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The neighborhood is understandably quite upset about this matter. I was looking into <br />unofficial ways to prevent this from happening through the Common Council. Then <br />when I came to your commission we talked about the structure of the house itself, and <br />also the possibility of that house having any social significance. <br />I then realize that this had been the home of Doctor Mott, who was an African- <br />American doctor, and C.A. Josephine Mott. They had been residents of the house since <br />before 1947. I then decided to look up the history on this particular family and had found <br />out that Dr. Mott had been the first African-American to graduate and be an intern at St. <br />Joseph Hospital. His wife was a registered nurse. The doctor and his wife were the first <br />African-American doctor and nurse team in the city. <br />Both of these individuals were also very active in the St. Augustine's Roman <br />Catholic Church, to the point that Dr. Mott was the founder and the trustee when the <br />church was original built in June of 1941. Mrs. Mott was extremely active in the city <br />with nursing activities and she was also involved with the church's soup kitchen. Old <br />friends of the Motts had even told me that Mrs. Mott was so involved with the church that <br />she was doing the maintenance with the church when it was first built. <br />I did not contact the hospital, but it was my understanding that there were regulations <br />against hiring African-American nurses at that time. So we think that it is rather amazing <br />that he was able to accomplish what he did. He was on the staff of the osteopathic St. <br />Joseph and Memorial Hospitals. <br />. I thought that with this history of the Mott's family along with the fact that this home <br />is in a primary residential neighborhood area where the Lincoln Way West Steering <br />Committee has been trying to preserve the nature of that neighborhood. Combined, this <br />might turn out to be a local historical landmark. In the process of gathering a petition <br />against the used car lot, I talked to a number of African-American residents in the area. <br />When I started to describe this home to them they would at some point say, "that is the <br />home of Doctor Mott" and they would immediately know whom I was talking about. I <br />think they were a very well respected family in the city. This may even turn out to be the <br />next old landmark for the local black community <br />1. I did speak tentatively with the N.A. A. C. P. I just spoke with a volunteer who then <br />passed on the information to the Executive Board. The Executive Board would be <br />interested in pursuing this matter, but they still needed more information. Based on all of <br />this I thought I would leave the petition matter to the commission. <br />JOHN OXIAN: To add on to what you mentioned, I serve on both the Land -use <br />Committee and the Lincolnway West Steering Committee of the Lincolnway Corridor. <br />The Steering Committee has sent a letter in opposition to making this home into a used <br />car lot. It is now a residential area, and the man who has bought the property has already <br />cut down most of the trees. He was already notified by the Steering Committee and by <br />the Area Plan Committee that he was wasting his time to come before them with this <br />matter. Both committees are opposing this because we are going to introduce an <br />ordinance to control the zoning on Lincolnway West. We want this area to remain as a <br />residential area. He also has got the property behind him which is in a residential area, <br />and we feel that by doing this there is a lot of empty commercial buildings on <br />Lincolnway West that he can use instead for a car lot. He is trying to copy what a <br />I0 <br />