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#HarryOneilWilsonSr (1873-1939)
Wilson was an entrepreneur, banker, philanthropist, developer, and the founder of the #HarryOWilsonBank, #MutualBenefitSociety (established in 1903) and #HistoricWilsonPark (created in 1917), an exclusive African American community.
At its height, his businesses employed over 40,000 people and financed the building of several churches, including #TrinityBaptist, #CosmopolitanAME, and #ShilohBaptist, and over 1,000 homes throughout Maryland.
Items in the collage (left to right)
1) 2017 photo in front of the historic Harry O. Wilson house with the late Mabel O. Smith (who lived in Wilson's house and was former president of the #HistoricWilsonParkAssociation) and longtime resident, board member, and activist Henashenna Hayes
2) 1919-1926 Harry O. Wilson Bank book for John H. Blackston, 437 Bloom Street
3) January 16, 1929 Harry O. Wilson Check to #DrDavidOver, Founder & Pastor of historic #ProvidenceBaptistChurch
4) Front & back of Mutual Benefit Society booklet, 1931
As a #CHAP commissioner, I worked long and hard to ultimately get the property at 4423 Craddock Avenue designated as a historic landmark.
Nanny Jack & Co Archives contains a large collection of Mutual Benefit Society content.
The Harry O. Wilson House historical marker:
Courtesy of Nanny Jack & Co Archives