The Story of Frederick H. Bartlett

By Raj Aggarwal

Early Life and Career Beginnings

Bartlett was born into an era of rapid industrialization and urban expansion. At age 15, he moved from New York to Texas to Chicago, where he established himself in 1890. Like many young men in search of economic opportunity, Bartlett began working in retail, starting as a stock boy for the Marshall Field & Co. department store. His early years at Marshall Field's allowed him to gain experience in sales and business, eventually working his way up to a salesman position by 1896. This role provided him with skills in negotiation, customer relations, and financial sharpness, skills that would later prove invaluable in his real estate ventures.

In 1902, Bartlett took his first documented step into real estate, acquiring property in Chicago on Champlain Avenue that was 300 feet north of 43rd Street. This was located in Bronzeville, Chicago. This was located in the heart of Bronzeville, which would later be known as the "Black Metropolis," a major site for African Americans during the Great Migration. He formally launched his real estate career in 1904 by co-founding the firm Watson and Bartlett, which soon became Frederick H. Bartlett & Co. This firm would be his primary vehicle for real estate development, and he claimed it was the largest real estate firm in Chicago for more than three decades. As his business grew, so did his reputation, wealth, and influence.

Image of Frederick H. Bartlett (seated at the center of the table) with business associates, featured in a magazine where Bartlett wrote advice on finding success in sales

Real Estate Career and Development Strategies

Bartlett made a name for himself as a prominent figure in Chicago’s booming real estate market. By 1905, his success was evident in his luxurious lifestyle, including membership in an “autoist” club, an exclusive association for car enthusiasts. His prominence continued to grow, leading him to acquire substantial properties across Chicago. He later became a member of the Chicago Stock Exchange in 1927.

During the early 1900s, Bartlett’s career accompanied the rise of racially restrictive covenants in Chicago. These covenants were legally binding contracts that banned the sale of homes to certain racial, ethnic, or religious groups, most prominently targeting African Americans. During the early 1900s, coordinated campaigns conducted by realtors, neighborhood organizations, and professional real estate organizations established restrictive covenants throughout American cities. Chicago was no exception. Following the start of the First Great Migration in the 1910s and the subsequent Chicago Race Riot of 1919, many white people across the city held fears that racial integration was harmful, or even dangerous. From this anxiety, restrictive covenants would become an established practice that helped formalize residential segregation. This practice also came from realtors falsely believing that racially integrated housing lowered property values. Among many issues, the most direct would be African Americans being forced to live in places like Chicago's Black Belt. This would be an area where housing would be overcrowded and lead to deterioration, due to segregation and poverty.

An example of the sort of housing that African Americans had in Chicago

In this respect, Bartlett would be little different from the other leading realtors of his time, as he would help cement restrictive covenants into the city. Racially restrictive covenants in Chicago enforced segregation through two main tools: plat restrictions and agreement covenants. Plat restrictions were Bartlett’s tool of choice, exclusionary clauses written into subdivision plans by developers such as Bartlett, barring non-Caucasians from buying property and setting racial boundaries from the outset. Agreement covenants were private contracts among homeowners in already built-up areas to collectively refuse sales or rentals to certain groups, relying on community enforcement.

[Example of Bartlett race restrictions at #4 on the plat for Higgins Road Farms.]

One example of Bartlett’s use of plat restrictions would be in Roseland, a Chicago neighborhood near Lake Calumet. Between 1914 and 1918, Bartlett acquired over 3,000 lots in the Roseland area, where he implemented these restrictions to prevent African Americans and other minority groups from purchasing homes. Bartlett’s policies contributed significantly to the racial segregation of Chicago’s neighborhoods, a legacy that has continued to affect the city's demographic divisions for generations.

Before developing restrictive covenants in places like Roseland, Bartlett also embarked on a separate project in Lilydale, a substandard housing development intended specifically for African Americans. Despite claims in advertisements placed in the Black newspaper The Chicago Defender claiming that Lilydale offered high-quality housing, the development was below the standards of his other projects. The substandard nature of housing in Lilydale contrasted sharply with his more lucrative developments in white-only neighborhoods, underscoring the disparities in housing opportunities available to different racial groups in Chicago at the time.

Cover of an article in The Chicago Defender claiming that Lilydale was a prosperous new neighborhood developed by Bartlett & Co. 

Throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Bartlett’s real estate firm thrived. He used various financial tactics to expand his influence, including acquiring property in prominent areas such as Hyde Park in 1916. His success was partially due to his strategic approach during World War I, a period in which housing demand grew significantly as workers flocked to cities like Chicago to meet wartime production needs. However, Bartlett’s business suffered during the Great Depression, prompting him to pause property acquisitions from 1926 until 1934. During this time, economic hardship forced many developers to scale back, but Bartlett was optimistic about the market's recovery under President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies. He resumed his purchases in 1934, citing improvements brought by Roosevelt’s Home Owners' Loan Corporation (HOLC), which had stabilized the real estate market.

Later Life and Legacy

Bartlett’s influence in Chicago’s real estate market was well established by the late 1930s. He led a life of wealth and luxury, evident in his frequent participation in high-stakes leisure activities, such as a celebrated $25,000 golf game in 1937. Later in his life, he would retire in San Marino, California, living in a massive mansion until his death.

Image of Bartlett (man on the right) with one of his company’s managers

Despite his financial successes, Bartlett's career left a complex legacy. Bartlett would enjoy a luxurious life for his time, with that wealth being built, in large part, from racist housing practices. While he contributed to the economic growth of Chicago through extensive residential development, the neighborhoods he built were heavily segregated. 

Conclusion

Frederick H. Bartlett’s life and career reflect the dynamics of early 20th-century American urban development and the social norms that accompanied it. His ascent from stock boy to prominent real estate developer demonstrates a remarkable journey shaped by ambition and business talent, as well as racial bigotry. His use of restrictive covenants and the substandard housing in Lilydale underscore the racial prejudices that he possessed and that were widespread in housing policies of his time. Bartlett’s influence on Chicago’s real estate market left a lasting impact on the city’s physical and social landscape, one that continues to resonate in discussions about housing equity and segregation today.