The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1920-06-08
n Y. NEGRO COLONY
'' LARGEST IN WORLD
n1rM SETTLEMENT RAPID
nv 1y EXPANDING. PROPERTY
.rvcEEDS $1OO,OOO,00O.

r,,, tho figures for the new CEN
"nen made known they will dis
s Iasa the fact that New York now has
cl4 ;thir it's borders the largest negro
W dinnv of any city in the World' inns
colon ayl come about within the last
mas az years, beginning with negro
nl ttIonoent in Harlem, says the New
1oIN oor+ain man owned tenement
in West 134th street near
n IV:ttI avenue. He wanted to raise
Fl"n and he told the owners and
lno o;Scnts of the block that if he did
Ie9''T ro+ his price for the house ne
nov ,,ld fll il with colored people. This
Wo"l~ a little more than fifteen
ooo~ ago. The people got together
S ,,d subscribed all they could afford,
bnt the total was not within S4,OUo
Of what he sought, so few weeks
Io+ar the house was filled with ne
l"yN, who were only too glad to get
gs,,ob home. In less than six months
S oI1 Tho houses on one side of that
binoi we're filled with negroes. Thus
The colony grew by leaps and bounds
o,,d the prediction is made that all
4bat mart of central Harlem from
I5Qtb street and then south to 10th
street. is now recognized as the rich
Colony Now Numbers 100000
The estimated population of the
colony at present is 100000. 1t is
sounded on the south by 134th
street.. on the east by the Harlem
r;ver. on the west by Eighth avenue
and on the north by 156th street.
The property holdings Of negroes
in the section amount to upward OF
500, 100000. There are some thirty
churches and more than fifty mis-
sions in the colony. st. Philips PROT
pstant Episcopal church in 134th
street. is now recognized as the rich
est negro church in the world. 1t
has a membership of 1000, and prac-
tically every dollar of its income e, is
contributed by colored people: Inc
rector, the Rev. Hutchens {. BlshoP'
has been connected with the church
thirtv-five years. The present edltice
was built few years ago at a cost
of 100000. The interior of the
church is one of the finest in the city.
St, Philips is affiliated with the
Trinity corporation and its real es-
tate holdings in the negro colony run
into hundreds of thousand of dollars.
Several new churches are in course
of construction. There is Nora
Wan church in West 136th street,
with a membership exceeding 1,OOO.
St. Marks Roman Catholic church,
in 138th street, has a membership of
nearly 1000.
There are four men in the colony
who are said to be worth million
each. ten others who are worth half
million each and several whose for
tunes are over a hundred thousand
each.
Mary Walkers Palatial Home.
Mary Walker, who died recently in
her palatial home at Irvington-on-
the-Hudson, was the richest colored
woman in the world. The house she
lived in at Irvington cost quarter
of a million dollars. The interior
contains some rare gems of art. Some
of the panels in the main foyer were
painted by famous artists at cost
approaching the fabulous. She had
a pipe organ built in the walls of the
main entrance surrounding the stair
way and all finished in gold. Organ
lists who have played the instrument
say that it is one of the finest In the
country.
Mary Walker began as laun-
dress some twenty years ago in the
west She saved her money and set
tied in Indianapolis. She conceived
the idea of selling preparations TO
take the kink out of the hair and to
beautify the skin. She began by ped
ding her preparations from door to
door among her people and she grad
uallv built up a substantial trade. In
a few years she established large
factory in indianapolis where her
preparations were made exclusively:
At the time of her death the factory
employed 1000 hands
When the colored colony began to
assume proportions in Harlem she
came to this city and settled. Her
fortune and residence at Irvington
were inherited by her daughter.
Many of the influential white people
in Irvington tried to buy the house.
1t is estimated that the savings
bank holdings of the colored people
in the section will foot up. $50, 00O,-
600. The growth of the colony has
been so rapid that the Wage Earn
ers' Bank, rich corporation of Sa-
vannah, Ga, has purchased large
lot of ground at the southwest COR
ner of 135th street and Seventh ave-
rue, where it will erect large bank
building; then Charles H. Anderson,
wealthy negro banker of Jackson
vile. Fla, is soon to open bank
at 135th street and Lenox avenue.