Tag: WSIC

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 1541 3rd 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 1541 3rd St NW:

  •  January 1951 Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-half of 1541 3rd St NW to Essie G. and James W. Balthrop.
  • January 1951 the Balthrops borrowed $3,375 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • January 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the other half of 1541 3rd St NW to Mrs. Floretta L. Williams and Mrs. Mary M. Woody.
  • Jan 1951 Williams and Woody borrowed $3,375 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • April 1960, Williams and Woody lost their half of 1541 3rd to foreclosure. Through an auction the property returned to Colonial Investments Co owners, Taube, Evans and Harry A. Badt.
  • April 1960, as part of a larger property package, Badt and his wife transferred their interest in the property to Nathan Levin’s survivors.
  • March 1961, the Balthrops owned their half free and clear.
  • November 1961, as part of  larger property package, Levin’s survivors and the owners of the Colonial Investment Company sold their half of 1541 to George Basiliko.
  • September 1967, widow Essie Balthrop borrowed $1,287.60 from trustees Ralph O. Weed and A. J. Mascetta.

Despite the half of the property being sold to Basiliko it did not wind up in the hands of the city.

Who were the Balthrops? I have no idea where the G. came from but Emma Jane Royal married James Westly Balthrop in 1908 in Richmond, VA. When their first son, William was one years old in 1910, Emma worked as a servant and James a butler. By 1920 the family was in Washington, DC with two more sons. In 1930, they had 6 sons and housed a nephew. According to the census they owned 631 Gresham Pl NW, which has less than 1000 sq. ft.

Looking into 631 Gresham Place NW (Sq. 3056, lot 57) I found one of those weird real estate things. This is not in my area of interest, but when you see weird stuff, you write about it. So you know about racially restricted covenants, how about reverse UNO card covenants?

See close up here- 3056-57

It appears the Balthrops and their neighbors signed an agreement to be able to sell their properties to African Americans. Okay moving on.

In 1940 the family, sans James, was renting a house at 611 Morton St. NW. At that point, Essie was the head and she had 5 sons, 1 daughter and one renter living in the home.

When James W. Balthrope died October 8, 1962, he died at home on Third Street. He was survived by many relatives. He had 14 grandchildren and 8 great-grandchildren. His funeral was at the Vermont Baptist Church.

Memory Lane: 219 P St NW

219 A P St NW. Taken December 15, 2007

I’ve featured this address before as a former Washington Sanitary Improvement home that was sold to African American buyers in the 1950s. All did not end well as you could gather in 2007 when this photo was taken. There were some questions about ownership that weren’t clear.

Well somebody, or somebodies own it now. I looked on Redfin and it looks like it has been split into 3 units, with 3 separate entries, up from the original 2.

Redlining in the TC- the dog that didn’t bark

I’m not done with the WSIC-1950 Sell Off series of posts, but I can recognize a pattern. What’s the pattern? The houses formerly rented by the Washington Sanitary Improvement Company (WSIC) were sold by the Colonial Investment Co who would sell two halves of a house to African American buyers. And then there would be a foreclosure. Not always, but very often. And for some mysterious reason the property always returned back to the Colonial Investment owners. Then they would sell it to slum landlord George Basiliko who would eventually sell the property to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency. That was the pattern.

There was something else I noticed in the pattern. It wasn’t obvious. It was what I did not see with other Black home owner posts.

225 Bates St NW (yellow)

The WSIC series came after a lot of Black Home Owner of Truxton Circle series’ posts. For most of the Black home owners I looked at between 1920 to about 1950 most things were fine. They borrowed money, they sold their homes, willed their homes to family members…. who then sold the houses. Every so often, there would be a foreclosure. Sometimes the lenders would be institutions like the Perpetual Building Association or individual trustees.

I noticed that for most WSIC buyers they did not have the option of institutional lenders. BW-photo-of-Bates-St-NW-DC

Redlining is when home buyers and owners in an area are denied financial products, like home loans, because of where they lived. Their area was red-lined.

In one Sherlock Holmes detective story, the great detective noticed that the watchdog did not bark the night of the murder, hinting that the dog knew the murderer. It took me a while but I noticed there was no other lender than Colonial Investment’s lenders. I found the redlining when WSIC buyers were denied other financial products. It was a subtle fact like the dog who did not bark. It was the lenders who were not there, who operated elsewhere in other parts of the neighborhood.

The red line was between North Cap, 3rd St,  P and Q Sts NW and only of formerly WSIC homes.

