Historic Parkway near Jamestown in 1992, commemorating Elder Michaux and his National Memorial. Real estate development In about 1940 Michaux began developing plans for an urban housing development in Washington, D.C., targeted to the middle-class African-American market. He purchased property and obtained a $3.5 million loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation—at the time, the largest loan ever received by an American of African descent. The project, called Mayfair Mansions, was a 594-unit development designed by prominent African-American Architect Albert I. Cassell and was completed in 1946. Mayfair Mansions was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. A second development called "Paradise Manor" was built adjacent to Mayfair Mansions by Michaux in 1964 with FHA funding in the amount of $6 million. Haiti Michaux was part of a 1937 delegation of “colored” leaders who visited Haiti. The delegation caught the attention of the Roosevelt administration which assisted in setting up meetings with the Haitian government. The stated mission of the delegation was to spread "good will", but there seemed to be some hope that they might also improve Haitian American trade. No tangible economic changes resulted from this episode. Death Elder Michaux died in Washington on October 20, 1968, after suffering a stroke. More than 3,000 people attended his funeral in Newport News. He is buried with his wife at Pleasant Shade Cemetery in Hampton. References External links Google Arts and Culture: Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michaux, The Happy Am I Preacher 1937–1948 John Eligon, "A Black Evangelist Who Opposed Dr. King", The New York Times, April 2, 2018. 1885 births 1969 deaths African-American Christian clergy American Christian clergy People from Newport News, Virginia People from Hopewell, Virginia People from Washington, D.C. 20th-century African-American people