Truxton History – Page 5 – Truxton Is In Shaw

Some Post DC Conference Notes- Resources and Sources

There was a great turn out for the Neighborhood History and Housing session for the DC History Conference at the MLK Library. I ran into the amazing Scott Roberts. I had a handout, I’m not sure he got a copy. And for those of you who want to know what resources you can tap into to do similar histories take a look below:

DC Public Library– https://www.dclibrary.org/
Under Research & Learn (DCPL library card required)

Ancestry (AncestryLibrary)- https://www.dclibrary.org/research-and-learn/ancestry-library-edition

Historical Washington Post (ProQuest)- https://www.dclibrary.org/research-and-learn/washington-post

Library of Congress– https://www.loc.gov/
Chronicling America/ Evening Star – https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov
Sanborn Fire Insurance Map for DC (volume 2)- https://www.loc.gov/item/sanborn01227_003/

DC Recorder of Deeds (online land records)- https://countyfusion4.kofiletech.us/countyweb/loginDisplay.action?countyname=WashingtonDC

Find A Grave– https://www.findagrave.com/

National Archives & Records Administration– https://www.archives.gov
Map No. 2 Neighborhood Convenience Stores; Records Relating to Urban Renewal, 1934–1998, entry A1 13, Records of the National Capital Planning Commission Record Group 328, National Archives Building, Washington, DC. (NAID 784266)

Map of the Metropolitan District of Washington DC, 1936; file Housing Market Analysis Washington, D.C. July 1937; Records Relating to Housing Market Analyses, 1940–1942, entry A1-6; Records of the Federal Housing Administration, Record Group 31; National Archives Building, College Park, MD. (NAID 122213881)

..and I managed to leave this one off- also from the National Archives. AND I gave the wrong citation. oops.

General Assessment 1902-1903, Volume I, Squares 459 to 555, Page 320; General Land Assessment Files, 1902–1938; Records of the Government of the District of Columbia Record Group 351; National Archives Building, Washington, DC. (NAID 145723973)

1920 to 1930- White to Black- 1737 New Jersey Avenue

1700 Block NJ Ave NW, 1930. Brown= AfAm residents; White= No data

In this series of looking at the odd numbered side of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW from 1920 to 1930, I decided to look at the other end of the block. The change from 1920 to 1930 for most of the block was from white renters to black home owners. My post The sell off of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW pretty much explains the why.

At this point, I’m just seeing who lived there, where did they go, where did they live before, and who were the African American buyers who purchased the property and where did they live before.

1920 Renters

There were two White families recorded as living at 1737 NJ Ave NW in the 1920 census. The first family was 36 year old piano polisher Alfred Fowler and his 46 year old wife Mary E. Fowler. The second family were the Sissons (spelled Sison in the 1920 census). William Sisson was 35 year old father and husband working as a machinist at the Navy Yard. He lived with 25 year old wife Mary A. (nee Noyes) and 1 month old son William L. Continue reading 1920 to 1930- White to Black- 1737 New Jersey Avenue

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 134 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 were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 134 Q St NW:

December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold 134 Q St NW to Fern W. and Malachi H. Taylor.
December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Taylors borrowed $6,500 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
March 1962 the Taylors were released from their 1950 loan.
December 1988, Malachi H. Taylor sold the property to Selamawite Makonnen and Assegid Tessema. The deed noted that Fern died May 29, 1965.

This was a successful story. Most Black buyers of these homes wind up getting foreclosed upon. Also many who buy the whole property tend to get into a situation where they have to sell half. Not so here with the Taylors.

Who were the Taylors?

Malachi Henry Taylor Jr. was born September 30, 1909 in Washington, DC to Ida Gibson and Malachi Taylor. He married Fern Waddy March 13, 1934 in Leesburg, VA. Fern was born August 18, 1905 in DC to Elizabeth Baker and John Waddy. In 1935, Malachi Sr. died. It appears Malachi Jr. was involved in a numbers running venture and was arrested in 1959 and was living on the 1900 block of 9th St NW.