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.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 138 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 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.

RESTART-WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 130 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 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.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- Taking a Break

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.

Looks like Bates St NW looking towards 3rd St NW.

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.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 1539 3rd 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 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.

photo of property
1108 FL Ave NE

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.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 124 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.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 were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

I should note this property is both lots 812 and 213.

Let’s see what happens with 124 Q St NW:

  • March 1951 (recorded April 1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-fourth of 124 Q NW to Leon and Minnie Broadus.
  • March 1951 (recorded April 1951) Mr. and Mrs. Broadus borrowed $4,200 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • March 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the one-fourth of 124 Q St NW to Miss. Elizabeth Williams.
  • March 1951 Williams borrowed $4,250 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • March 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the one-fourth of 124 Q St NW to George M. and Shirley A. Yates.
  • March 1951 the Yates borrowed $4,200 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • May 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold the one-fourth of 124 Q St NW to Burton S. and Mattie L. Smith.
  • May 1951 the Smiths borrowed $4,200 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • May 1954 the Yates were the first to lose their apartment to foreclosure and via an auction it returned to the ownership of Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • September 1954 Miss Williams was the next to lose her apartment to foreclosure and it returned to the ownership of Evans, Levin and Taube through an auction.
  • March 1955 the Smiths were the 3rd household to lose their apartment to foreclosure and it returned to the ownership of Evans, Levin and Taube through an auction.
  • October 1963 Mr. and Mrs. Broadus managed to be released from their mortgage.
  • May 1972, Evans, Taube, the survivors of Nathan Levin, their spouses and Leon and Minnie Broadus together sold the 4 unit 124 Q St NW to the District of Columbia Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).
  • June 1980, as part of a large property package, the DC RLA sold/transferred 124 Q St NW to the BSA (Bates Street Assoc.) Limited Partnership.

This is an interesting property, because it was a 4 unit flat and 3 of the 4 original buyers lost ownership to foreclosure. I am surprised the 3 foreclosed units didn’t go to a certain slumlord. Instead, all parties sold the property to DC RLA. The other interesting thing was the price charged for one unit in this building.  Most people buying WSIC units paid less than $3,700 in a two-unit building. These people were paying more to share the building with more people. I wonder what the deal was with that.

WSIC-1950 Sell Off- 125 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 were the odd lucky ones who managed to avoid that fate.

This property is listed as lots 25 and 805.

Let’s see what happens with 125 Bates St NW:

  • March 1951 (recorded 4/20/1951) Evans, Levin and Taube sold one-fourth of 125 Bates NW to Annette and Cornelius M. Smith.
  • March 1951 (recorded 4/20/1951) the Smiths borrowed $3,800 from Colonial Investment Co. favorite trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • April 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold 1/4 of 125 Bates St NW to Haywood J. Pough.
  • April 1951 Pough borrowed $4,250 from trustees Abraham H. Levin and Robert G. Weightman.
  • May 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold a quarter of 125 Bates St NW to Willie P. Blakeney.
  • May 1951 Blakeney borrowed $3,800 from trustees Levin and Weightman.
  • June 1951 Evans, Levin, and Taube sold one-fourth of 125 Bates St NW to Edward L. and Fannie E. Rodgers.
  • June 1951 the Rodgers borrowed $4,300 from Levin and Weightman.
  • July 1954 the Smiths sold their unit back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • January 1955 the Rodgers sold their unit back to Evans, Levin and Taube.
  • May 1957 Blakeney was foreclosed upon and via an auction was held by new partner Harry A. Badt, Evans, and Taube.
  • May 1957, as part of a larger property package, Harry and Jennie Badt sold/transferred their interest in 125 Bates to the survivors of Nathan Levin.
  • September 1962 Haywood J. and wife Willa Mae Pough sold their portion of 125 Bates Street NW to Evans, Taube and the Nathan Levin survivors.
  • April 1972, Evans, Taube, the Levin survivors and their spouses sold 125 Bates St NW to the DC Redevelopment Land Agency (RLA).
  • June 1980, as part of a larger property package, the DC RLA sold the property to the BSA Limited Partnership (Kenneth S. Colburn, Lawrence J. Brailsford, Jack W. White and George Holmes Jr. signatories).

Looking at this apartment building it appears that it was unrealistic that a family could buy a unit and keep it. I wonder why the three families sold their units back to the Colonial Investment Co. partners. These people borrowed a large amount of money only to give up on their bit of the American dream of home ownership.