WSIC – Page 14 – Truxton Is In Shaw

WSIC-1950 Sell Off-229 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.

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 look at the history of 229 Bates St NW:

January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold 229 Bates St NW to Samuel and Annie D. Hagins. It doesn’t appear that they sold half, but the whole house.
1/4/1951 the Hagins borrowed $6,050 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
July 1954 the Hagins sold half of 229 Bates St NW back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
October 1955 the Hagins lost their half to foreclosure and Evans, Levin and Taube regained the property via an auction.
March 1959 Evans, Taube, their wives and Levin’s survivors sell the property as part of a larger package to Sophia and George Basiliko.
July 1970 the Basilikos sell the property to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency.

This was a new one for me. Typically, Evans, Levin and Taube sold half of the property to families. There were problems with this. The few sales I’ve seen of these half properties to other individuals seems to have failed most of the time. The property either winds up in foreclosure or it gets sold to a party that owns the other half. In this, they started off selling the whole property, but then bought back half.

So who were the Hagins who bought 229 Bates St NW and lost it? In the 1950 census they lived at 1746 18th Ave NW as lodgers of George Green. They were both African Americans from Georgia. He was a 21 year old baggage porter working for the railroad, she was 22.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 139 Bates Street NW

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company built a number of homes in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in the late 19th and early 202th century. WSIC sold off a number of their rentals, with the idea of selling to African Americans.

photo of property

At 139 Bates St NW:

December 1950 (recorded 1/18/1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold One-Half of 139 Bates St NW to joint tenants Palmer R. Berry and Joseph C. Coleman.
December 1950 Berry and Coleman borrowed $2,525 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 139 Bates St NW to Alice L. Ferguson and Isaac H. Hodge.
December 1950 Ferguson and Hodge borrowed $2,525 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
May 1953 Coleman and Berry lost their half to foreclosure and the property was returned to Evans, Levin and Taube.
May 1953 Evans, Levin and Taube sold the half lost by Berry and Coleman to Willie and Margaret E. McCrimmon.
May 1953 the McCrimmons borrowed $3,274.21 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
March 1958 the McCrimmons lost their half and it was returned to Evans, Levin and new partner Harry A. Badt.
March 1958, as part of a larger property package, the Badts transfer interest of the property to Nathan Levin’s family.
September 1959 Ferguson and Hodge lost their half of 139 Bates to foreclosure and ownership returned to Evans, Levin and Harry A. Badt.
September 1959, as part of a larger property package, the Badts transferred interest of the property to Nathan Levin’s family.
November 1961, as part of a larger property package, Evans, Badt, their wives and the Levin family sold their interest in 139 Bates St NW to Sophia and George Basiliko.
July 1970 Basiliko sold the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.

So this address had fit the pattern of properties being sold then those buyers losing their homes to foreclosure and then the property winding up in the hands of a man whom the Washington Post called a slum lord. Because of the way he handled his rentals he was forced/pressured to sell many of his Bates Street properties.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 38 O Street NW

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company built a number of homes in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th century. WSIC sold off a number of their rentals.

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 starting in 1951. 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 look at 38 O St NW:

3/19/1951 Evans, Levin, Taube sell half of 38 O St NW to Kanie and Beulah Pendarvis
3/19/1951 the Pendarvis borrow $3,125 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
4/20/1951 Evans, Levin, Taube sell the other half of 38 O St NW to Joseph E and Gladys V. Dorsey.
4/20/1951 the Dorseys borrow $3,125 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
July 1956 (recorded in October) the Pendarvis lost their half to foreclosure and that part of the property returned to Evans and Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
1958 The Badts transfer their interest to Nathan Levin’s family as part of a larger property package.
8/5/1959 the Evans, Taubes, Levin family, and Badts sell half of the property to Sophia and George Basiliko, as part of a larger property package.
March 1951 (recorded in October) the Dorseys paid off their loan and own their half free and clear.
November 1976 Joseph E and Gladys V. Dorsey sell/transfer their half of the property to Alvin L. Dorsey.
April 1978 Basiliko sells his half of the property to Albert James Paul Jr.
April 1978 Paul borrows $6K from trustees Leonard C Collings and Richard L. Sugarman.
February 1989 Albert James Jr and Joyce A. Robinson-Paul (same as the Green Party candidate?) buy the other half of 38 O St NW from Alvin and Elizabeth A. Dorsey.

It appears Basiliko was not forced to sell this property to DC RLA and the whole house eventually belonged to the current owners.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 25 Bates St NW

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) built a number of homes in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th century. WSIC sold off a number of their rentals, with the idea of selling to African Americans.

Around 1950, WSIC sold off their inventory to Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. In an Evening Star article regarding the end of WSIC, the new owners expressed their intention to sell the rentals to Black home buyers.

