The Fight Against Housing Discrimination, 1900-1970

Like other cities in the U.S., Waterbury has suffered from the impact of racism on housing. Throughout the twentieth century, there have been numerous efforts to combat housing discrimination in Waterbury. There is still a lot of research to be done on the topic, but here are some highlights of what I've found so far.

James Kefford and the Waterbury Negro Business League

James Kefford (1871-1940) came to Waterbury from Virginia during the 1890s. He started a real estate business in 1904, successfully competing with white realtors in Waterbury. Kefford bought and sold houses and served as a manager for various rental properties including the building with his office at 95 Bank Street.

In 1905, Kefford began constructing apartment buildings to rent to Black people. Housing discrimination was unchecked at this time: there were no laws preventing property owners from refusing to rent to non-white people, and as a result it was very difficult for non-white people to find quality housing in Waterbury. (James E. Kefford, speech given at the Sixteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, Boston, MA, 1915)

James E. Kefford

Waterbury Republican, 15 September 1912
Silas Bronson Library microfilm

Apartment buildings constructed by Kefford include a six family block at 171 Bishop Street (1905), an eight family block at 175 Bishop Street (1906), a six family block at 102 Pearl Street (1907), a six family block at 23 Hopkins Street (1910), and a mixed-use block at 100 Pearl Street (1910). Kefford also built his own home at 230 Cooke Street (1909) and a building for the Waterbury Negro Business League at 99 Pearl Street (1907). (James E. Kefford, speech given at the Sixteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, Boston, MA, 1915)

In 1907, Kefford was a cofounder of the Waterbury Negro Business League. The League helped fund the construction of Kefford's apartment buildings, with each investor earning a share of the profits going forward. (James E. Kefford, speech given at the Sixteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, Boston, MA, 1915)

Six family apartment block at the corner of Pearl and Hopkins Streets, constructed by Kefford and the Waterbury Negro Business League in 1907. Illustrated in the Bridgeport Herald, 26 January 1908.

First property of the Negro Business League at 23 Hopkins Street,
illustrated in Waterbury Republican, 15 September 1912
Silas Bronson Library microfilm

By constructing new housing specifically for Black people, Kefford helped make the rental market more competitive in their favor. A white rental agent who had previously shown prospective Black tenants only the worst apartments had to start showing them better apartments in order to compete with Kefford. (James E. Kefford, speech given at the Sixteenth Annual Convention of the National Negro Business League, Boston, MA, 1915)

So far as I can tell, none of the houses built by Kefford are still standing.



Housing Discrimination in the 1920s

The efforts of Kefford and the Waterbury Negro Business League to create quality housing for the Black community were short lived. A study published in 1923 showed that racist housing discrimination was an ongoing problem in Waterbury (Charles S. Johnson, "The Negro Population of Waterbury, Connecticut: A Survey by the Department of Research and Investigations of the National Urban League," Opportunity: A Journal of Negro Life, October 1923).

Black residents were not only "unable to move to the outskirts of the city, the antagonistic sentiment of whites prevents them from moving outside of the narrow limits of a recognized "Negro area."" (Johnson, "The Negro Population of Waterbury, Connecticut," Opportunity, October 1923)

Not only were Black residents restricted to a limited area of the city, they paid higher rents than white residents. The study found that 92% of white families paid less than $20 a month in rent, while only 44% of Black families paid less than $20 and 22% of Black families paid between $25 and $35 per month. The housing that was available to Black families tended to be poorly maintained and without one or more "modern conveniences" such as running water, toilets, and electricity. (Johnson, "The Negro Population of Waterbury, Connecticut," Opportunity, October 1923)

The study found that Black neighborhoods had less reliable city services than nearby white neighborhoods. During the course of one winter, the city never picked up the trash on several streets that were predominantly Black, but did pick up the trash from nearby streets where the residents were primarily white. (Johnson, "The Negro Population of Waterbury, Connecticut," Opportunity, October 1923)

The study also found evidence that the U.S.-born white and Irish residents were moving to "more desirable neighborhoods" -- Waterbury's white flight had begun. (Johnson, "The Negro Population of Waterbury, Connecticut," Opportunity, October 1923)




Redlining in the 1930s

The Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC) was founded by the federal government in 1933 to help homeowners avoid foreclosure during the the Great Depression. The HOLC created color-coded maps of cities throughout the U.S. to help decide if a property was worthy of investment -- in other words, the physical location of a house could determine whether or not the owner could refinance their mortgage, or whether a new owner could qualify for a mortgage.

Neighborhoods with large numbers of Black residents were typically coded in red to indicate that they were hazardous or high-risk for lenders, making it difficult (if not impossible) for anyone in those neighborhoods to qualify for a mortgage.

