Truxton Is In Shaw

In 1945 William M. McLean, an African American carpenter and his wife, a domestic purchased 1636 4th St NW.  When the 1950 census rolled around the McLeans had separated. The census showed Daisy Rose McLean (Daisie Mae in the census) as the head of the household living with her daughter Lenora (also separated), Daisy’s grandchildren, her son James and daughter in law Evelyn.

In 1940 the McLean family lived at 219 D St SW. William, the carpenter, was the head of the family. He lived with wife Daisy, daughter Lenara/Lenora and their son James.

When the McLeans bought 1636 4th St NW they bought it from Teck Construction which sold a few homes on the 1600 block of 4th St around the mid 1940s. As part of the sale, they took out two loans, both from trustees Michael P. Cook and Ralph D. Quinter totaling $3750 at 6%. The smaller loan of $950 was cleared in 1949. The larger debt is harder to figure out.

In 1955 there were a couple of deeds. It appears the goal was to remove William’s name from the title and just have Daisy’s name. But after her death, around or before June 1970 it appears he didn’t lose interest and it is hard to tell if William and Daisy divorced. William is listed as a widower in the paperwork.

From 1970 to 1985 had several deeds and an Appointment Substitute Trustee. With the substitute trustee document it appears the 1945 $2800 loan was addressed, but I can’t tell. During this William the husband, James McLean Sr and Jr and Johnny McLean sign over their interest in the property to Leonora C. Wiggins (nee McLean). There was a will, and Leonora was the executor, and I was under the impression the 1955 deeds made Daisy the sole owner. Anywho, Leonora sold the property in 1985.

I tried finding a good photo of the parking lot where 1600 4th St NW used to be, but came up empty. Instead, enjoy the map above.

Let’s discover what the land records tell us. In 1944 Johnnie and Mary Walker purchased their home 1600 4th St NW from, sigh, Helen and Nick Basiliko. The Basilikos were all over Truxton Circle in the mid-20th Century and brother George Basiliko was declared by the Washington Post to be a slumlord. The Basilikos are another story for another day. As part of the purchase they borrowed $2,961.48 at 6% interest from trustees John Swaggart and Herman Miller. The 1944 loan was cleared/paid off in 1948. In 1956, it appears they took out a new loan with the American Security and Trust Company for $5,250 at 5% interest.

Then something happens.

In 1971 Johnnie Walker signed over full ownership to Mary. There are so many John Walkers married to women named Mary that I have no idea what happened. Did they divorce? Was he unwell? I don’t know. What I do know is that his signature was on the deed.

Then in the eighties the story comes to an end. In 1985 there is a document (#8500028432) to cancel the condemnation of the building at 1600 4th St NW. And according to the document, it was mailed to 1903 D St NE. I am left to assume that the home was either vacant or severely run down. For whatever reason, the condemnation was cancelled, but we know from the vacant lot that is there, it was eventually torn down.

The next year, Mary Walker sold/transferred the property to James Floyd Young Jr. I wonder if it was a sale because I could not find a loan associated with the sale/transfer. Also when I was trying to find information about the Walkers, there was a woman Mary Young who married a John Walker. There was a James Floyd Young (Sr) who had a sister named Mary. So IF James was her nephew, and I am not sure there is a connection, this may have not been a regular sale.

A decade later, in 1999, Mr. Young sold the property to the current owners, the church.

Sooooo Mary Logan bought 1606 4th St NW from Nick and Helen Basiliko, who were relatives of “Slum Lord” George Basiliko in 1944. The Basilikos are all over the Truxton neighborhood and I looked at George and I felt like I was looking a little too close to the abyss. Maybe one day I will address this, but not today Satan.

Mary Logan was a single woman who lived with her sister and a renting family according to the 1950 census. In the prior 1940 census she was renting a unit at 1618 7th St NW with her older sisters, Elizabeth and Cora Logan, nephews Ronnie and Richard, and niece Martha Logan. She worked as a presser at a laundry.

Mary purchased 1606 4th St NW in June 1944 and borrowed $1,923.25 at 6% interest. In 1954 she took out a couple of new loans, $2,200 from the Perpetual Building Association and $750 from trustees, and paid off her initial 1944 loan.

In the 1950, according to the census, Mary was the head of the household. The house had Mary, her sister Cora, her brother Albert, her nephews Richard and James, and nieces Elaine, Maryanne and Martha. In addition to family, crowded into the home were a family of roomers, a single mother Edna Wenley and her three sons and a laborer named Luther Cullins. That’s 13 people.

According to Redfin, 1606 4th St NW has 1,234 square feet. There is a basement unit and a two bedroom unit on the above ground floors. So if the roomers were only in the basement, that’s still 8 people upstairs.