I could not locate either Fern nor Malachi in the 1940 census. Malachi served in the Navy from 1943-1946. However we were not inolved in WW2 in 1940, so I don’t know why they don’t show up. In the 1950 census they were living at 2202 13th St and it appears Malachi was not working. Fern seemed to have a job as an elevator operator for a government building. Their niece, Fannie Waddy was living with them and she was a 27 year old clerk typist for the Veterans department. From what I could tell, the two had no children.

The Taylors seemed to own a few properties in DC and elsewhere. In addition to 134 Q St NW, they owned 1201-1203 Euclid Street NW in Columbia Heights, and another that no longer exists in the U St area between W, 13th and 14th Streets NW and Florida Avenue. I located a September 1993 (after both had died) tax lien sale for property in Atlantic City, NJ.

Memory Lane- New York/M Street Firehouse

211 M St NW. Taken August 28, 2004 or 2005

This is a close up of the old firehouse at 219 M Street NW, but it could just as well be on New York Avenue NW. Twenty years ago neighborhood had a lot of great historical assets that were being neglected or not kept up. This was one of them.

Currently the firehouse is a fitness gym called Flex, and this is their DC location. I think prior to that it was a parkour gym.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 138 Q Street NW

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 138 Q St NW:

December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 138 Q NW to Duvall and Marion Tyler.
December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Duvalls borrowed $3,000 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
February 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 138 Q St NW to Mrs. Thelma B. Harris.
February 1951 Harris borrowed $3,150 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
February 1955 Mrs. Harris lost her property to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube via an auction.
August 1955 the Duvalls lost their property to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube via an auction.
March 1959 the property, as part of a larger package, was sold to Sophia and George Basiliko.
July 1970, in document 1970011877, Sophia and George Basiliko sold this and other properties on the block to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency.
July 1978 is the recorded date for document 7800024140 which is a contract between RLA and the Bates Street Associates, Incorporated. It’s 30 incomplete pages.

Well.

That didn’t take long. Doing these WSIC-1950 Sell Off histories I am getting the impression that Black buyers were set up for failure. The number of foreclosures that keep popping up with these histories are just depressing. When I was just doing Black Homeowners of Truxton Circle (remember I’ll be presenting on this topic April 6th at the DC History Conference), foreclosures did not pop up often. It happened. But more often property was purchased, then sold or inherited then sold.

Who were the Tylers?

Duvall Tyler was born November 25, 1907 in Amherst, VA. He married Marion Robinson who was born around 1905 in Washington, DC. At the start of WWII Duvall worked for Dr. Overholt at St. Elizabeth Hospital. In the 1950 census he worked as a cook at a hospital. In the 1950 Duvall was the head of the family living at 1760 Bruce Place. Wife Marion was home keeping house. Eighteen and 17 year old sons Duvall Jr. and Morris D. were kitchen helpers at the hospital. Five year old Joseph B. was obviously unemployed.

Who was Thelma B. Harris?

I dunno. Unfortunately, she was separated when purchasing her half of 138 Q St NW. So there is no other name I can attach her to in order to pull her data from all the other Thelma Harris in DC.

1920 to 1930- White to Black- 1739 New Jersey Avenue NW

In this series of looking at the odd numbered side of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW from 1920 to 1930, I decided to look at the other end of the block. The change from 1920 to 1930 for most of the block was from white renters to black home owners. A bit of the ‘why’ can be found in The sell off of the 1700 block of New Jersey Ave NW.

As you might be able to see from the featured image at the very top. In 1920 there was no recorded tenant at 1739 New Jersey Ave NW for the 1920 census. Knowing these homes were sold to Black home owners in late 1920. and this home in particular to John Holmes Jr. who purchased the property September 23, 1920. So let’s go straight to him.

The Property History

In 1923 John and his wife Ida C. Holmes borrowed a fair amount of money. There were three back to back trusts (borrowing money). Two were with trustees Samuel A. Drury and James B. Nicholson for $3K and $1K at 7% APR. The third was a smaller loan with trustees William A. Bowie and Clarence M. DeVeile for $390 at 7%. Then a few months later in October 1923, the Holmes were released from their original 1920 loan with W. Wallace Chiswell and Harry A. Kite.

The Holmes did a fair amount of borrowing money in the 1920s and I will not recount them all.