In 1937, the HOLC created a map of Waterbury with corresponding descriptions of each neighborhood. Only one neighborhood was colored green for "best" -- a small area of Overlook developed during the 1920s whose homeowners were white executives and professionals born in the U.S. Similarly, the areas coded in blue for "still desirable" had only white residents, with no immigrants and no Black residents.

HOLC Map of Waterbury, 1937

For a full-size scan, visit Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America

The majority of the city was coded in yellow ("definitely declining"), with the primary problems identified as lack of sewers, character of architecture, or age and cheapness of building construction. The ethnic makeup of the yellow-coded neighborhoods were no more than 50% Italian, Polish, or Lithuanian, with no Black residents (with the exception of one neighborhood in Hopeville area which had "scattered" Black residents).

The Brooklyn and South End/Abrigador neighborhoods were coded in red. An estimated 80% of the residents were immigrants working as laborers. Also in red were two areas of the North Square neighborhood, where 30% of the residents were Black and the other 70% were immigrants, all listed as laborers. There were no mortgage funds available for home purchases or home building, and the HOLC predicted that the desirability of these neighborhoods were decrease over the next 10-15 years.

The most telling indicator of racism in the HOLC maps is the note about the North Square areas: these locations, with the highest concentration of Black residents, were the only ones for which the HOLC declared that the "character of occupants" was a detrimental influence. Additionally, all of the red areas in Waterbury had what the HOLC deemed "a low class of foreigners" living in them.

Detail, Description for Waterbury Area D-2 (North Square), HOLC

Mapping Inequality: Redlining in New Deal America

Connecticut Inter-Racial Commission

The Connecticut Inter-Racial Commission was formed in 1943 to work towards equality of civil rights, to "bring the fruits of democracy to all, regardless of race, creed, or color." The ten-member commission included one representative from Waterbury, Sadie B. Carethers. (Report of the Connecticut Inter-Racial Commission, September 8, 1944)

At the end of their first year, the Commission presented examples of housing discrimination in various cities. In Waterbury, they found that a Black dentist tried to buy the building in which he rented office space. The owner refused to sell to him on the grounds that the dentist "wound rent to other Negro tenants causing deterioration of the neighborhood." (Report of the Connecticut Inter-Racial Commission, September 8, 1944)

Journalist Eddy Burke found widespread discrimination in Waterbury in 1949. Burke reported that Waterbury's Black residents "have been pushed into the dingiest, most unsanitary districts in town--many of them who have money to buy their own homes in better sections of town, or rent in better sections of town, cannot do so because of the fact that their faces are black. ... Even in our projects Negroes have been segregated into the most undesirable section. In the better and newer projects of Waterbury there is not a Negro to be seen." (Eddy Burke, "Roamin' the Brass City," New England Bulletin, 26 March 1949)

Walter W. Hooker, Director of the Pearl Street Neighborhood House, stated that "There is discrimination in Waterbury; the most flagrant of which is evidenced in the gentleman's agreement where Negroes cannot purchase and rent homes...." ("Waterbury Inquiring Reporter" New England Bulletin, 9 April 1949)

Some of these problems were addressed by the Connecticut General Assembly in June 1949, when the legislature prohibited discrimination in public housing projects and authorized the Inter-Racial Commission to investigate discrimination complaints in any place of public accommodation (Hartford Courant, 9 June 1949). Privately owned apartments were not subject to the anti-discrimination law. The federal Public Housing Administration allowed local authorities to decide whether or not public housing was segregated ("Home Rule on Housing Bias," NY Daily News, 12 December 1949). 

The Commission was renamed in 1951, becoming the Connecticut Commission on Civil Rights.


Meadow Homes, Inc. 

In 1960, a group of Civil Rights advocates formed the Meadow Homes corporation with the goal of building an integrated neighborhood of 101 single-family homes on 37 acres near the Waterbury Country Club, just off Oronoke Road. The housing development was named Country Club Park, offering "the advantages of suburban living within the Waterbury city limits." (Promotional brochure, Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 321, Folder 22, Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

Detail, Promotional brochure, Morris Milgram Papers,
Collection 2176, Box 321, Folder 22, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The project had its roots in an interracial fellowship gathering at St. John's Church in the fall of 1957. Local concern over the events happening in Little Rock, Arkansas motivated Waterbury residents to take action to fight racism here, and they determined that "the next logical step for Waterbury was integrated housing." (Morris Milgram, "The Opposite of Deerfield: Waterbury, Connecticut," Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 398, Folder 6, Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

A year later, at a luncheon hosted by the Waterbury Area Council of Churches, a group of forty-five people listened to a report on the work being done by Milgram's MCD to build interracial housing in other parts of the country. The group voiced approval for working with MCD in Waterbury, and began looking for a site to develop. (Morris Milgram, "The Opposite of Deerfield: Waterbury, Connecticut," Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 398, Folder 6, Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

