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Black Housing, White Finance: African American Housing And Home Ownership In Evanston, Illinois, Before 1940 - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Social History, Winter, 1999 by Andrew Wiese

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Although home building in Hovland's addition reflected practices common in other working class subdivisions, these represented only one end of the new home market for African Americans in west Evanston. Just across Emerson Street to the north was John Culver's addition, a four block survey, which had been subdivided originally in 1891. Lots had failed to sell until 1923, however, when a white real estate agent from nearby Oak Park, Illinois, purchased the subdivision and began selling lots to an African American market. [52] In contrast to Hovland's addition, which attracted an integrated group of owner builders and small contractors in the early stages of the Great Migration, Culver's addition mainly attracted speculative builders who sought to profit from the housing needs of a black community that was growing by leaps and bounds in the mid-1920s.

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Reflecting this context, new homes in Culver's addition tended to be larger, more craftsman-like, and more expensive than homes in Hovland's addition. The average cost of houses in Culver's addition during the 1920s was $6,700, compared to $1,500 ($900 for African Americans) in Hovland's addition, although a number of houses ranged as high in cost as $12,000-$14,000. [53] In part, these differences in price reflected inflation during the First World War and afterwards, but the most substantial influence on cost was the size and quality of homes themselves.

The residential landscape of Culver's addition also reflected much greater involvement by speculative builders. The sample of Evanston building permits revealed at least 30 individuals who built west side homes on speculation between 1916 and 1930. The largest of these builders in Culver's addition and in west Evanston generally were James and Lillian Barbour, who were responsible for 11 percent of the permits sampled (11 of 100). A white attorney from Rogers Park, the Chicago neighborhood just south of Evanston, Barbour represented Evanston in the Illinois State Senate from 1916 to 1936. Over forty years, the Barbours hired contractors to build more than 135 houses in Chicago and Evanston. [54] They built most of these for white families, but in west Evanston they demonstrated faith that African American workers, too, had the intention and the means to buy well-built bungalows at a moderate price.

Next to the Barbours, the largest builder on Evanston's west side was a black-owned firm called the Evanston Home Improvement Company (EHI), which was a business partnership formed by several prominent black tradesmen and contractors. EHI built at least a dozen west side homes on "spec" plus a number of houses on contract for black lot owners. In contrast to Barbour, who specialized in one-story bungalows for $5,500, EHI specialized in large two-family houses ranging in price from $10,000 to $14,000. [55] The latter, in particular, attracted black Evanstonians who had savings, good credit, and the desire to use their homes as a source of income. Buyers included a variety of skilled workers, a police officer, a decorator, a clerk, and several chauffeurs, as well as a number of laborers and laundresses. [56] Reflecting the desire of owners for housing units that were affordable in the short term and income-producing over the long run, about 40 percent of houses on the far west side--where new building had the greatest influence--were occupied by two families in 1930. In Culver's addition, especially, almost all of the homes contained a rental unit in 1940, a fact that reflected both initial construction and later remodeling by owners. [57]

Black Housing, White Finance: African American Housing And Home Ownership In Evanston, Illinois, Before 1940 - Statistical Data Included

Journal of Social History, Winter, 1999 by Andrew Wiese

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