October 1930 the Holmes sold their home to Leo Paul Conners. Connors transferred the ownership to his company Conners and Foster Inc., in 1932 and the property was merged with nearby lot 30 creating lot 89. The company kept the property in their hands until 1963.

Who Were the Holmes?

Information about the Holmes is scarce. They both appear in the 1930-1950 census together. Thankfully the Evening Star has filled some blanks.

John Holmes was born August 3, 1887 in Washington, DC. Ida was born in Maryland in August of 1884. As times change, so does her estimated birth year. In 1913 John Holmes Jr. married Ida C. Bowman. Ida was the adopted or foster daughter of Mary Jackson. Mary E. Wells was another foster daughter. Ida was an independent laundress when she married and continued in the profession at least to 1930.

In 1920, the couple was living with Benjamin Young, a US government laborer at 413 1st St SE, with Young’s niece Mary E. Wells, grandniece Beatrice Wells, niece Ida Holmes who is listed as an 8 year old, daughter Thelma Hawkins, roomer John Holmes (not nephew in law?) and roomer Mary Jackson. In the previous census, Young was Jackson’s boarder at 404 B St SE. In 1920 John was a laborer working for the railroad.

So we know from the land records the Holmes left the Young household to form their own in Truxton Circle in Fall/Winter of 1920. The couple had their son John Jr. (making the elder John a Sr.) in 1922. They had another child in 1927 who only lived for 20 minutes. In 1930 they were pm New Jersey Ave living with their son, John A Holmes, Mary E. Wells, and lodgers Mary Winston and Thelma Brooks (she does not appear to be Thelma Hawkins).

In 1940 the family were renting a home at 509 S St. John was still a laborer working in the transportation industry. He lived with Ida, their son John, and Mary and Beatrice Wells.

In 1950 it was just John and Ida at 2415 E St NW. In their 60s, Ida kept house and John worked as a janitor for an apartment building. January 23, 1961 John died.

RESTART-WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 130 Q Street NW

photo of property

Let’s see what happens with 130 Q St NW:

March 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-fourth of 130 Q NW to Daisy A and George W. Drakeford.
March 1951 the Drakefords borrowed $4,300 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
March 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold another quarter of 130 Q NW to William H. and Eva R. Oliver (mother & son?).
March 1951 the Olivers borrowed $4,300 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
June 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-fourth of 130 Q NW to Julia R and Frank J. Bush.
June 1951 the Bushes borrowed $4,250 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
July 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the another quarter of 130 Q St NW to Alice B. Johnson.
July 1951 Mrs. Johnson borrowed $4,325 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
June 1954 the Olivers lost their property to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube via an auction.
November 1957 the Drakefords lost their property to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, new partner Harry A. Badt, and Taube via an auction.
November 1957, as part of a larger property package the Badts (Harry and wife Jennie) transferred/sold their interest in 130 Q and other properties to the Levin survivors.
March 1964 the Bushes were released from their mortgage (they paid it off) and owned their fourth free and clear.
May 1958, in an unusual twist, the Levin survivors lose their interest in 130 Q St and several other properties to foreclosure. Or it appears so.
April 1972, the Bushes, the Levin survivors, their spouses, Evans, Taube and their spouses sold their portions of 130 Q St NW to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency.
Sometime between 1972 and 1978 the DC RLA transferred ownership to the Bates Street Associates.

This had not only one but three foreclosures and so close together. This makes me wonder if buyers were set up to fail. The Bushes were the only ones to avoid foreclosure and the property eventually was owned by the DC RLA.

Preparing for Washington DC History Conference- Black Homeowners of Truxton Circle

I’m very excited to announce that I’ll be presenting at the 2024 DC History Conference and I’ll be talking about the Black Homeowners of Truxton Circle.

So if you are available Saturday, April 6th at 10:15 at the Neighborhood History and Housing panel, come see me. Ask some questions.

You can register now for the April conference, and take a look at the program here.

