It was around the turn of the century when Negroes began to move into Harlem. Harlem had been overbuilt with large, New-law apartment houses, but the area lacked adequate transportation east of Sixth Avenue. Landlords could not find residents to keep these apartment houses filled, so a colored real estate agent approached several of the landlords with a proposition to fill the empty houses with steady colored tenants. The landlords agreed and the first Coloreds moved into one or two houses on 134th Street east of Lenox Avenue.
When the war broke out in Europe, thousands of Europeans rushed back to their homelands to fight in the war. Negroes were brought up from the southern states to work in munitions factories. The situation also opened up immigration from the islands resulting in 25,000 Negroes from the West Indies and Caribbean settling in Harlem. Harlem was a virtual gold mine. New houses, decent apartments and excellent wages resulted in the continued interest in buying property.
