Selling Cheverly

It appears that Robert Marshall, founder and owner of Cheverly, also acted as planner, chief salesman, and promoter of the subdivision. His publicity pieces were published as news articles in the Washington Post and Washington Times. Those, as well as display ads, show that Marshall hoped to sell house lots to white-collar government employees who valued convenient rail transportation, wooded property, paved streets, “perfect drainage” with no swamps, and the proximity of Marshall’s Beaver Dam Golf Course.

Slowness to achieve Marshall’s promises, particularly related to roads and drainage, were behind the push to incorporate Cheverly as a town in 1931. As building increased, the woodlands that had been a selling point diminished.

Right from the beginning Cheverly land owners bought extra lots for resale. This tradition of small entrepreneurship led some to enter the real estate business in a larger way.

With the Depression, Marshall’s company, the Washington Suburban Realty Company, lost control of the remaining land. After 1930 we find multiple sellers advertising land and houses in Cheverly, filling in the already platted sections and also expanding the town.

Advertising for Cheverly land also promised “reasonable restrictions” to “protect property.” Both land-use and racial covenants were recorded in deeds. These prohibited the use of land for the sale or manufacture of “spiritous or malt liquor,“ manufacturing business, “nuisance or offensive noisy or illegal trade,” or building within 35 feet of the street line. The same deeds prohibited the sale, lease, donation, or conveyance of the lots to “any other than the white or Caucasian race.” Such covenants covered property sold in Cheverly prior to the Supreme Court decision of 1948 holding that covenants recorded in deeds are unenforceable.

Beginning in 1960, advertising for houses in “South Cheverly” (the Old Fourth Ward) targeted veterans, and explicitly promoted sales to buyers described as both “white” and “colored.”

View a selection of ads for land and houses in Cheverly.