Patterson Park (neighborhood), Baltimore

Last updated
Patterson Park--Highlandtown Historic District
Patterson Park Rowhouses.jpg
100 Block of North Lakewood Ave
Baltimore osm-mapnik location map.png
Red pog.svg
USA Maryland location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
LocationRoughly bounded by Patterson Park Ave., Orleans St., and Pulaski Hwy, Grundy St., Easter Ave., Patterson Park, Baltimore, Maryland
Area295 acres (119 ha)
Built1867
ArchitectGallagher, Edward J.; et al.
Architectural styleLate Victorian, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals
NRHP reference No. 02001623 [1]
Added to NRHPDecember 27, 2002

Patterson Park is a neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Named for the 137-acre park that abuts its north and east sides, the neighborhood is in the southeast section of Baltimore city, roughly two miles east of Baltimore's downtown district.

Contents

Patterson Park is traditionally centered on the intersection of Baltimore Street and Linwood Avenue; until the formation of Patterson Park Neighborhood Association in 1986, it was referred to as the Baltimore-Linwood Neighborhood. Its original borders were Pratt Street to the south, Fayette Street to the north, Milton Street to the west and Clinton Street to the east, but in 2011 the neighborhood association voted to expand northward to Orleans Street between Milton and Curley Street.

Patterson Park is near the neighborhoods of Butchers Hill, Canton, Fells Point, Highlandtown, and McElderry Park.

History

Founding

Patterson Park homes were first developed between the mid-19th century and early 20th century to accommodate the swelling population of Baltimore City after the Civil War.

William Patterson owned much of the land that now constitutes the Patterson Park neighborhood. In 1827, he donated five acres of land in what we now know as Patterson Park to the city for a public walk. His heirs were less interested in donating the land that remained; and instead leased the land to speculative builders, who then raised rowhouses on it. The builders sold these homes at a profit, while the Patterson heirs collected ground rent on the leased land. [2]

Affectionately known as "marble houses," the typical Patterson Park rowhouse was built in Renaissance Revival, or Italianate, style. They have restrained flat roofs; flat, brown or red brick façades; molded and galvanized sheet-metal exterior cornices, often stamped with neoclassical decoration and dressed up with ball finials; stained glass transoms; and marble steps and trim.

In the latter half of the 19th century, immigrant European laborers as well as free blacks like Frederick Douglass flocked to Baltimore seeking jobs in the waterfront factories, rail yards and wharves. The architect-designed homes of Bolton Hill and Mount Vernon were beyond their reach, but speculative builders built block upon block of narrow rowhouses on inexpensive land, including around Patterson Park.

Architectural details changed over time, as building and manufacturing process advanced. For example, when plate glass became affordable in the late 1890s, builders replaced the tall, narrow Palladian first floor windows with a single, wide plate glass window—some arched, some square.

Three-story Victorians built circa 1900 to 1910 line the park's border. Two-story rowhouses dating from the 1920s line quaint and narrow side streets, some still paved with brick. Interiors often feature pressed tin ceilings, hardwood floors, stained glass windows and ornate moldings. Many houses still have original marble steps.

By 1927, many of the immigrants were from Bohemia, thanks to the growth of the Czech population in nearby Little Bohemia. [3]

Decline

The exodus of middle-class—and aspiring middle-class—whites from the city center is not unique to the Patterson Park community. This is a characteristically American settlement pattern, stimulated by the advent of the electric trolley (streetcar) in 1888, and accelerated by social and economic transitions since then.

The fabric of Southeast Baltimore's working class communities was woven from the availability of good blue-collar jobs in the manufacturing industries surrounding the waterfront. Plant closures, layoffs, and the general decline of the manufacturing sector began to weaken that fabric in the 1960s.

Changes in the city's demographic composition fed fears and prejudice among residents who were suffering economic hardships. Profound social shifts arising from the civil rights movement strengthened the case for elimination of residential housing segregation, but the unintended consequence was white flight. Absentee landlords, property abandonment, predatory lending and property flipping fed the decline in Baltimore's downtown communities.

