WESTERN HISTORICL MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
Attorney Margaret Bush Wilson donated the James T. Bush Sr., Real Estate Records to the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri-St. Louis on August 31, 2000.
James T. Bush Sr. was born on July 17, 1879 in McKinney, Texas. Mr. Bush came from a family consisting of four boys and three girls. He attended the city schools in McKinney for four years. Through the auspices of the State Senator, Bush entered Prairie View State Normal and Industrial College located in Prairie View, Texas. Bush completed his education with a teacher's license in 1900. He aspired to attend the University of Michigan Law School.
Instead he spent nineteen years in the railway mail service rising to clerk in charge and then went into the real estate business in the early 1920's. The highlight of his tenure in the Railway Mail Service was the significant part he played in founding the National Alliance of Railway Mail Clerks, later changed to the National Alliance of Postal Employees. Mr. Bush wrote the first constitution for the organization and served as an officer for many years. African Americans were excluded from the white organization of postal employees. The Alliance was founded in 1913 to thwart the efforts of President Woodrow Wilson's appointee Postmaster Albert S. Burleson, to put all the African Americans railway clerks on a separate run. This organization is still active and serving its members.
Mr. Bush was also instrumental in the founding and organization of the Real Estate Brokers Association of St. Louis in 1946. He spearheaded the Shelley vs. Kraemer case, the landmark United States Supreme Court case that ceased the practice of racial restrictive covenants.
SCOPE AND CONTENT
James T. Bush Sr. Real Estate Records, document real estate holdings in St. Louis City from 1909 to 1966. Mr. Bush maintained records pertaining to the St. Louis' landlord investment properties. This includes copies of sales contracts; certificates of title; and deeds of trust; business ledgers; tenant leases; and historical information about the investors and real estate businesses.
The collection documents locations where St. Louis African Americans historically resided. The real estate records are divided into four series: 1) Closing statements, sales contracts, correspondence and monthly statements, 1930-1961; 2) Property land lords and investors, 1927-1957; 3) Real estate records, 1909-1966; 4) Oversize real estate business ledgers.
SERIES DESCRIPTION
SERIES ONE - CLOSING STATEMENTS, CORRESPONDENCE, MONTHLY STATEMENTS, 1930-1961, FOLDERS 1-4
Arranged alphabetically. Contains closing statement records, business correspondence, appraisals, and monthly statements of the landlords and tenants.
SERIES TWO - PROPERTY LAND LORDS INVESTORS, 1927-1957, FOLDERS 5-38
Arranged alphabetically. Contains names of the landlord's, investors, location of properties, tenants who were residing at their property location, copies of certificate of title, deeds of trust, and other important documentation pertaining to the investors real estate businesses.
SERIES THREE - REAL ESTATE RECORDS, 1909-1966, FOLDERS 39-101
Arranged alphabetically. Contains names of historical streets and addresses in St. Louis City, where doctors, lawyers, educators, politicians, and newspaper publishers resided. Historical documentation of real estate records.
SERIES FOUR- OVERSIZE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS LEDGERS, FOLDER 102
Contains historical ledgers of landlord and tenants.
FOLDER LIST
BOX 1 FOLDERS 1-38
SERIES ONE - CLOSING STATEMENTS, CORRESPONDENCE AND MONTHLY STATEMENTS, 1930-1961
1. Closing Statements, 1943-1954
2. Correspondence, 1930-1943
3. Correspondence, 1944-1961
4. Monthly Statements, 1951-1954