This sounds decent until you get into the details. I noticed there was a pattern. They would sell half (these were 2 flat structures) to two different families. One or both households would lose their half of the house to foreclosure. And or the property (half or whole) would wind up in the hands of a man who the Washington Post called a slum lord, George Basiliko. Sometimes, an owner who avoided foreclosure or selling to Basiliko, would have to sell to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). Some fortunate souls managed to avoid all of that.

photo of property

Let’s see what happened with 25 Bates St NW:

2/14/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell one-half of 25 Bates St NW to Lonnie J. and Margie R. Bridges.
2/14/1951 the Bridges borrow $1,900 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
2/14/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell the other half of 25 Bates St NW to Lloyd S. and Phoebe M. Lyles.
2/14/1951 the Lyles borrow $3,800 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
8/08/1952 the Lyles sold their half to Elizabeth and John A. Walker.
8/8/1952 the Walkers borrow $2,666 at 6% interest from trustees Vivian C Kent and Rudolph A. Taylor.
6/17/1958 the Lyles are foreclosed upon and ownership returns to Evans, Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
7/3/1958 The Badts (Harry & wife) transfer their interest in this and other properties to Nathan Levin’s family (wife Rose, children Lawrence, Myron Levin and Ruth Wagman) .
3/30/1959 the Bridges lose their half to foreclosure and property ownership return to Evans, Taube, and Badt.
6/22/1959 The Badts, Evans, Taubes, and Wagmans sell this and other properties in a large package to Sophia and George Basiliko.

I cannot find the deed transferring the property from Basiliko to the DC RLA, but in 1980 the RLA had ownership. Basiliko had to sell a lot of his rentals to the District of Columbia in the late 1970s because of poor management.

WSIC-1950s Sell Off- 230 Q Street NW

photo of property

So let’s see the pattern in action for 230 Q St NW:

1/18/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell One-Half of 230 Q St NW to Emma C. and Edward N. Holmes.
1/18/1951 the Holmes borrow $3,625 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
2/14/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell other One-Half of 230 Q St NW to June R. and Norman M. Morgan.
2/14/1951 the Morgans borrow $3,625 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
8/13/1954 the Morgans lost their half to foreclosure and the property returned to Evans, Levin and Taube.
June 1959 (recorded in August) Evans, new partner Harry A. Badt, their wives (for legal reasons), and relatives of Levin sell the remaining half as part of a large package to Sophia and George Basiliko.
3/8/1976 George Basiliko’s company sells the other half interest to the Holmes.

So the Holmes were the lucky ones.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 14 Bates Street NW

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) was a rental entity that built a number of homes in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th century. Around 1950, they sold off their inventory to Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans as the Colonial Investment Co. for $3 million dollars. In an Evening Star article regarding the end of WSIC, the new owners expressed their intention to sell the rentals to Black home buyers. Some of those sales worked out okay and others, not so much.

photo of property There was a pattern I noticed and so let’s look at the what happens from the sale from Evans, Levin and Taube to buyers. Sometimes it ends up in the hands of landlord George Basiliko or the DC Redevelopment Land Agency or freedom.

1/26/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell One-Half of 14 Bates St NW to Thomas J. and Julia T. Harp.
1/26/1951 the Harps borrow $3,000 from Evans, Levin and Taube’s lender, trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
1/26/1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sell the remaining One-Half interest of 14 Bates St NW to John A. and Dora Elizabeth Hawkins.
1/26/1951 the Hawkins borrow $3,000 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
4/07/1960 the Hawkins lose their home to foreclosure and ownership returns to Evans and Taube and new partner Harry A. Badt.
5/18/1960 Badt sells/transfers interest in the property to Ruth Wagman, and Lawrence, Myron and Rose Levin.
1/5/1962 That half interest is sold as part of a larger package to Sophia and George Basiliko.
11/30/1967 the Harps are released from their debt.
12/09/1971 the Harps and Basiliko sell 14 Bates St NW to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency.

I wonder if the Harps sold willingly or were forced to sell their home.

The Harps were African American. In the 1950 census Thomas and Julia lived at 2651 Nichols(?) Ave Apt D in DC with their 4 year old daughter Thomasine. He worked in a cafeteria and she worked as a clerk for the Navy department.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 30 Bates Street NW

The Washington Sanitary Improvement Company built a number of homes in the Truxton Circle neighborhood in the late 19th and early 20th century. WSIC sold off a number of their rentals, with the idea of selling to African Americans. On it’s face the idea seems wonderful, but a deeper look reveals something less than wonderful.

