All Stories: 545
Stories
Uplands
This neglected forty-two-room Victorian mansion started as the summer home of Mary Frick Garrett Jacobs, a famed Baltimore socialite and philanthropist. The property formerly belong to General John Swan, Mary Jacobs' great-grandfather, as a part…
Old Mount Washington Library
Baltimore Clayworks occupies the former Mount Washington Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library that opened at Smith and Greeley Avenues on January 5, 1921. Originally known as Branch 21, the building was designed by by local architect Edward H.…
New Cathedral Cemetery
The Archdiocese of Baltimore established New Cathedral Cemetery on forty acres of the old "Bonnie Brae" country estate in 1869. The church spent seventeen years moving bodies and headstones from the 1816 Cathedral Cemetery at Riggs and…
Edmondson Avenue Branch, Enoch Pratt Free Library
Since 1951, the Edmondson Village Branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library at the corner of Edmondson Avenue and Woodridge Road has served as a treasured community institution for nearby residents and readers. The building's Colonial Revival…
Hilton Parkway
More than just a road, Hilton Parkway was inspired by the advice of renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. and is a testament to the transformative investment of the New Deal in Baltimore.
In the 1930s, the Gwynns Falls blocked…
Western Cemetery
“This is a new and finely located ‘place for the dead,’” The Iris reported in 1846. Early plans included a chapel and a residence for a cemetery superintendent. Lots were priced at the “extremely moderate” cost of $5 for an 8’ by 10’ area.
Just…
Helen Mackall Park
Helen Mackall Park was dedicated by the Rosemont Community on Saturday, December 4, 1971 to honor Mrs. Helen Mackall—a crossing guard for James Mosher Elementary School who lost her leg while saving the life of a 6-year old Bonita Lynn Lineberger at…
St. Edward Roman Catholic Church
St. Edward's organized in 1878 as a mission of St. Peter the Apostle, which was led by Fr. Owen B. Carrigan. Carrigan supervised the construction of the first church in 1880 for a congregation that likely included Catholic workers from…
Ward Baking Company Building
Built in 1925 over the loud protests of local residents who opposed a new factory in their residential neighborhood, the Ward Baking Company is a handsome brick box, designed by C.B. Comstock, a New York-based refrigeration architect and engineer.…
American Ice Company
Constructed in 1911, the American Ice Company is an enduring reminder of West Baltimore’s industrial development with a striking brick facade on W. Franklin Street and a powerhouse that backs up to the Pennsylvania Railroad tracks. At the time of…
St. Luke's Church
A true gem of Baltimore religious architecture, the handsome Gothic Revival tower of St. Luke’s Church is matched by its richly detailed sanctuary. While architect J.W. Priest oversaw the completion of the building in 1857, five other architects…
Saint Peter the Apostle Church
St. Peter the Apostle Church served southwest Baltimore's large Irish Catholic community for over 160 years. From its dedication in September 1844 through its final service in January 2008, the church earned a reputation as "The Mother…
Poppleton Firehouse
The handsome Tudor Revival turrets of the Poppleton Fire Station (Engine House #38) stand out next to the modern glass facades of the University of Maryland BioPark on Baltimore Street. Designed by local architects Benjamin Buck Owens and Spencer E.…
Lithuanian Hall
Lietuvių Namai first opened in 1914 in three West Barre Street rowhouses. A growing population of Lithuanian immigrants, including many who attended St. Alphonsus Church nearby on Saratoga Street, soon needed a larger hall for community gatherings.…
Former Carter Memorial Church
The congregation of the Carter Memorial Church has its origins in 1926 when James Roosevelt Carter and his wife Catherine Carter arrived in Baltimore from Pennsylvania. James Carter spent years preaching on the city streets before opening his first…
Old St. Paul's Cemetery
Old St. Paul's Cemetery opened in 1802—just a few years after Baltimore incorporated as a city—and is the final resting place of men and women that include a signatory to the Declaration of Independence, a Supreme Court Justice, and a Governor…
Mary E. Rodman Elementary School and Recreation Center
The Mary E. Rodman Elementary School and the Mary E. Rodman Recreation Center on Mulberry Street are named for a local leader in education for African Americans. Mary E. Rodman graduated in June 1889 from the first class of Baltimore’s first public…
Edmondson-West Side High School
Well known for its sports programs, Edmondson-Westside High School is a landmark near the western edge of the city. Originally known as Edmonson Avenue High School, when construction began on the school on Athol Avenue it was the city's first…
Lyndhurst Elementary School
Hundreds of neighborhood residents, pastors from local churches, and even former Mayor J. Barry Mahool came together on Collins Street in March 1926 to see Baltimore Mayor Jackson lay the cornerstone for the new Lyndhurst Elementary School. The new…
St. Bernardine's Roman Catholic Church
Like James Keelty, who built many of the rowhouses in Edmondson Village, many of the neighborhood’s new residents were Catholic and attended church to the east at St. Edward's on Poplar Grove or farther west at St. William of York. After James…
Olivet Baptist Church
Established in 1922, Olivet Baptist Church has occupied the historic Edgewood Theatre since the late 1960s. Built in 1930, the Edgewood Theatre was designed by one of the city’s most prominent theatre architects—John J. Zink.
Born in Baltimore in…
Middle Branch Park
Where the Gwynns Falls flows into the Patapsco's Middle Branch, countless Baltimoreans have come to work and to play over the years. Since the early 1700s this area his been home to mining operations, brickyards, glass factories, and other…
Industry on the Gwynns Falls
Industries flourished in the lower Gwynns Falls Valley since the early 1700s, when the Baltimore Iron Works Company turned iron into nails and anchors and Dr. Charles Carroll's gristmills ground wheat into flour. The Union Stockyards, located…
Ellicott Driveway
Ellicott Driveway was built on top of the millrace that once carried water to Three Mills operated by the Ellicott Brothers near Frederick Road. In the 1800s, twenty-six gristmills along the Gwynns Falls and others on the Jones Falls and Patapsco…
Leon Day Park
Leon Day Park is named for Leon Day an outstanding player in the Negro Leagues who was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame. A resident of southwest Baltimore, Day joined the Baltimore Black Sox in 1934 when African Americans could not play…
Rogers Buchanan Cemetery
Rogers Buchanan Cemetery is hardly famous. Few visitors to the park even know where the cemetery is. Fewer still know the surprising stories of the men and women interred behind the wrought iron fence. But for those who know the history, the…
Guilford and the A.S. Abell Estate
Guilford began in 1780 when the property was confiscated from British land-owners and given to Revolutionary War veteran Lieutenant-Colonel William McDonald. McDonald gave Guilford its name to commemorate the battle of Guilford Court House, North…
Ogden Nash at 4300 Rugby Road
After a brief stint in New York, Ogden Nash returned to Baltimore in 1934 and wrote: "I could have loved New York had I not loved Balti-more." Nash grew up in Rye, New York and first came to Baltimore for love. On a trip to the Elkridge…
H.L. Mencken and Sarah Haardt on Cathedral Street
Mencken lived in an apartment at 704 Cathedral Street for five years with his wife, nee Sara Haardt. The third floor apartment’s east windows faced Mount Vernon Place, and the inside was decorated with a distinctly Victorian style. Marion Elizabeth…
John H.B. Latrobe House
The John H.B. Latrobe House is the only surviving site associated with the "Saturday Morning Visiter" writing contest that launched Edgar Allan Poe's literary career. On an evening in October 1833, Latrobe, along with John Pendleton…