishioners lived in the Maryland and Virginia suburbs. So it would be a fair guess the enthusiasm and spirit that supported the church in the 1920s, was long gone in 1967.

CS-10-Redeemer Italian Baptist Church by Mm Inshaw on Scribd

So let’s look at the state of the church in 1957.

It was a small church with only 125 people, ethnic Italians, most of whom did not live in the city, and none in the area, which included what is now known as Downtown, Swampoodle, Mt. Vernon Sq/Triangle, and Shaw. With 40% of the congregation being under the age of 18, I’d say this was a commuter church of sizable Italian families…. who were not Catholic…. because this is a Baptist church and there is a  difference. A normal Sunday would have 60-65 people in attendance. Those families were mostly middle/blue-collar as 30% were white collar and 55% were skilled manual labor, think carpenters, plumbers and machinists.

From the 10/11/1920 Evening Star page 28

The church was founded in 1915 on 48th Avenue NE as a storefront church. From 1919-1923 it met at the Scottish Rite Cathedral. Looking around in the Evening Star, they were at 3rd and E Streets NW in 1922. In 1920 they started building the church that sits at 1200 Kirby NW.

In the 1957 has the pastor as the Rev. Olindo Marsaglia (Olindo Marseglia is on the loan docs) and the founding of the 1200 Kirby St NW church was Rev. MC Marseglia. This, and this is just me guessing, smells like a family business.  Let’s wander back to our Woodson, remember Baptist churches are independent of each other with little to no hierarchical body over them. So Rev. Olindo Marseglia died in 1966,  and the church dissolved in 1967. So it makes sense, when looking at it as a Marseglia family venture it went away when the last interested Marseglia died.

Rev. MC Marseglia from the 1920 article appears to have been the Rev. Domenico Costantino “Mimi” Marseglia. According to his Find a Grave write up, “Rev Domenico ‘Mimi’ was pastor at the Federal Hill Italian Baptist Mission in Providence, RI. The Euclid Ave Baptist Church in Cleveland, OH. As well as the Church of the Redeemer in Washington, D.C.” Also poking around I found an obit for the daughter of one of the trustees, Angelina Vasco Sepe, that mentions the Redeemer Italian Baptist Church.

Anywho, this was an interesting slice of Truxton Circle Italian-American history.

Bad Photocopy- Odd 200 Blk of Bates St NW circa 1960-1970s

This was a bit of a mystery. This image is a photocopy of a black and white photograph. My notes say 100 block of Bates St NW looking west. I see the house at the end of the street, which makes it either 3rd or 1st St NW. Then there are those decorative balls on the top of the houses.

Looks like Bates St NW looking towards 3rd St NW.

Using Google Street View I attempted to find those decorative items on the roof line.

No dice on the first look.

I am guessing the photographs were taken in the late 1960s and early 1970s.  The Google Street View is from 2019, well after a fair amount of renovation work. But on the other hand this area experienced a fair amount of disinvestment after the original builder and owner, the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) sold its rentals. Many of those rentals wound up in the hands of George Basiliko who had many a housing violation.

Something that hints of those decorative balls appear on the tops of 225-229 Bates St NW. The tops of a curve remain. The balls are long gone. It is hard to tell with the tree cover looking at Google Street View. Even if I still lived in Truxton Circle, it’s currently cold, so I probably wouldn’t venture out to look with my own eyes.

Bad Photocopy- Unit Block of Bates St NW circa 1960something

Let’s break up some of these Washington Sanitary Improvement Co. (WSIC) posts with photos from the 1960s(?) or early 1970s (who knows) of former WSIC housing.

This image is from a photocopy of a photo. From the looks of it, it appears to be the unit block of Bates Street NW. My notes say it is Bates St NW facing west.

Bates St NW facing west. Southside of street to northside. Unit block.

I’ll try to compare it with today.
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Bad Photocopy-Maybe 200 block of Bates Street NW circa 1960-1970s

The image below is a scan of a photocopy of a photograph of a row of Bates Street NW homes. The notation says it is the 100 block of Bates but that set of three 2nd floor bay windows in a row between two bay-less houses looks like 204 to 208 Bates Street NW. But I’m not 100% sure.

204-208 Bates Street NW, Washington DC looking south

If I have the right block, it appears the original stairs were done away with.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 222 Q 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.

  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/51) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 222 Q St NW to Clarence Gayles.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Mr. Gayles borrowed $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • February 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the other one-half of 222 Q St NW to Mildred and Willie E. Sessoms.
  • February 1951 the Sessoms borrowed $3,275 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 (recorded 5/1/1951) Gayles sold his half to Sylvia and Clayton Watson.
  • Unfortunately, June 1958 Gayles (the Watsons) lost their half to foreclosure and via auction, it was returned to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
  • June 1958 (recorded 11/14/1958) The Badts (Harry & wife) transferred their interest in this and other properties to Nathan Levin’s family (wife Rose, children Lawrence, Myron Levin and Ruth Wagman).
  • June 1959, as part of a larger package, Evans, Taube, Badt (and their wives) and Levin’s survivors sell their interest in 222 Q St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • March 1962 the Sessoms paid off their mortgage.
  • February and March 1978 Delores Simpkins purchased both halves of 222 Q St NW from widower Willie Sessoms and George Basiliko.

