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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
(31.) Two-thirds of loans to African Americans originated in three institutions (Chicago Title and Trust Company--25 percent--plus two Evanston banks) and seven individuals--five of whom were prominent in local affairs. The other third was spread among lenders who made fewer than four loans. Local lenders made 29 percent of mortgage loans (42 of 147). Torrens Deed Dockets 240E, 241, 589D.
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(32.) Analysis of Evanston's black housing market is based on a survey of 1920 census manuscripts, Evanston city directories, building permits and deed and mortgage records, plus oral histories, published census reports, and local newspaper reporting. Three blocks chosen for analysis were 1000-1200 Ayars Place, Hobbs' Subdivision (subdivided 1890); the 1800 block of Brown Avenue, J.S. Hovland's Addition (subdivided 1914); and the 1900 block of Brown Avenue, Culver's Addition to Evanston (initial subdivision, 1891, re-opened, 1923). They represent the range within Evanston's black housing market between 1910 and 1940. I culled 230 mortgages from approximately 1,200 transactions involving the 93 properties on these three blocks (source: Cook County Torrens Deed Dockers). 148 of these mortgages were made directly to African Americans. From this group, I traced 73 mortgages and recorded the amount, rate of interest, and duration of the loan. For comparison, I also compiled terms for 73 mortgage loans to white Chi cagoans recorded during the same months as mortgages to the west side of Evanston.
(33.) Ayars Place was later renamed Garnett Place.
(34.) Hobbs Subdivision, Torrens Deed Docket 589D; Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, Census Schedules; Sanborn Map Company, Fire Insurance Map of Evanston, Illinois, 1920 (Chicago, 1920). White occupations in 1920 included skilled blue-collar workers (carpenter, tailor, machinist, and mason, for example) as well as a college professor, proprietors of a hardware store and a tire repair shop, and managers of several local businesses.
(35.) Cora Watson interview by Sharon F. Patton, May 24, 1974, transcript (EHS).
(36.) Trust Deed, Moses W. and Cora L. Watson to Victor C. Breytspraek, Trustee, March 22, 1919, document no. 6486557, Cook County Deed Books (microfiche) Cook County Recorder of Deeds; Warranty Deed, A.M. Mickelson and Augusta Mickelson to Moses W. and Cora L. Watson, document no. 6496591, ibid. For home ownership, see Torrens Deeds Docket 589 D, Hobbs Subdivision; Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1920, Census Schedules; Bumstead's Evanston City and North Shore Directory, 1920-1921; R.L. Polk's Evanston City and North Shore Directory, 1925 (Chicago, 1925); Polk's Evanston City Directory, 1931 (Chicago, 1925). Note, Polk's directory identified African Americans with the symbol "(c)," for "colored,' between 1922 and 1927.
(37.) Fourteenth Census of the United States: 1940, Housing: Block Statistics, 5-12.
(38.) R.L. Polk's Evanston City Directory, 1925, 56; Albert N. Marquis, ed., Who's Who in Chicago: The Book of Chicagoans, 1931 (Chicago, 1931), 403; Hahn made 10 percent of the mortgage loans (25 of 230) on three west Evanston blocks, including nine loans to African Americans, all on Ayars Place. Torrens Deed Docket 589D.
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