In 1959 the house was foreclosed for failure to pay the Perpetual Building Association loan. In 1950 of the 5 adults, only 3 were employed. Albert, who was a delivery man, married in 1952 and may have moved out. I’m don’t know what happened there.

I’m noticing something with the 1950 census. There are lots of female headed households….. but the husband is there. Normally the husband gets listed as the head. It’s probably nothing.

Anywho, our next homeowner is Louise Penny of 1632 4th St NW, an African American homemaker. She lived with her husband Charles, a drug store porter, and their nine, yes, 9 children. Charles was from Rocky Mount, NC. Louise was either from Maryland or Massachusetts, as the location isn’t consistent.

Charles L. and Louise E. Jenifer Penny purchased 1632 4th St NW, after living across the street at 1631, in October 1944 from Teck Construction Company. You may remember Teck Construction from Lula Lee of 1614-1616 4th St NW.  They borrowed $2,800 and $1,054.07 from Mount Vernon Mortgage Corporation. Then in 1951 the borrowed $2,100 from the Perpetual Building Association. That allowed them to pay off their initial 1944 loans. Something happened and they lost the house to foreclosure in 1959.

So yes, the Penny family lived on 4th Street prior to becoming owners. In the 1940 census the family of five were lodgers at 1631 4th with home owners William and Elnora Lewis, and four other lodgers. The houses on the odd side of 4th are much larger and probably could have accommodated 11 people. They moved away and lived at 1303 Corcoran Street NW when Charles had to fill out a draft card.

Not sure what happened to the Penny family after they lost 1632. Charles Lee Penny died in February 1977 in the District of Columbia. Louise Penny died September 5, 1990.

This will be short because it seems the Harrisons, and African American family of 1613 New Jersey Avenue, briefly show up and then quickly disappear.

Independent truck driver William and his wife Ida Harrison purchased 1613 New Jersey Ave NW in October 1921. For the 1920 census the family lived at 2030 L Street NW. The 1930 census showed the couple lived with their four daughters (Elnora, Edna, Sylvia and Mary), one remaining son William Jr., and two lodgers Luke and Alberta Goodwin.

The Harrisons took out several loans for the time they owned 1613. When they purchased the house they borrowed $3000 and $1500 at 7% interest from two separate sets of trustees. Then in 1927 and 1928 they engaged in a flurry of borrowing. They borrowed a small amount, $225, in 1927. Then it appears in January 1928 they refinanced their 1921 loans, borrowing $3800 from the Perpetual Building Association, and $800 from other trustees. They refinance their 1927 debt between February and April 1928. Then it looks like they refinance the January debt in August. They take out one new loan in 1929 for $485. One of the August 1928 wasn’t paid and they lost their home in 1935 in foreclosure.

The family moved on after that. In the 1940 census, Ida was head and William Sr. not with her at 1410 11th St NW. She lived with daughters Mary and Edna, son William, son-in-law Sandy Warren and married daughter Elnora Warren.

I’m not sure where to go with this because I cannot find any helpful information about Mrs. Lula M. Lee. It did not help there was a very active Mrs. Lula Lee running around Alexandria, VA and other Mrs. Lula Lees in DC. I know these are the wrong Mrs. Lees because the correct Mrs. Lee was married to Alexander Lee. The other Lees were married to Robert and Tommy. Plus, she owned both 1616 and 1614 4th Streets NW and seemed to have occupied both.

Typically, the owner appears in several other censuses, but not in her case. She seems to have only existed in the 1950 census. She was the head of 1616 4th St and lived with her cousins Agnes Jones, her spouse, Leroy Jones, their children, Butch William and Estella Jones, as well as adult cousins Jennie, Davis and Iza Montgomery. It was a very full house. I don’t blame her for buying a second home next door.

Mrs. Lee bought 1616 4th St NW from the Dardens, who I already wrote about in 1942. She had one loan for the property, solely in her name, with the purchase of the home, for $1,600 with trustees Dickson and Franklin. It was settled in 1952.

In 1944 she purchased the house next door, 1614 4th St NW from the Teck Construction Company. Teck also provided her with a loan to purchase the property for $1,300 and $2,400 at 6% interest. It appears she refinanced with the Oriental Building Association in 1954. She fulfilled her OBA loan in 1964. She had some financing deal with Washington Gas for a new boiler in 1971.

She and her husband Alexander Lee (the only time he shows up in the paperwork) sold 1616 4th St NW in 1962. It appears that she may have moved over to 1614 4th after that because the 1971 & 1973 paperwork for the Washington Gas has her at 1614 4th St NW. She died, sometime before 1981, and the executor of her estate sold 1614 4th St NW to Loball, Inc.