Sometimes smaller is better

I’m going through my old drafts. Some I rewrite, such as this one. Some I delete. And some I rewrite, still think they’re crap and delete them. This was written October 8, 2008.

1700 Blk Richardson Place NW, Dec 2005

Sometimes.
I’ve just finished reading an article regarding the upsides of raising a family in a 1,200 sf house over that of a McMansion. The author writes:

Looking back on 18 years of living small, I see that our snug house has prevented us from easily avoiding one another by retreating into our own spaces. We’ve been able to eavesdrop on our kids as they played with friends and look over their shoulders as they did homework on the dining room table. It’s been good for our health too, forcing all of us, especially our sons, to spend more time out-of-doors. There simply isn’t room to get too rowdy inside, so often they have headed outside to a neighborhood park that’s conveniently located just across the street.I hope we’ve given our sons the message that wealth doesn’t come from our material possessions, but instead from the diversity of experiences we have and the richness of our community.

The author also mentions that with a smaller house she could pay off the mortgage quicker, heat it for less and have a better commute. I already have the great commute. It is my great luck to work for an agency whose DC metro branches are all along the Green Line. My current commute is a 30-45 minute walk, or 20 minutes by metro, and that is priceless. The house is small and there isn’t much to heat or cool, and I tend to be happy lounging in 1/6th of the space. And there is the possibility of actually paying off the mortgages in the next 15 years, but I owe that more to when I bought the house as opposed to the size of the house.

The article was in the conservative online magazine Culture 11 “Living Small”

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 229 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.

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 see what happens with 229 P St NW:

  • January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 229 P NW to Johnnie M. Alford and Oliver Rembert Jr.
  • January 1951 Alford and Rembert borrowed $3,400 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 229 P St NW to Mattie L. Jones.
  • December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Mrs. Jones borrowed $3,250 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • March 1956 Alford and Rembert lost their half to foreclosure. Evans, Levin and Taube regained the property via an auction.
  • November 1961 new partner Harry A. Badt, his wife, Levin’s survivors, Evans, Taube and their wives, sold their half to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • January 1962 Mattie L. Jones was released from her mortgage…..and that is the last we hear from her.  There are a lot of Mattie L. Joneses, mainly in Texas, and I don’t have a lot of other information to go on to find her.
  • Sometime between 1973 and 1980 the DC Redevelopment Land Agency gained ownership of the whole of 229 P St NW, because later records treat it as one singular property.

Sometime in the future I need to look at document #8000020221, a 32 page contract between the DC RLA and the BSA Limited Partnership recorded June 27, 1980. There are a lot of Truxton Circle properties mentioned in the document. Before I do that I would need to complete the whole WSIC sell off series, analyze Basiliko’s takeover and sell off to DC RLA, which maybe might lead to the mystery document that seems to be missing from this database showing when he sells certain Truxton WSIC and non-WSIC properties to DC RLA. Maybe I need to look at Truxton Circle properties owned by the government. But for right now, I’ll keep chugging away with the 1950s WSIC sell off.

Look Ma No Safety Goggles- Armstrong High School 1942

Learning to use an electrical jigsaw to make model airplanes for the U.S. Navy at the Armstrong Technical High School. Library of Congress.

African American students at Armstrong Technical High School in Washington, DC use a jigsaw in 1942.

Feeling Like A Bit Player In A Greek Tragedy

The podcast Myths and Legends is a pretty good reminder of one of  the problems with being in a Greek tragedy, that bad thing you’re trying to avoid is going to happen. Sometimes the very actions taken to avoid the bad thing, lead straight to the bad thing. That’s one way of looking at things, the other is to blame the Oracle for giving vague easily misinterpreted answers.

Shaw has experienced tragedy. It took 30+ years for the neighborhood to mostly recover from the 1968 riots. Of course, prior to the first window broken or building fire, the neighborhood suffered as a slum.

