Number 13 West 131st Street just west of Fifth Avenue has windows that look like a Jack O'Lantern face but is also notable for being the former home of the Father of Harlem. Phillip A. Payton, Jr. founded the Afro-American Realty Company during a time when the financial market crashed in 1904 and would bring the black community uptown to brand new homes that were built in a speculative boom when the subways were constructed. Desperate developers could not refuse the opportunity and African-Americans who formerly lived in the gritty Tenderloin section of midtown saw an opportunity to live in a brownstone neighborhood which was not accessible previously. More on the incredible story of the black broker can be found in our past post:
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