In previous sales on the unit block of Bates Street there was a pattern. Most of the properties were 2 unit rentals, when they were sold, the buyer only got one-half interest or half of the house. So someone would buy 1/2 of the house, borrow money from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman, then in a year or so, lose their ownership in foreclosure.

photo of property Let’s see if 30 Bates Street NW fits that pattern:

WSIC rentals are sold off in one big lot to business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans for $3 million dollars in June of 1950.
Jan. 26, 1951 Taube, Levin and Evans sell 1/2 of 30 Bates St NW to John R. and Fannie S. Dunston.
Jan. 26, 1951 the Dunstons borrow $1,900 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
Feb. 14, 1951 Taube, Levin and Evans sell the other 1/2 of 30 Bates St NW to William H. and Ruth E. Carter.
Feb. 14, 1951the Carters borrow $1,900 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
Sep. 18, 1953 the Carters lose their 1/2 to foreclosure and the property returns to Taube, Levin and Evans.
Jan. 26, 1954 Taube, Levin and Evans sell 1/2 of 30 Bates St NW to Barney R. and Marguerite Nelson.
Jan. 26, 1954 the Nelsons borrow $2,897.34 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
Mar. 2, 1962 the Dunstons are released from their debt from Levin and Weightman and own their half free and clear.
Nov. 30, 1967 the Nelsons are released from their debt from Levin and Weightman.
Jan. 13, 1972 the Nelsons and the Dunstons sell their property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency.

For a moment I was feeling hopeful. The Dunstons and the Carters managed to avoid foreclosure, pay off their debt and 30 Bates was not sold to George Basiliko. I’m not sure what the deal was with the sale to RLA.

The Nelsons were a Black couple. According to the 1950 census. Barney was a 38 year old labor and his 39 year old wife worked as a domestic for a private family. They both hailed from South Carolina.

Also in the 1950 census Fannie and John Dunston were living at 1736 13th Ave NW as lodgers. They were both African Americans from North Carolina. He was a 26 year old messenger working for the Federal government, she was 25 years old working in a hospital kitchen.

WSIC-1950s Sell Off- 41 Bates Street NW

I have looked at 43 Bates St NW and now 41 Bates Street NW and have noticed a pattern so far. The pattern is this, the two flat structure is sold as a group of other Truxton Circle and other DC WSIC properties to three business partners. Those business partners, with a particular lender, would sell 1/2 of a house to buyers. Within a year or so that half was foreclosed upon. If the buyers didn’t face foreclosure they sold the properties back to the surviving original businessmen and their family who then sold the property to George Basiliko, who the Washington Post called a slum lord.

So let’s see the pattern in action:

WSIC indirectly transfers the property to (lot 136) Nathan Levin, James B. Evans, and Nathaniel J. Taube in 6/16/1950 in large package
Levin, Evans, and Taube sell 1/2 of the property to James W. Morgan 1/26/1951
1/26/1951 Morgan borrows $5,050 from the only trustees I’ve seen in these purchases, Abraham Levin and Robert G. Weightman
12/17/1953 Morgan loses the property via foreclosure
Property returns to Levin, Evans and Taube…. normally it goes to the trustees who lent the money
2/9/1954 Levin, Evans & Taube sell half interest of property to Hattie Mae Davis
2/9/1954 Davis borrows $3,037.29 from Levin & Weightman
5/5/1954 Levin, Evans & Taube sell the other half interest to Cornwallis and Vora M. Mitchell
5/5/1954 the Mitchells borrow $2,986.78 from Levin & Weightman
Davis loses her half of the property 8/24/1955 to foreclosure
No document, but one will assume the foreclosed property returned to the family & business interests of Levin, Evans & Taube
8/5/1959 the family & business interests of Levin, Evans & Taube (Badt, Evans, Taube, Levin and Wagman) sell package of properties to real estate man George Basiliko and his wife
1/8/1965 Mitchell sells the remaining half to Basiliko

Since Cornwallis Mitchell is a unique name I bothered looking him up. In the 1950 census he was a North Carolina born African American man living in an apartment in Shaw with his wife Vera and daughter Alise. In the 1930s and 1940s he lived at 441 N St NW, Apt 25 with wife Deborah (remarried?). He died in 1958.

WSIC-1950s Sell Off- 43 Bates Street NW

At the end of the 19th century and the start of the 20th a company began with the idea of buying and building sanitary affordable homes in Washington, DC. That company was the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) and their experiment in charitable capitalism came to an end in the early 1950s. This blog will attempt to look at the Truxton Circle area properties sold off from WSIC to regular people.

Attempt. The 45 Bates St NW post had some confusion and lo, this one isn’t any better. Once again it appears they sell the one property to two different people and goodness gracious, I am confused. But let’s try to sort this out.

So like 45 Bates Street the Truxton Circle (and other parts of DC) lots owned by WSIC are sold off in one big lot to three men, business partners, Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans for $3 million dollars in June of 1950.

