Tag: WSIC

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.

Let’s see what happens with 1551 3rd St NW:

• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 1551 3rd St NW to John D. and Susie M. Scott.
• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) the Scotts borrowed $4,250 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 1551 3rd St NW to Mary Annette Brewer and J. Bernard Strawder.
• December 1950 (recorded Jan 18, 1951) Brewer and Strawder borrowed $4,250 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• March 1958 Brewer and Strawder lost their half to foreclosure. The Colonial Investment Co. partners regained ownership via an auction.
• May 1961 the Scotts sold their half of 1551 3rd St from Evans, Taube and Nathan Levin’s survivors.
• November 1961 the Colonial Investor Co. parties sold 1551 3rd St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
• May 1978 George Basiliko sold the property to Ohal, Isaac & Associates, Inc.

So this fit the usual and unfortunate pattern of foreclosure (the Scotts managed to avoid that) then the property being sold to Basiliko.

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.

Let’s see what happens with 1545 3rd St NW:

• January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 1545 3rd NW to Carrie B. and Robert L. Andrews.
• January 1951 the Andrews borrowed $3,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 1545 3rd St NW to Jimmie Batts and Queen E. Coles.
• Jan 1951 Batts and Coles borrowed $3,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• October 1952 the Andrews lost their half to foreclosure. Through an auction the property returned to Evans, Levin and Taube.
• October 1952 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the foreclosed half to Mrs. Elizabeth W. Banks.
• October 1952 Mrs. Banks borrowed $4,164.38 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• September 1954 Batts and Coles lost their half to foreclosure. Evans, Levin and Taube got the property back via an auction.
• October 1955 Banks lost her half to foreclosure. Evans, Levin and Taube got the property back via an auction.
• November 1961, the Colonial Investment Co. parties, as part of a larger property package, sold 1545 3rd St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
• July 1970, as part of a larger property package (document 1970011877) , George Basiko sold 1545 3rd St NW to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).

So the sad story and pattern apply here. The next set of documents after the RLA got their hands on it were from 2004 with BSA Limited Partnership. BSA- I will assume are the Bates Street Associates, which were a problematic organization.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

I have written up 100+ histories of former Washington Sanitary Improvement Company houses. I’m sure this is getting boring for the few of you who are reading these histories. It’s getting very repetitive for me.

I don’t plan on stopping, just taking a break to look at other Truxton Circle stories and maybe related WSIC players. I’m all about tedious research, and getting into the details most gloss over, but I need to shake it up a little.

Doing this work has improved some of my research skills. I’d like to revisit some stories I’ve told before.

I’ll return with more WSIC-1950 Sell Off- TC Address posts after Black History month.

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.

Let’s see what happens with 1539 Third St NW:

•  January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 1539 3rd St NW to Florence and John H. Green Jr.
•  January 1951 the Greens borrowed $3,525 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• December 1950 (recorded January 18, 1951) Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 1539 3rd St NW to Virginia M. Lewis.
• Dec 1950 Ms. Lewis borrowed $3,375 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
• November 1954 the Greens lost their half to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin, and Taube via an auction.
• November 1961, Harry Badt (new member of Colonial Investment Co.), Evans, Taube, Levin’s survivors, and their spouses sold the foreclosed half to Sophia and George Basiliko.
• February 1965, Virginia M. Lewis was released from her mortgage.
• May 1976 Virginia and William Green sell their half of 1539 3rd St NW to George Basiliko, Inc., having the whole property is under one owner.
• Sometime between 1978 and 1981, Basiliko sold the property to Bates Street Associates Limited. Possibly it was sold to the DC RLA who then transferred it to Bates Street Assoc. Limited.

Okay now I’m curious. What are the odds that a woman who owns half of the property winds up marrying someone with the same surname as the other owners?

So looking on Ancestry, there were several Virginia M. Lewises living in Washington, DC in 1950. But only one was Black. The Afro-American Virginia M. Lewis was a 40 year old divorced woman who lived at 1108 Florida Ave NE for the 1950 census. She was listed as the head of household, working as a nurse for the District government. She lived there with her three adult daughters, Dorothy L., Juanita M. and Mary V. Lewis. A 63 year old waiter named William C. Thomas was listed as her “partner”, Hazel R. Foster and the Mitchells (all between the ages of 22-37) were listed as lodgers.

From what little I can find on Ms. Lewis she was born in Baltimore, Maryland in 1910.

I’m not sure about the Greens. I can find a John A. Green married to a Florence Green, but not John H. Those Greens lived at 118 S St NW in 1917-1918. I’ll leave it there since there is not much to go on.