House fire in Roosevelt, 1965.
The inquest over the deadly fire continued long after the flames were extinguished. With public attention suddenly focused on the plight of tiny Roosevelt, the Utopia Community Civic Association renewed its lobbying campaign for water in the southeast section. In response, the Long Island Water Corporation agreed to lower the required down payment for installing water pipelines.
Working through local churches, Utopia members slowly gathered the funds in a year-long door-to-door canvas of homeowners. Finally, in the fall of 1961, nearly two years after Taylor’ s death, the utility company started tearing up the streets to lay water mains. The occasion elicited a mix of relief and bitterness.“ Utopians have been working for years to end this without help from any political body,” proclaimed Arthur J. Choice, the new Utopia president. Thanks to their efforts, every block now had its own fire hydrant.
But redlining and other racial exclusions persisted, forcing Black homeowners to keep relying on risky financial arrangements. Over the next decade, fires would tear through Roosevelt with alarming frequency. Only in retrospect 50 years later did Bradie Speller make the connection between unconventional mortgages, landlord conversions and the fires.“ Shit!” he exclaimed during a 2019 interview.“ The more I think about it, there were always fires in Roosevelt. This house would burn down. That house would burn down.”
Michael R. Glass is an Assistant Professor of History at Boston College. He is the author of Cracked Foundations: Debt and Inequality in Suburban America( University of Pennsylvania Press), from which this article has been adapted.
www. MoAF. org | Winter 2026 | FINANCIAL HISTORY 19