A deed of trust is essentially an agreement between a lender and a borrower to give legal title to a property to a neutral third party who will serve as a trustee. The trustee holds the property until the borrower pays off the debt owed to the lender. During the period of repayment, the borrower keeps the actual or equitable title to the property and generally maintains full responsibility for the premises. The trustee, however, holds the legal title to the property and is empowered to sell the property to satisfy the debt if the borrower defaults. Once the sale is complete, the trustee will distribute the proceeds between the borrower and the lender. The lender gets whatever funds are required to satisfy the debt, and the borrower receives anything in excess of that amount.
On a single day in April 1935, Samuel H. and Annie Washington Vick lost nearly all of their wealth, including their home. The Vicks were heavily in debt and had defaulted on their loans. Trustee Mechanics and Farmers Bank, an offshoot of North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance Company (and one of a handful of black North Carolina banks to survive the Great Depression), offered dozens of their properties for sale. On 4 April 1935, as recorded in Deed Book 221, pages 333-341, Home Development Corporation purchased the following tracts — comprising 109 houses and lots, 4 additional vacant lots, and 2 large parcels — for $35,000:
- Tract 1 — the house and lot at 310 [North] Pender Street.
- Tract 2 — the house and lot at 313 [North] Pender Street.
- Tract 2-A — the houses and lots at 401, 403, 407 and 409 Viola Street.
- Tract 3 — “off of and south of Plank road [East Nash Street], adjoining the lands of Harry Clark and others.”
- Tract 4 — a 19-room house on Vance Street. [This is likely the building that housed the Independent School.]
- Tract 5-A — the house and lot at 714 East Viola Street.
- Tract 5-B — the “Vick Home Place” at 622 East Green Street. [The Vicks regained title to this house, which remains in family hands today.]
- Tract 5-C — the houses and an empty lot at 711, 713 and 717 East Green Street.
- Tract 5-D — the house and lot at 716 East Green Street.
- Tract 5-E — the house and lot at 703 East Green Street.
- Tract 5-F — the house and lot at 709 East Green Street.
- Tract 5-G — the houses and lots at 606, 608, 610, 612 and 614 East Vance Street.
- Tract 5-H — the houses and lots at 630 and 632 East Vance Street.
- Tract 5-I — the house and lot at 620 East Vance Street.
- Tract 5-J — the house and lot at 624 East Vance Street.
- Tract 5-K — the house and lot at 628 East Vance Street.
- Tract 5-L — the houses and lots at 617 and 619 East Viola Street.
- Tract 5-M — the houses and lots at 705 and 707 East Viola Street.
- Tract 5-N — the house and lot at 623 Darden Alley [now Lane].
- Tract 6 — the houses and lots at 701 and 703 East Vance Street.
- Tract 7 — a 5820 square-foot lot on Viola Street.
- Tract 8 — the house and lot at 508 East Green Street.
- Tract 9 — the houses and lots at 509 and 511 [East] Green Street.
- Tract 10 — the houses and lots at 503 and 505 [East] Green Street.
- Tract 12 — the houses and lots at 529, 531 and 533 East Nash Street.
- Tract 13 — the houses and lots at 543, 545, 547 and 549 East Nash Street.
- Tract 25-A — the buildings and lots at 535, 537 and 539 East Nash Street.
- Tract 25-B — the house and lot at 526 Smith Street.
- Tract 25-C — the house and lot at 522 Smith Street.
- Tract 25-D — the house and lot at 516 Smith Street.
- Tract 25-E — the houses and lots at 523 and 525 Smith Street.
- Tract 25-F — the houses and lots at 517 and 519 Smith Street.
- Tract 14 — the house and lot at 518 East Nash Street.
- Tract 15 — a 53′ by 153′ lot on Church Alley [now Street].
- Tract 17 — the houses and lots at 402 and 404 Vick’s Alley [now Parker Lane].
- Tract 18 — the house and lot at 503 South Spring [now Lodge] Street.
- Tract 19 — a 7200 square-foot lot adjoining Louis Townsend, near Spring Street [now Lodge].
- Tract 20 — the houses and lots at 406 and 408 Vick’s Alley [now Parker Lane].
- Tract 21 — the houses and lots at 403, 405, 407 and 409 Vick’s Alley [now Parker Lane].
- Tract 23 — the houses and lots at 206 and 208 South Manchester Street.
- Tract 26-A — the houses and lots at 810 and 812 Elvie [formerly, Elliott] Street.
- Tract 26-B — the house and lot at 1002 Elvie Street.
- Tract 26-C — the houses and lots at 801 and 803 Elvie Street.
- Tract 26-D — the house and lot at 811 Elvie Street.
- Tract 26-E — the house and lot at 908 Elvie Street.
- Tract 27 — the house and lot at 607 Stantonsburg Street [now Pender Street S.E.]
- Tract 28 — the house and lot at 600 Stantonsburg Street [now Pender Street S.E.]
- Tract 29 — the houses and lots at 213, 215 and 217 Stantonsburg Street [now Pender Street S.E.]
- Tract 31-A — the houses and lots at 903 and 907 Mercer Street.
- Tract 31-B — the house and lot at 915 Mercer Street.
- Tract 32 — a lot on Sugg[s] Street.
- Tract 33 — the house and lot at 700 Suggs Street.
- Tract 34-A — the house and lot at 309 Hackney Street.
- Tract 34-B — the houses and lots at 305 and 307 Hackney Street.
- Tract 35-A — the house and lot at 617 Darden Alley [Lane].
- Tract 35-B — the house and lot at 623 Darden Alley [Lane].
- Tract 37 — the houses and lots at 109, 111, 113, 115, 117 and 201 East Street.
- Tract 38 — the houses and lots at 108 and 110 Ashe Street.
- Tract 39 — the houses and lots at 114, 116 and 118 East Street.
- Tract 40 — 40 acres in Wilson township.
- Tract 42 — the houses and lots at 400, 402 and 404 Hines Street.
- Tract 43 — the houses and lots at 500 and 502 East Vance Street.
- Tract 44 — the house and lot at 712 East Vance and the adjoining lot.
- Tract 45 — the house and lot at 603 Darden Alley [Lane].
- Tract 46 — the house and lot at 504 [North] Vick Street.
- Tract 47 — the house and lot at 504 Stantonsburg Street [now Pender Street S.E.]
- Tract 48 — the house and lot at 515 Stantonsburg Street [now Pender Street S.E.]
- Tract 49 — the house and lot at 201 Stantonsburg Street [now Pender Street S.E.]
- Tract 16 — the house and lot at 519 Church Street.
Separate deeds filed the same day showed the transfer of (1) a 50-acre subdivided parcel (minus several dozen lots already sold) from trustee E.R. Merrick to Home Development Corporation for $3500 (Deed Book 221, page 332), and (2) 7 lots on Suggs, Vick, Church and Viola Streets from trustee R.L. McDougald to Home Development Corporation for $6000 (Deed Book 221, page 331). Both transactions involved land the Vicks had borrowed against.
Marked with red asterisks, this roughly six-block area shows the locations of 34 properties held in trust by Merchants and Farmers Bank and sold on 4 April 1935. Many were small shotgun houses built for rental to working-class families. Excerpt from page 32 of the 1922 Sanborn fire insurance map of Wilson, N.C.