They sold a one-half (1/2) interest in 43 Bates Street to Mrs. & Mr. Elizabeth and Neal Nelson on January 26, 1951. The Nelson’s borrowed $2,525.

photo of property That same day the business partners sold the other 1/2 interest to Mrs. Irene Brown, Mr. James E. Rogers and his wife Perlina Rodgers. The three also borrowed $2,525 from the same trustees as the Nelsons, Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman. However their ownership didn’t last very long and they went into foreclosure in September 1952.

Hickman and Bernice Leathers replaced the Rogers and Brown, buying 1/2 interest in the property in October 1952. The borrowed $3,173.94 from trustees Levin & Weightman. Their ownership only lasted until March 1954, with another foreclosure.

I’m just going to note. Something doesn’t feel right about this. Something feels, predatory. Okay, back to the land records….

In April 1954, Levin, Taube, and Evans sell the one-half interest to three ladies, Leotta Francis, Isabell and Rosalie Forde. They borrow $3,186.77 from trustees Levin & Weightman. In January of 1958, the ladies sell the property back to Nathaniel J. Taube and James B. Evans and new partner, Harry A. Badt.

With two foreclosures with the other half of 43 Bates, I wondered how long the Nelsons lasted. They lasted until March 1958, with a foreclosure.

And then it gets more confusing.

In an August 1958 deed, Harry A. Badt and his wife Jennie sell off several parts of properties, of which one-half interest of 43 Bates NW is one. They sold 1/2 of 34 Bates St NW, 1/2 of 55 Bates St NW, half of 43 Bates St NW, half of 34 O St NW, half of 1216 Carrollsburg PL SW and 1/4 interest in 1235 Simms PL NE to four people. Of the set, Rose Levin got 3/9th interest, Lawrence L. Levin got 2/9th interest, Myron S. Levin also got 2/9th interest, as wells as Ruth Wagman with 2/9th interest.

In 1959 George Basiliko, whom the Washington Post referred to as a “slum lord”, bought a slew of Bates Street and other Truxton Circle properties from the heirs of and remaining living owners of the original 3 businessmen. There were a lot of people and a number of properties, but in short, 43 Bates was one of the properties in this batch. George and wife Sophia Basiliko borrowed $73,500 for the group of properties from Telsyndicate where James B. Evans and Nathaniel Taube were the trustees. This document was followed a few months later by an agreement binding the Basilikos, Evans and Taube and Telsyndicate, noting the Basilikos secured funding from the Perpetual Building Association.

George Basiliko, owned the property until the late 1970s? I can’t find a deed transferring the property but the next owner appears to be DC’s Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA). And there was that whole scandal in the 1970s forcing Basiliko to sell off his Truxton Circle properties.

WSIC-1950s sell off- 45 Bates Street NW

From my last post, I mentioned I would look at a property that was transfer from the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) to three men, who then sold it to a person marking the exit of WSIC from Truxton Circle in the 1950s.

45 Bates St NW is on square 615 in Truxton Circle. During the time of WSIC’s ownership it sat on lot 134. Currently it is now lot 292.

I don’t have the exact date when WSIC came to posses 45 Bates and other homes on the block. In 1903 parties (George Sternberg and George Kober) involved with the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) owned many lots on Sq. 615. So fast forward to June 1950 and the property is transferred from WSIC to the Washington Loan & Trust Company, then from the Washington Loan and Trust Co. to business partners Nathaniel J. Taube, Nathan Levin and James B. Evans. The business partners borrowed $3 million dollars for Investors Diversified Services Inc. of Minnesota.

photo of property

First Taube, Levin and Evans sell 45 Bates St NW to William W. Johnson and his wife Kathleen S. Johnson on January 26, 1951. But then there is a deed of the Taube, Evans and Levin selling lot 292 to George M. and Olivia V. Davis February 5, 1951. Later documents don’t seem to clear up the ownership. In 2001 DC Water and Sewer sent a water sewer lien to a Johnson and Davis. Loan documents appear to say the Davis and Johnsons both had a 1/2 interest in the property. Oh brother.

Since Johnson is a common name I was able to find some information about the Davis’. In the 1940 census there was a George M. Davis married to an Olivia V. (nee Birdsong) Davis living on the 2000 block of Flagler NW. They were listed as white. He was a painter, she was a maid in 1940. They lived with their 4 year old daughter his 87 year old widowed mother-in-law.

Funny thing. Looking at their marriage record from 1924, the couple was ‘colored’, not-white. In the 1930 census, the couple living in Stonewall, VA with George McKinley Davis’ father, is listed as being Black. Then in the 1950 census an Olivia V. Davis is the head of the household, living with her husband George Davis, the painter, at 2261 12th St NW. In 1950, they are Black. I would say the 1940 census was a fluke if it weren’t for other documents stating that George was white.

Who knows? Race could be considered a social construct, based on real phenotypes.Maybe they could pass. Or maybe there are a couple of George M.s married to Olivia V.s out there to confuse the matter.