Concerted efforts by the city's political and business establishment began to focus on downtown redevelopment in the 1970s. Such efforts slowed but did not halt housing abandonment and disinvestment in Southeast Baltimore in general, and Patterson Park in particular.

The mid-1990s were a particularly difficult time for Patterson Park, as nearby public housing estates were shut down abruptly, leaving nearby residents looking for housing options. Absentee landlords in the Patterson Park neighborhood took advantage of the new transient population. The stresses further weakened the neighborhood.

Revitalization

Patterson Park Community Development Corporation

In 1996, the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation (PPCDC) was created to increase ownership rates and decrease vacancies in the area. Founder Ed Rutkowski had created the Patterson Park Neighborhood Initiative, hiring organizers to gather neighbors to define the issues affecting their neighborhoods including crime, less-than-robust city services and nuisances. Between 1996 and 2009, the PPCDC renovated about 300 Patterson Park rowhouses, many vacant. Since 1996, the area's vacancy rate declined from nearly twice that of the rest of Baltimore City to less than the average, the crime rate has dropped to less than half for violent offenses, and the average housing value has nearly tripled.

In February 2009, the collapse of the housing market led the PPCDC to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. [4] Still, the neighborhood indicators of vacancy rate, crime rate, and housing value continue to show signs of improvement. [5]

According to the 2010 census, Patterson Park was one of the fastest-growing areas in Baltimore, with a 19% increase in population since 2000. [6]

Patterson Park Neighborhood Association

Founded in 1986 under the name Baltimore-Linwood Neighborhood Association and renamed to Patterson Park Neighborhood Association (PPNA) in 2003, the association is a registered 501(c)(3} non-profit organization. Founded to encourage city residents to be involved in community activities, PPNA has 300 active members. [7] The PPNA encourages neighborliness and foster resident volunteerism. The Association holds a monthly community meeting in a local church basement, and organizes block clean-ups, tree and flower plantings, holiday parties, pot lucks, home tours and block parties.

Leadership

PPNA leadership consists of an elected board, one president, four vice presidents, one treasurer, and one secretary. The vice presidents each represent one sector of PPNA: North, South, East and West Sectors along with the more recently added Patterson Place with the dividing line of the sectors generally being S. Linwood Avenue, E. Baltimore Street, E Fayette, and S. Patterson Park Ave. Elections take place every January and every seat is voted on during elections. Officeholders must live within Patterson Park borders and be a paying PPNA member.

Greening Committee

In a partnership with the Baltimore Neighborhood Energy Challenge, the PPNA Greening Committee is working to reduce the energy consumption of Baltimore by educating and encouraging residents to pledge to reduce their household energy use through efficiency. The Greening Committee has also been awarded over $60,000 in donations to finance its project, including major support from the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a state-chartered grant maker, and Healthy Neighborhoods Inc., a local nonprofit for tree plantings in the neighborhood. [8]

Alley gating

In 2010, PPNA has fostered gated alleys: residents gate both ends of an alley and make it a park-like space for neighbors to enjoy. [9]

Boundaries and population

Patterson Park is bounded by Baltimore Street to the north, Patterson Park Avenue to the west, Eastern Ave to the south, and Linwood Avenue to the east. As of 2010, Patterson Park was 44.3% white, 36% African American, 15.7% Hispanic, and 4% other. Because of the park's location, any north-south streets that exist on both sides of Baltimore Street have their southern parts start at Eastern Avenue instead of Baltimore, and the east-west running Pratt and Lombard Streets are also discontinuous between Patterson Park and Linwood Avenues.

Representatives

City

1st District City

13th District City

State

46th District State Senate

46th District House of Delegates

Federal

Maryland 3rd Congressional District

US Senate

Public services

Schools

Library

Transportation

The Route 40 Quickbus stops at Fayette Street and Linwood Avenue along its crosstown course between Woodlawn (west) and Essex (east). Route 13 passes through the neighborhood along Milton Avenue, McElderry Street and Linwood Avenue. Route 20 and Route 23 provide crosstown bus service along Fayette Street.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Patterson Park</span> Park in Baltimore, Maryland, US

