Charles W. Chesnutt to Julia Gavney, 11 May 1931
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May 11, 1931
Miss Julia Gavney,
3561 East 133rd Street,
City.
Dear Miss Gavney:
I called on Mr. Joseph Laronge1 the day after the evening you were at our house. Mr. Laronge says you have probably the best lot on the best street in the allotment. There is a house on each side of your lot, and quite a few houses in the whole allotment and others projecting. He gave me a plat, which I enclose herewith, with the houses marked on it in red circles, and your lot indicated. He wishes that you would try to hold it, and they will waive the payments for six months, if you can hold on to it.
He says if you want to put the lot on the market now, he could probably get $1,500.00 for it.
I told him I would let you know the result of my interview, as I have above stated it.
I hope you can hang on, but if not, $1,500.00 will be considerably better than nothing.
Yours very truly,P. S. I enclose your contract.
CWC:MK Enc.Correspondent: Julia Gavney could not be further identified, but the contract that Chesnutt refers to in the postscript possibly hired her for domestic help; a woman, using the same address as the one in this letter and identifying herself as a "refined girl" and "good cook," advertised in the Cleveland Plain Dealer for a position as a housekeeper on May 10, 1931 and again on October 8, 1931.
1. Joseph Laronge (1881–1964) was one of the most well-known real estate dealers in Cleveland, Ohio. A White Jewish man born in Cleveland, he founded his real estate company in 1903, with offices in the same building that housed Chesnutt's stenography business at the time, first in the Williamson Building and then in the Union Trust Building. In the 1920s he became well known for his involvement in securing land for the Union Trust Building and developing Cleveland's Playhouse Square. [back]
