Organized in 1924 as Liberty Building-Loan Association and later renamed Liberty Savings and Loan Association, Liberty was the first African American-owned savings and loan business of its type west of the Rocky Mountains. It offered economical home mortgages when white lenders refused to finance housing for African Americans and other marginalized groups in most parts of Los Angeles, and its founders established offices at 2504-2512 South Central Avenue to encourage African Americans to save money and invest in Liberty and other sound African American-owned businesses. California Eagle editor Joseph Bass praised the institution as a real service to the community, saying clients could both earn 4 percent on their money and support an enterprise seeking to improve their community while avoiding the petty prejudice and discrimination they often faced at white-owned building and loan associations. Liberty emerged during strong economic growth in Los Angeles in the 1920s, and its founding directors combined business success with civic leadership. Its president, Wilbur C. Gordon, practiced medicine while pursuing business and land development ventures and, as part of the push for civil rights, took pride in helping African Americans create wealth and start businesses. First vice president Charles S. Blodgett was a construction entrepreneur and co-owner of a Hudson and Essex automobile dealership. Other board members were Louis M. Blodgett, a developer of housing tracts and commercial projects and co-owner of the dealership; Norman O. Houston, a founder of Golden State Mutual Life Insurance and real estate investor; James H. Shackelford, a real estate investor and furniture store owner; Albert Baumann, a pharmacist and business owner; Eugene C. Nelson, a physician and entrepreneur; Frank A. Harvey, vice president and general manager of Harvey Brothers Corporation, which supplied construction materials used in many downtown Los Angeles buildings; and A. Hartley Jones, a businessman. These men also supported civic and charitable organizations including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Los Angeles Urban League, the Young Men's Christian Association, and the Community Chest. Within a few years Louis M. Blodgett became president and led Liberty through the Great Depression in the 1930s, overseeing its accreditation as an institution whose savings accounts were insured by the federal government. A successful construction contractor and land developer, he also pressed white employers to hire more African Americans on construction jobs and supported their right to join Los Angeles building unions despite continuing white efforts to exclude them. Though not well known outside Los Angeles, Liberty remained significant until its sale to a white firm in 1961, by which time Blodgett and his family were regarded as among the wealthiest African American families in the United States because of their multimillion-dollar stake in Liberty and their real estate and insurance holdings.