Patterson Park is an urban park in Southeast Baltimore, Maryland, United States, adjacent to the neighborhoods of Canton, Highlandtown, Patterson Park, and Butchers Hill. It is bordered by East Baltimore Street, Eastern Avenue, South Patterson Park Avenue, and South Linwood Avenue. The Patterson Park extension lies to the east of the main park, and is bordered by East Pratt Street, South Ellwood Avenue, and Eastern Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Village, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Charles Village is a neighborhood located in the north-central area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It is a diverse, eclectic, international, largely middle-class area with many single-family homes that is in proximity to many of Baltimore's cultural amenities. Nearby are the Baltimore Museum of Art, The Homewood campus of The Johns Hopkins University, Olmstead's Wyman Park, and the weekly Waverly Farmers Market, and the arts district, Station North. Homes are exemplary Baltimore brick and stone row houses, many dating from the 1890s. Running from downtown north is the historic boulevard, Charles Street, where Baltimore's Easter Promenade once took place.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canton, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Canton is a historic waterfront neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. The neighborhood is along Baltimore's outer harbor in the southeastern section of the city, roughly 2 miles (3 km) east of Baltimore's downtown district and next to or near the neighborhoods of Patterson Park, Fell's Point, Highlandtown, and Brewers Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Butchers Hill, Baltimore</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Butchers Hill is a neighborhood in Southeast Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is north of Fells Point, east of Washington Hill, and northwest of Patterson Park. It is south of Fayette Street, west of Patterson Park Avenue, north of Pratt Street, and east of Washington Street. It is in the 21231 zip code.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">McElderry Park, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

McElderry Park is a neighborhood in the northern part of the southeastern district of the City of Baltimore. Its boundaries are marked by East Fayette Street, East Monument Street, Linwood Avenue, and Patterson Park Avenue. South of McElderry Park is the neighborhood of Patterson Park; Butchers Hill is to the southwest. Ellwood Park is located to the east, and the campus of The Johns Hopkins Hospital to the west. To its north is the neighborhood of Madison-East End.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Highlandtown, Baltimore</span> Historic house in Maryland, United States

Highlandtown is a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brewers Hill, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood statistical area in Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Brewers Hill is a neighborhood in the Southeast District of Baltimore, Maryland, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Otterbein, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Otterbein is a small neighborhood of historic rowhouses in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Otterbein is immediately southwest of, and in close walking distance to, the Inner Harbor. The neighborhood is very compact, entirely located between Hanover Street and Sharp Street, and between Barre Street and Henrietta Street. It is in small parts of zip codes 21201 and 21230. It is named for Old Otterbein Church, located immediately north of the neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ellwood Park, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Ellwood Park is a neighborhood in the eastern part of Baltimore, Maryland. It is named for a small public park with a playground between Jefferson and Orleans Streets. The neighborhood extends from Linwood Avenue and Haven Street, between Monument Street and Fayette Street. It is contained within the 21205 and 21224 zip code.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle East, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Middle East is a neighborhood in the heart of East Baltimore, Maryland.

O'Donnell Heights is a neighborhood named for a public housing development in the far southeastern part of the city of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is located south and east of Interstate 95, just west of the border with Baltimore County, and north of the St. Helena neighborhood.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CityLink Gold (BaltimoreLink)</span> Bus route operated by the Maryland Transit Administration in Baltimore

