Fannie and The Foxes

Photo by Mary Stapp

I never met Fannie Harward, the first owner of 5429 Cathedral, but I believe she was a strong, hard working woman with a head for real estate. She was born in 1869, just after the Civil War, on a farm near Charlottesville, Virginia.  I first found her in Washington in an1898 street directory. She was listed as a widow and a dress maker, but after considerable digging, I discovered that Fannie was divorced from a man named JL Cox in 1896. The two had a daughter named Stella who was born in 1888, but did not live with Fannie or her ex-husband.

I think she may have called herself a widow for propriety’s sake. What I do know is that she had to make own way for some time and that two of her sisters eventually joined her in DC.  In the 1900 DC census, Fannie and her younger sister Elizabeth lived together working as a caterer and a waitress. They sublet a room to a typesetter at the Government Printing Office which was right across the street. Fannie may have met her second husband, Charles, through this connection. 

Charles Harward was born in North Carolina, but moved to DC to work at the printing office. I found this poem he wrote for his deceased little sister, Mabel when he was 20 years old in July of 1887.  

Baby's Grave

Down in the verdant woodland deep, 

Where blooming daisies wave,

Where rippling waters dance and leap, 

There is a tiny grave.

Our darling babe is buried there- 

Our treasure and our pride;

She was so sweet, so pure, so fair, 

So lovely when she died.

She died as does the budding rose, 

Which Winter's breath doth blast, 

And on Jesus' breast, in sweet repose 

She is safe from harm at last.

Charles and Fannie were married in 1901.  Fannie was 33 by then and never stopped working. In 1907 the Harwards lived in a large boarding house on 13th Street NW overlooking Franklin Square. Fannie managed the property which housed over thirty tenants and was also referred to as the Cutler Hotel. Fannie's first foray into real estate, as far as I can tell, was the purchase of two lots on the alley behind the building. 

Fannie continued to buy and sell real estate. In 1910 she sold her alley lots and bought property in Cabin John, MD which she later sold to her sister Sarah. A tiny announcement of the sale appeared in the Evening Star right next to a large real estate ad for Potomac Heights.  

The Cutler Hotel was sold in 1919, and the Harwards bought their own home at 23 Iowa Circle, now known as Logan Circle. A few years later, Fannie started investing in Potomac Heights like she was playing a game of Monopoly.  Between 1923 and 1927 she bought 5429 Hawthorne Place, 5515 and 5747 Potomac Ave,  5434 Carolina Place, and 5125 and 5429 Cathedral. There could be more. Fannie is usually the only name mentioned as the first owner of these properties. Most of these houses have been torn down, but 5429 Hawthorne, built in 1923, is still much like it was.

In 1926 Fannie and Charles were living at the 5434 Carolina Place property which was a Sears and Roebuck kit house. This may be the only other building still standing that Fannie once owned. 

A year later she oversaw the construction of a handsome Dutch colonial right across the street from herself at 5429 Cathedral. Here's a snippet from the Evening Star:

A mention in the church bulletin in 1929 indicates the Harwards rented furnished rooms, so it looks like they were still in boarding house mode. Here is the only photo I was able to find of Fannie, standing on the far left with the congregation of The Potomac Heights Church for their annual group photo in 1930. 

By 1930, the Harwards were both in their 60s. The census revealed they had a lodger named Ezra A. Fox, a 27 year old man who was born in Virginia. He was working as the manager of an A & P grocery store. The next year Ezra went back to his hometown of Luray, Virginia to marry his neighbor and long time sweetheart, Virginia Kibler.

Virginia's home in Luray, VA

Virginia, mind you, had not been sitting around pining for Ezra. She had to give up her job as superintendent of Page County schools when she went to live with Ezra at the Harward's home. Ezra started working for his neighbor Early Rector at Rector's Store which was just up the street.

Charles Harward retired from the printing office in 1932 and died “suddenly” at home in October of 1935. A year after Charles’ death, Fannie sold her home to the Foxes as well as the house at 5515 Potomac Ave. She lived at 5515, probably until the Foxes sold the property in 1939. I am not sure where Fannie went after this, but she her address was 1725 P Street when she died in 1951. Fannie was buried with Charles in Alexandria. 

In 1936, Ezra and Virginia had a baby boy they named Allen Wayne. That same year, Ezra's boss, Early Rector, talked Ezra into buying his store and gas station which Ezra thoughtfully renamed Fox’s Market and Service Station. 

Ezra would open the shop every day at 5 a.m., and Virginia would take phone orders at home, then fill and deliver them later in the day.  When Ezra added a soda fountain to the cigar bar, Virginia made the chocolate syrup for the ice cream.  

In 1940 the Foxes rented a room to a newlywed couple named George and Sarah Wilson. Keeping it all on the block, their neighbor Raymond Pruett, who lived on Carolina Place, sold the Wilson's his parents' house at 5422 Cathedral. This happened in 1951 after Raymond's mother had died.

The Foxes ran the store until they retired and sold the property. They were active in the Palisades Community Church for most of their lives. Ezra and Virginia can be seen in the 1947 congregation shot standing in the middle of the back row.