This property, despite part of it falling under George Basiliko’s ownership, did not transfer over to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 220 Q 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 220 Q Street NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/51) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 220 Q St NW to Ernestine and John Dawson.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) the Dawsons borrowed $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold  the other half of 220 Q St NW to Mary C. and William Robinson.
  • January 1951 the Robinsons borrowed $3,275 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • September 1953 the Dawsons lost their half of the house to foreclosure, and Evans, Levin, and Taube regained the property via an auction.
  • September 1953 (recorded 10/1/1953) sold half of 220 to Phylitus O Norris.
  • September 1953 (recorded 10/1/1953) Ms. Norris borrowed $3,888.43 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • July 1954 the Robinsons lost their half to foreclosure, and Evans, Levin, and Taube regained the property via an auction.
  • March 1955 Ms. Norris sold her half back to Evans, Levin, and Taube.
  • March 1959 as part of a larger package, Evans, Taube, and Levin’s survivors sell all of 220 Q St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • July 1970, the Basilikos, as part of a larger property package, sell 220 Q St NW to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 218 Q 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 218 Q Street NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/51) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 218 Q St NW to Mary A. Hall.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Ms. Hall borrowed $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the other one-half of 218 Q St NW to Helen R. and Walter Roberson.
  • January 1951 the Robersons borrowed $3,275 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • May 1953 the Robersons borrow $682.98 from trustees Roland Brown Jr and Jacob Sandler to pay a debt from Consolidated & Engineering Co., Inc.
  • December 1955 (recorded 2/2/1956) Ms. Hall sold her half of 218 Q St NW back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • January/ February 1958 the Robersons lost their half of 218 Q St NW to foreclosure. The property, via auction, it was returned to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
  • February 1958 (recorded 7/3/1958) as part of a larger package, Evans, Taube, Badt (and their wives) and Levin’s survivors sell their interest in 218 Q St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • Eventually, July 1970, the Basilikos, as part of a larger property package, sell 218 Q St NW to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).

Bad Photocopy-Bates St NW Alley 1960s-1970s maybe

So I made a photocopy of a photo and now I share it with you. There is nothing special about this alley, besides the fact that it is awfully trashy. There are other photographs and from the cars I’m guessing it is from the 1960s. But there was an image of a gentleman in a suit, which made me wonder if this could be from later. Dunno.

Alley view

 

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 14 O 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.

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.

photo of property

The history of 14 O Street NW went as so:

  • February 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 14 O St NW Marguerite and Vincent J. Edmondson.
  • February 1951 the Edmondsons borrowed $3,375 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • February 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the other half of 14 O St NW to Annie W. and William J. Jackson Jr.
  • February 1951 the Jacksons borrowed $3,375 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • 08/03/1956 the Edmondsons sold their half to Mary Dyson Lane.
  • December 1955 (recorded January 1958) the Jacksons sold their half back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • February 1960 the Edmondsons were foreclosed upon and the property returned to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt. Mary Dayson Lane’s name appears in later documents relating to building’s condemnation in 1977.
  • February 1960 (recorded in May) the Badts transferred/sold their interest in 14 O St NW to Levin’s survivors as part of a larger property package.
  • November 1961 Badt, Evan, Taube, their wives (for legal reasons) and the survivors of Levin (and their spouses) sold 14 O St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko as part of a larger property package.
  • In 1971 George Basiliko sold part(?) 14 O St NW to Housing System Development and Construction Corp as part of a larger property package.
  • April 1978 George Basiliko sold (his remaining interest?) in 14 O St NW to the O Street Properties Partnership.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 224 Q 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.

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.

photo of property

Let’s look at the post WSIC history of 224 Q St NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/51) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 224 Q St NW to Sarah B. Carroll.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) the widow Sarah Carroll borrowed $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/51) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 224 Q St NW to Christine B. and Jesse J. Carter.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) the Carters borrowed $3,125 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • August 1953 Mrs. Carroll lost her half of 224 Q St NW to foreclosure and via auction, it was returned to Evans, Taube and Levin.
  • September 1953 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 224 Q St NW to Freda A. and Zollie Lumberger. *Side note- they were a Black couple. See Zollie’s brother’s obit w/ picture.
  • September 1953 the Lumbergers borrowed $3,888.43 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • July 1954 the Carters lost their half of the property to foreclosure and via auction, it was returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube.
  • June 1959 as part of a larger package, Evans, Taube, new partner Harry A. Badt (and their wives) and Levin’s survivors sell their interest in 200 Q St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • April 1969 the Lumbergers settled their debt with trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.

It appears that this property was not sold to RLA and I can’t tell if and when it was consolidated under one owner.