CityLink Gold is a bus route operated by the Maryland Transit Administration in Baltimore. It replaced Route 13 in 2017. The line currently runs from Walbrook Junction in West Baltimore to Canton, mostly along North Avenue. The line has two main branches, both operating to Canton: one that operates via Fells Point and the other via Linwood and East Streets. Both these branches serve Johns Hopkins Hospital. Additionally, selected trips on weekdays and Saturdays operate to the block of Milton Avenue, Federal Street, and Patterson Park Avenue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joseph Lee, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Joseph Lee, the residential part of Bayview, is a neighborhood in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Part of the larger Bayview or Hopkins Bayview neighborhood, it borders the Greektown neighborhood. It is sometimes called the "A to K" or "ABC neighborhood" because its north-south streets are arranged in alphabetical order: Anglesea, Bonsal, Cornwall, Drew, Elrino, Folcroft, Gusryan, Hornel, Imla, Joplin, and Kane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medfield, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Medfield is a neighborhood located in north Baltimore, Maryland, United States of America. It is located to the north of the trendy Hampden neighborhood and south of affluent Roland Park neighborhood. Its unofficial boundaries are Coldspring Lane to the north; Jones Falls Expressway to the west; Falls Road/Hickory Avenue to the east; and West 41st Street to the south.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Upper Fell's Point</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Upper Fells Point, also known as "Fells Prospect," is a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Located north of Fells Point, originally the neighborhood was home to Baltimore's dock workers. By the 1880s canneries and factories provided employment to new immigrants, including Irish, Italians and Poles. In the early 1900s these new Americans were joined by Jews, Lithuanians and Greeks. Today its tidy brick rowhouses and tree-lined streets are home to both old-timers and young urban professionals. It is also the heart of Baltimore's growing Latino community and is sometimes called "Spanish Town". Although most Hispanics in the neighborhood are Mexicans, there are significant populations of Salvadorans, Puerto Ricans, Hondurans, Dominicans, Guatemalans, Colombians, and Cubans, as well as many others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harwood, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Harwood is a small neighborhood located in the north-central area of Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It sits east of Charles Village, south of Abell, west of Waverly and north of Barclay. Its boundaries are Guilford and Greenmount Avenues to the east and west, and 25th and 29th streets to the north and south. These streets together encompass about 14 city blocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Monument Historic District</span> Historic district in Maryland, United States

East Monument Historic District or Little Bohemia, is a national historic district in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a large residential area with a commercial strip along East Monument Street. It comprises approximately 88 whole and partial blocks. The residential area is composed primarily of rowhouses that were developed, beginning in the 1870s, as housing for Baltimore's growing Bohemian (Czech) immigrant community. During the late 19th and early 20th centuries the neighborhood was the heart of the Bohemian community in Baltimore. The Bohemian National Parish of the Roman Catholic Church, St. Wenceslaus, is located in the neighborhood. The historic district includes all of McElderry Park and Milton-Montford, most of Middle East and Madison-Eastend, and parts of Ellwood Park.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Midtown-Edmondson, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Midtown-Edmondson is a mixed-use neighborhood in western Baltimore City developed mostly between the 1880s and the 1910s. The neighborhood is mainly composed of residential rowhouses, with a mixed-used business district along Edmondson Avenue, and industrial warehouses and buildings dotted along the CSX railroads that bound its western edge.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madison-Eastend, Baltimore</span> Neighborhood of Baltimore in Maryland, United States

Madison-Eastend is a neighborhood in the heart of East Baltimore, Maryland. Madison-Eastend occupies 66.7 acres of land north of Patterson Park and south of Amtrak's Northeast Corridor. The neighborhood is bounded by the neighborhoods of Ellwood Park and McElderry Park to the south, Milton-Montford to the west, Biddle Street to the north, and Orangeville to the east. The swath of land between Johns Hopkins Hospital and Frank C Bocek Park, which includes Madison-Eastend, is often referred to as the "Down the Hill" neighborhood by local residents.

References

  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
  2. Origins Archived 2011-09-30 at the Wayback Machine Origins of Patterson Park. Retrieved 2011-09-26
  3. Almaguer, Tim (2006). Baltimore's Patterson Park. Mount Pleasant, South Carolina: Arcadia Publishing. p. 81. ISBN   0-7385-4365-9 . Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  4. Patterson Park Community Development Corporation Archived 2012-04-14 at the Wayback Machine Abell Foundation Patterson Park Community Development Corporation. Retrieved 2011-09-27
  5. Patterson Park North and East BNIA Patterson Park North and East. Retrieved 2011-09-27
  6. As Cities Grow Baltimore Declines 2012-06-28
  7. "Patterson Park Neighborhood Association". Archived from the original on 2011-09-30. Retrieved 2011-09-27. About Patterson Park Neighbors Retrieved 2011-09-27
  8. Patterson Park Tree Plantings Retrieved 2011-09-27
  9. Baltimore Gated Alleys Retrieved 2011-09-27