So in order to get ready for the conference I’m going to slightly ignore the blog for a bit. Also I have some personal things I need to deal with. Even once the conference is done, there will still be some personal things that will need to be dealt with, maintained? So I’m thinking of a schedule of one researched post a week with a few Memory Lane posts. I’d like to get around to actually getting something published outside of the InShaw blog about Truxton Circle and that’s going to take some focus and time, in addition to some of those personal things I’ve been ignoring.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 17 Back to the Future

This year for Black History Month we’ll review chapter by chapter Alison Stewart’s First Class: The Legacy of Dunbar, America’s First Black Public High School. This is more Truxton Circle related then this blog’s previous annual looks at Shaw resident and founder of Negro History Week (later Black history month) Dr. Carter G. Woodson’s Mis-Education of the Negro. As Dunbar High School is located in Truxton Circle currently taking up all of Square 554.

We’ve finally made it to the last chapter of the book and from the description the students and staff are still in the 1977 Dunbar building. It’s still hovering around the 2010-2011 academic year. The new building was in the process of being built, there was hope for the future of Dunbar.

There are three views of the school. The first takes place in Matthew Stuart’s English class. The second with Dunbar’s football team on Cardozo’s field. The third is back at Dunbar, in the basement.

It’s the start of the class in Mr. Stuart’s room and students are making their way in. Despite a rule against cell phones, one student came in speaking loudly on his. We’re also told less than half of the students enrolled in his class were present. A picture is painted of what Dunbar’s academics are like. Left unsaid is that they are a far cry from Dunbar’s beginnings.

Next, because of the construction for Dunbar’s new field and the change of layout of the school, the football team was at another school’s playing field. Coach Jerron Joe was a former Dunbar student (2004) and knew of other Dunbar alumni who moved on to the NFL. But Coach Joe did more than coach, he was also a mentor.

The last has us in the basement for girl’s track. This time with Coach Marvin Parker, and like Coach Joe, he’s a mentor to the girls, some of whom live under difficult circumstances. He wanted to break the cycle of poverty for girls, which at the time meant babies having babies. We’re told of a success story, Angela Bonham, who transferred to Dunbar and then excelled on the track and got a 4 year scholarship to GWU. Later we’re also told how Dunbar was essentially ignoring Title IX in favor of football, and Parker was an advocate for getting money for girl’s sports.

Dunbar may never be the academic powerhouse for Black education as it once was. But it is well known for it’s football team. Maybe it’s next chapter will be with athletics over academics. That’s fair. When I was looking at predominately Black private schools in the DC area, I stumbled upon a football schedule where a school I never heard of and couldn’t find was playing against DeMatha. What little I could find seemed to say the whole purpose of the school was for boys to play football. There are parents who value a school based on the school’s athletics. As a parent myself, I’m not going to fault another parent for their values, even if they strongly differ from mine. During the Covid shutdowns, there were Black parents who were very concerned about their sons’ high school sports careers. I found no fault with them.

When I was at the hair dressers getting my hair did, someone mentioned Dunbar. My first thought was for their dismal academic record. However, the barbers and the hairdressers spoke glowingly and lovingly about their football team. And again, I found no fault in them.

Let me conclude and get back to the book. This is a good history of Dunbar. It is not 100% about Dunbar. The author provides a lot of background information, necessary to understand and appreciate the parts that are about the school. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the great history of the school beyond a Wikipedia entry.

Black History Month 2024: First Class- Ch. 16 New New School

In late 2011 the wheels started moving to create the 3rd Dunbar building. It was supposed to be the complete opposite of the 2nd Dunbar building. That was a success. The old 1970ish building was a Brutalist prison like structure and the new, current building looks like it belongs on a college campus. It is well lit, has lots of glass, open in a good way.

View of Armstrong Parking Lot from Dunbar High School window. Taken April 2018.

One part of the DC government to take credit for this change for the better is the Office of Public Education Facilities Modernization (OPEFM) which was formed in 2007. OPEFM wanted to have a nod to the 1916 building, which there is. The old building was along 1st St, the 1977 was closer to New Jersey Avenue. The current building is at the corner of 1st and N St NW.

The new building was planned to reflect current values but also make alumni happy. It was planned to be a LEED building. It was in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. There was space for metal detectors… we’re not about to forget about the crime. You kidding, we’re still in Shaw. There were nods to great Dunbar alumni built into the building.

Not mentioned in the chapter was another great change with the new building. O Street was reopened. Dunbar II ate O Street. It was not there. The neighborhood gained some extra street parking. It was good.