Sunday, November 29, 2009
Baltimore’s historic Pigtown community lies along Washington Boulevard, from Martin Luther King Boulevard to Carroll Park, south and east of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad yards. Developing initially as a community for railroad workers in the 1840’s, along Columbia Avenue (now Washington Boulevard), Ramsay, McHenry, and Poppleton Streets, the area grew rapidly to the south during the industrial expansion of the 1850’s and 1860’s. Small two-story houses were built for workingmen on the narrow streets running south of Washington Boulevard, with three-story gable-roofed, and then early Italianate houses lining Washington Boulevard and Scott Street to serve as housing for shopkeepers and upper-level managers.
The development of Pigtown was intimately linked with hallmark events of the Industrial Revolution in Baltimore, particularly the growth and development of the Baltimore&Ohio, America’s first railroad. Location of the B&O on West Pratt Street in 1830 and the rapid growth of related industries around it, like locomotive works and car-building shops, directly resulted in the growth of the nearby working class community. Pigtown is one of the earliest examples in the city of a mainly two-story working class neighborhood developed around a specific factory or industrial site. Examples of every form of urban vernacular residential architecture built in Baltimore between 1830 and 1915 can be seen in the district.
The industrial history of Pigtown begins with the brickyards established in the late
1700’s on land belonging to the Mount Clare plantation owned by Dr. Charles Carroll of
Annapolis. Dr. Carroll acquired some 2,368 acres southwest of the fledgling settlement
of Baltimore Town in 1732 and soon put it to both agricultural and industrial use. Rich
in natural resources, the Mount Clare Plantation became one of the nation’s first agricultural and industrial complexes, complete with a sawmill, brick kilns, and an iron foundry, one of the state’s earliest iron furnaces. In 1754 Dr. Carroll’s son, Charles Carroll, Barrister (1723-83) inherited the Mount Clare estate and proceeded to turn his father’s modest farmhouse on the property into a grand Palladian country seat. Overland travelers from Alexandria and Georgetown passed through Mount Clare on their way to Philadelphia. Mount Clare Mansion, the oldest house in Baltimore City, is now a museum in Carroll Park.
After the Barrister’s death, a number of brickmakers and brickmaking firms bought parcels of the original estate and established brickyards and kilns. Several of these entrepreneurs, like George Warner, James Berry, and Alexander Russell gave their names to streets later laid out near the location of their brickyards, most of which were located on either side of the Washington Road, an area then known as “Carroll’s Field.” The 1798 Federal Property Tax List identifies fourteen brickmakers working in south Baltimore.
The development of Pigtown was intimately linked with hallmark events of the Industrial Revolution in Baltimore, particularly the growth and development of the Baltimore&Ohio, America’s first railroad. Location of the B&O on West Pratt Street in 1830 and the rapid growth of related industries around it, like locomotive works and car-building shops, directly resulted in the growth of the nearby working class community. Pigtown is one of the earliest examples in the city of a mainly two-story working class neighborhood developed around a specific factory or industrial site. Examples of every form of urban vernacular residential architecture built in Baltimore between 1830 and 1915 can be seen in the district.
The industrial history of Pigtown begins with the brickyards established in the late
1700’s on land belonging to the Mount Clare plantation owned by Dr. Charles Carroll of
Annapolis. Dr. Carroll acquired some 2,368 acres southwest of the fledgling settlement
of Baltimore Town in 1732 and soon put it to both agricultural and industrial use. Rich
in natural resources, the Mount Clare Plantation became one of the nation’s first agricultural and industrial complexes, complete with a sawmill, brick kilns, and an iron foundry, one of the state’s earliest iron furnaces. In 1754 Dr. Carroll’s son, Charles Carroll, Barrister (1723-83) inherited the Mount Clare estate and proceeded to turn his father’s modest farmhouse on the property into a grand Palladian country seat. Overland travelers from Alexandria and Georgetown passed through Mount Clare on their way to Philadelphia. Mount Clare Mansion, the oldest house in Baltimore City, is now a museum in Carroll Park.
After the Barrister’s death, a number of brickmakers and brickmaking firms bought parcels of the original estate and established brickyards and kilns. Several of these entrepreneurs, like George Warner, James Berry, and Alexander Russell gave their names to streets later laid out near the location of their brickyards, most of which were located on either side of the Washington Road, an area then known as “Carroll’s Field.” The 1798 Federal Property Tax List identifies fourteen brickmakers working in south Baltimore.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)