The group included W. Reed Smith, Jr., Alderman Gerald A. Lamb (Waterbury's first Black Alderman), Jon O. Newman (special counsel to Gov. Ribicoff), Alderman Peter Marcuse, Boswell Trowers, Estelle Farrel Goss of Middlebury, Rev. F. Newton Howden of Trinity Church, Rev. John R. Yungblut formerly of St. John's Church, Rabbi Joseph Smith of Beth El Synagogue, Mrs. R.W. Carrington, and Dr. James Lee ("Meadow Homes Plans 101-Home Development," Waterbury Republican, 25 January 1960 and Meadow Homes Board Meeting Minutes, 25 April 1970, Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 321, Folder 22, Historical Society of Pennsylvania).

The Meadow Homes project operated under the umbrella of Modern Community Developers, Inc. of Princeton, NJ, which specialized in private integrated housing projects.

Integrated housing, which we now take for granted, was highly controversial in 1960. Three community clubs--Sunrise Park, Highland, and Platts Mills--hired an attorney in an attempt to stop the Meadow Homes project from happening. Their attorney, John A. DelBuono, cited potential harm from "the psychological and sociological effects... caused by the proposed massive integration." The City Plan Commission was not swayed by these concerns and voted unanimously to approve the project. ("Plan Commission Votes Meadow Homes Approval," Waterbury American, 9 February 1960).

Racist resistance to Country Club Park continued to plague the project. The slogan "massive integration," coined by the White Citizens Council (a white supremacist group) created the public impression that Country Club Park was entirely a Black community, feeding the racist fears of local white homebuyers. (W. Reed Smith, Jr., Letter to Meadow Homes Shareholders, November 1971, Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 321, Folder 22, Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

The White Citizens' Council, based in Mississippi, was actively fighting MCD's efforts to build integrated housing in various locations throughout the U.S. Waterbury was only one of the locations targeted by the white supremacist group, which was primarily focused on stopping an integrated housing development by MCD in Deerfield, Illinois ("MCD Branded Illegal by Judge," The Citizens' Council, March 1960, p. 3)

By 1968, Meadow Homes had sold only thirteen houses (eleven to white homebuyers, and only two to Black homebuyers) as well as one lot of improved land which was sold to a white family who built a house on their own. Construction of new houses had stopped due to slow sales, attributed partly to local market conditions and partly to racist opposition to integrated housing. (Morris Milgram, Letter to Rabbi A. Joseph Heckelman, 8 November 1968, Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 398, Folder 6, Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

The houses at Country Club Park were designed by Waterbury architect Andrew S. Cohen, who practiced architecture in Waterbury from 1955 to 1982. The houses stand out today for their mod 1960s style and irregular placement relative to the street. 

House designed by Andrew Cohen at Country Club Park, Waterbury

Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 321, Folder 22, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

House designed by Andrew Cohen at Country Club Park, Waterbury

Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 321, Folder 22, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

A raised ranch style house was promoted in the Meadow Homes brochure, promising "tri-level luxury, the relaxed way of modern living." (Promotional brochure, Morris Milgram Papers, Collection 2176, Box 321, Folder 22, Historical Society of Pennsylvania)

Detail, Promotional brochure, Morris Milgram Papers,
Collection 2176, Box 321, Folder 22, Historical Society of Pennsylvania

The housing development was completed during the early 1970s with ranch and raised ranch style houses.

Google Maps aerial view of Country Club Park, 2020

17 Hickory Hill Drive, Photo from Realtor.com

17 Hickory Hill Drive, Photo from Realtor.com

17 Hickory Hill Drive, Photo from Realtor.com

17 Hickory Hill Drive, Photo from Realtor.com

Fair Housing Act

The federal Civil Rights Act of 1968 included an article prohibiting discrimination in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. Enforcement of the act has been an uphill battle, but in Connecticut there were resources to help fight housing discrimination. In 1970, for example, Regina Plouffe of Waterbury was convicted of violating Connecticut's fair housing law when she refused to rent an apartment to Avery Parks and his wife, who were Black. ("Woman Is Fined $25 On Fair Housing Act," The Bridgeport Post, 12 April 1970)

The fight against discrimination in housing is not over, even though it's been illegal for more than half a century. As recently as 2019, Liberty Bank in Connecticut payed out more than $15 million in a settlement following a complaint filed against them by the Connecticut Fair Housing Center, Inc. accusing the bank of redlining Black and Hispanic neighborhoods in Hartford and New Haven, making it harder for those communities to get mortgages at fair rates. (Gregory Seay, "Liberty Bank Settles Loan 'Redlining' Suit," Hartford Business Journal, 4 March 2019)