SERIES TWO - PROPERTY LAND LORDS INVESTORS, 1927-1957
5. Adams, Recie A., 1927-1943
6. Allen, J.H., 1933-1944
7. Beatty, William J., 1952-1955
8. BoBo, Elizabeth, 1944-1946
9. BoBo, John W., 1952-1953
10. Bland, Geneva, 1942-1955
11. Bromshwig, H.H., 1938-1947
12. Brown, Russell, 1946-1957
13. Fields, Edward, 1946-1951
14. Folds, A. D., 1940-1951
15. Harper, Dr. E.L., 1945
16. Harris, George, 1947-1948
17. Herriot, Dr. Charles E., 1947-1949
18. Kaiser, Bertha, 1944
19. Kemp, Louise, 1947-1950
20. LaCour, Olivia, 1944-1945
21. Lewis, Tressie, 1938-1947
22. Loving, Franklin, 1942-1948
23. Lowenstien, Dr. H.M. , 1945-1946
24. Marshall, Thomas & Goldie, 1943-1952
25. Massey, Dr. E. O. Sr., 1944-1945
26. McDaniels, Sara, 1945-1951
27. Milton, James, 1944-1950
28. Moore, Sarah, 1940-1952
29. O'Brien, Dorothy, 1937-1953
30. Pruitt, Brady, 1943-1948
31. Reams, Henry T., 1944-1947
32. Rent Statements, 1955
33. Rent Statements, 1952
34. Smith, John, 1948-1953
35. St. Louis Housing Authority, 1948-1952
36. St. Paul AME Church, 1926-1949
37. Washington, Edith, 1944-1946
38. Young, Mae Turner, 1938
BOX 2 FOLDERS 39-89
SERIES THREE - REAL ESTATE RECORDS, 1909-1966
39. 1151 Aubert, 1936-1946
40. 1402 Aubert, 1945-1946
41. 4210 Cote Brilliante, 1942-1949
42. 4719 Cote Brilliante, 1944-1947
43. 3737 Cook, 1934-1948
44. 3939 Cook, 1954
45. 3962 Delmar, 1932-1944
46. 4050 Delmar, 1945-1966
47. 3930 Delmar, 1942-1945
48. 4041 Delmar, 1944-1945
49. 4152 Delmar, 1941-1946
50. 4202 Delmar, 1942-1945
51. 4229 Delmar, 1945
52. 4256 Delmar, 1942-1951
53. 4258 Delmar, 1943-1944
54. 4310 Delmar, 1936-1946
55. 4319 Delmar, 1944
56. 4336 Delmar, 1944-1945
57. 4473 Delmar, 1941-1944
58. 4222 Easton, 1926-1946
59. 4245 Garfield, 1945
60. 4712 Hammett, 1934-1951
61. 4912 Highland, 1933-1952
62. 1427 Hills Terrace
63. 3841 Labadie, 1951-1952
64. 4202 Labadie, 1945-1951
65. 4206 Labadie, 1942-1951
66. 4235 Labadie, 1945-1948
67. 4258 Labadie, 1944-1948
68. 4260 Labadie, 1946-1948
69. 4261 Labadie, 1945-1948
70. 4276 Labadie, 1944-1948
71. 4278 Labadie, 1945-1946
72. 3301 Lawton, 1934-1953
73. 4206 Lexington, 1952-1953
74. 4209 Maffitt, 1947-1948
75. 4214 Maffitt, 1945-1946
76. 4218 Maffitt, 1935-1950
77. 4234 Maffitt, 1909-1948
78. 4240 Maffitt 1944-1957
79. 4260 Maffitt, 1944-1947
80. 4262 Maffitt, 1948-1966
81. 4265 Maffitt, 1945-1950
82. 4277 Maffitt, 1906-1951
83. 4604 Market, 1944-1949
84. 3042-44 Marnice Place, 1944-1954
85. 4562 McMillian, 1946-1948
86. 4729 McMillian, 1944-1945
87. 4328 Page, 1946-1948
88. 4666 Page, 1940-1948
89. Rent Statements, 1957
BOX 3 FOLDERS 90-101
89. 4254 St. Louis Ave., 1952-1953
90. 4258 St. Louis Ave., 1945-1951
91. 4260-62 St. Louis Ave., 1946-1948
92. 4271 St. Louis, Ave., 1947-1948
93. 1271 Sutter, 1946-1947
94. 1916 Wagoner Place, 1940-1944
95. 4451 Washington Ave., 1948-1951
96. 1213 Walton, 1944-1950
97. 3871 Washington, Blvd., 1947-1952
98. 4320 Washington, 1945-1953
99. 3048 Whitter, 1946
100. 4600 Vernon, 1943-1952
BOX 4 FOLDER 102
SERIES FOUR - OVERSIZE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS LEDGERS
102. Business Ledgers, No Dates
INDEX
Adams, Recie, A., f. 5
Aubert Ave., f. 39-40
Bo Bo, Elizabeth, f. 8
Bland, Geneva, f. 10
Bromshwig, H.H., f. 11
Cook Ave., f. 43-44
Cote Brilliante Ave, f. 41-42
Delmar Blvd., f. 45-57
Easton, Ave., f. 58
Fields, Edward, f. 13
Garfield Ave., f. 59
Harris, George, f. 16
Highland, Ave., f. 61
Kemp, Louise, f. 19
Labadie Ave., f. 63-71
LaCour, Olivia, f. 20
Loving, Franklin, f. 22
Maffitt Ave., f. 74-82
Page Blvd., f. 87-88
Rent Statements, f. 32-33
St. Louis, Ave., f. 89-92
St. Louis Housing Authority, f. 35
WESTERN HISTORICAL MANUSCRIPT COLLECTION
222 THOMAS JEFFERSON LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI-ST. LOUIS
8001 NATURAL BRIDGE ROAD
ST. LOUIS, MO 63121
(314) 516-5143
E-MAIL: whmc@umsl.edu