Southeast on 7th and M Street, 1969

I wonder, and this is just me spitballing, if some actions taken to ‘improve’ the neighborhood, or anywhere, could wind up doing the opposite. I used ‘improve’ in quotes because I’ve seen enough government records to get a bit jaded. Along with plans from the past that did not work out the way they were supposed to. And in the case of George Basiliko and his “improving” the Bates area, I see the road of good intentions being contracted out to a corrupt front that on paper is supposed to build the road but pockets the money elsewhere.

Ignore me. I’m in a mood.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 18 Bates 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 see what happens with 18 Bates St NW:

  • December 1950 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 18 Bates St NW to Alberta Colson.
  • December 1950 Mrs. Colson borrowed $2,875 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1950 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 18 Bates St NW to Lorenzo J. and Mary N. Evans.
  • December 1950 the Evans borrowed $3,125 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • February 1958 the Evans lost their half of 18 Bates to foreclosure and via an auction the property returned to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
  • February 1958 as part of a larger property package, the Badts (Harry A. and wife Jennie) transfer/sold their interest in 18 Bates St NW to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • September 1961 Mrs. Colson paid off her mortgage and disappears from the record.
  • November 1961 as part of a larger property package, Badt, Evans, Taube, their wives and Levin’s survivors sold 18 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
  • December 1978, George Basiliko Inc sold 18 Bates St NW to Edward L. Young.

I looked to see if Alberta Colson appeared anywhere else because sometimes the land records were entered in the system incorrectly. Nope. The last we see of her is in 1961. Also I will stop at 1978 because there are a slew of documents with water liens, wrongful housing and all sorts of messy things.

Thank You For Your Service Kid- Armstrong High School 1942

Military unit in Armstrong Technical High School being trained by a U.S. Army lieutenant, Library of Congress

 

Happy Memorial Day to all who have served. Be ye ROTC, whatever this was, or any of the branches of our military. Thank you for your service.

Armstrong High School March 1942

Let’s take a break from the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company houses and look at some old photos of Truxton Circle schools.

Below is Armstrong Technical High School in March 1942.

Armstrong High School March 1942
Farm Security Administration – Office of War Information photograph collection (Library of Congress)

If I were to guess this is probably the P Street side of the school. Free free to argue with me in the comments.

Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington and unknown woman, Howard Theater(?), Washington, D.C., ca. June 1946, Library of Congress

Duke Ellington, for whom a bunch of buildings around DC are named, attended Armstrong to study art and design.

Currently, Armstrong is the location of one of the Friendship Charter Schools for Pre-K and elementary aged children.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 201 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 201 P St NW:

  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 201 P St NW to Catherine Estep Ferguson.
  • December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Mrs. Ferguson borrowed $3,425 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 201 P St NW to Paul L. and his wife Johnnie C. Wright.
  • December 1950 the Wrights borrowed $3,375 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • December 1965 the Wrights were released from their debts and obligations and owned their half free and clear.
  • November 1966 Ms. Ferguson’s mortgage was cleared.
  • December 1966 the Wrights financed a new boiler with Washington Gas, a debt that was due to mature in 1970.

This transaction went as well as it could. No foreclosures. For some reason there was a Basiliko document but I could not link a deed to him for this property. So I ignored it. And if no Basiliko, there is no DC RLA or any other DC government scheme to rehabilitate the property.

In 2012, the property was united under one owner. According to that document the Wrights and Ms. Ferguson were all dead and their estates sold their halves. Paul Wright died 1952. Johnnie Mae Wright died in March 2005, Herbert Champion and Dorothy Simpson Dickerson represented her estate.  Catherine Estep Ferguson, later Catherine Olivia Milner died January 26, 2005. Her estate was represented by son Michael James Milner and companion, Paul Woods.

Sometimes due to a bad read by the OCR or fat fingers the wrong document shows up out of no where. There was a 1953 document I ignored because neither party was on the deed. The borrowers borrowed 804.86 for work done by the Consolidated Engr. & Distr. Co, Inc. at 201A P Street NW. So this and the Basiliko document are the two that made no sense in the history of this house.