Sunday, May 1, 2011

Rowhouses and the Residential Boom


Accession Number P75-54-0906g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County


The annexation meant not only an increase in land but also more opportunity for home construction. Many of the areas acquired by the annexation were green, park like areas which house builders saw fit for development. As a result, there was an entrepreneurial boom which changed the look of neighborhoods. Builders capitalized on the daylight rowhouse design similar to the picture above and used the design as a foundation to expand their businesses. Some of the most notable developers were Frank Novak, Edward Gallagher (builder of the houses in photo), and James Keelty. By the mid-twenties, these builders created around 6,000 houses a year. Builders offered well built, low cost homes to middle class families allowing some couples to be first time homeowners.

Modern Transit



Image Number Neg Z9. 1864.pp30, Hughes Studio Photography Collection,
Courtesy of the Prints and Photographs Division, Maryland Historical Society
The street car was in a sense an end to an era in public transportation. As the city modernized, the streetcar could not sustain as the main mode of transit. The streetcar was surpassed by the automobile and more important the bus. By 1945, Baltimore officially began to switch over to buses. Buses were able to reach areas streetcars could not. Not only was transit modernizing but Baltimore infrastructure as well. If we compare this picture to the first of this theme, it is clear how much the roads transformed and expanded perhaps to accommodate all forms of transportation. During the war, it was clear that public transit is a necessity during times of strain. For those who live in the suburbs today, we may not think about transit but for city dwellers the metro, train, and buses are essential for their commutes. While the design of these vehicles may change, public transit will always be important to Baltimore.





Suburbanization After the Annexation


Accession Number P75-54-0680g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County





Accession Number, P75-54-0915g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,

Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County





These builders transformed the new neighborhoods into modern suburban communities. The photos above are a dramatization, but I picture this transformation of the annexed neighborhoods as beginning with simply houses (similar to the top photo) and later transformed into developed communities with paved streets (like the bottom photo). The builders were the first settlers so to speak who initiated the change. Builders such as James Keelty and Edward Gallagher were successful because they offered a “package” (nice location, low cost, house size, style) to buyers. Some locations like Edmonson Avenue also offered new amenities with water supply and sewage systems. Many families moved out of the center away from the old houses to these new suburbs leaving many areas vacant. The suburbs were significant because the newly annexed areas were homogeneous communities of middle class, second and third generation immigrants with white collar professions. The suburbs that we see today began their development at this time.

The “Other Half” Still Suffered

Yet while these upscale neighborhoods developed on the outer skirts of Baltimore, the poor, specifically Black residents suffered within the interior. Even though the Segregation Ordinance was removed, Blacks quickly faced another barrier of neighborhood covenants which put similar racial restrictions on neighborhoods. These restrictions were particularly hard on poor Blacks. The Black population in Baltimore dramatically increased due to the “Great Migration” from 1920-1930 giving the city the fourth largest Black population in the country. With little options of where to move, Blacks were forced into crowded areas with upwards of 50,000-100,000 people per square mile. So while the middle class lived in luxurious and spacious homes with rooms like this:





Accession Number P75-54-N894, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,
Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Many poor Blacks had no choice but to live like this:




Accession Number P75-54-0244g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,
Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County



The bottom picture is significant not only because of what is taking place but because the Hughes Collection has very few pictures of people in these houses let alone African Americans. It shows how important and perhaps shocking to the photographers to see living conditions like this.

The Conditions Were Too Much to Hide



Accession Number P75-54-N968g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,
Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County




Accession Number P75-54-0993g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,
Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County


Blacks in poverty suffered through more than overcrowding. These areas were known for their deplorable conditions. One area off of Pennsylvania Avenue was known as “Lung Block” because the death rate from tuberculosis was 958 per 100,000 when the city average was 131.1. The conditions resemble the findings of Jacob Riis in his work, How the Other Half Lives .

Mapping Pavement

Call No: GPML: G3844 .B3P2 1926 .B3,
Historic Map Collections of the Sheridan Libraries, Johns Hopkins University
This 1926 map, created by the Department of Public Works' Bureau of Highways, shows the extent of street paving in Baltimore.  The red lines indicate work done between 1923 and 1926.

For a closer look at this image, check out a high-res version directly from the source.  Please note that Growing Baltimore used a detail from this map to create the blog's header.

Slum Areas




Accession Number P75-54-0913g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,
Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County


“Slums” all over the city gained publicity for their conditions. Many houses in the slums were built in the 1800s, and did not include amenities such as electricity or indoor plumbing. Builders in the twenties and thirties focused on creating homes in the annexed areas for the middle class. The poor moved into their homes afterwards. These homes were most likely passed down to those middle class families from their parents who first moved to Baltimore in the 1800s. The increasing poor population as author Mary Ellen Hayward described became more “visible” in Baltimore especially during the Depression. Perhaps they were also visible because Whites who feared poor Blacks would move closer to them, also realized their White, middle class neighbors were leaving in large numbers while poor Blacks took their places.

Housing Reform

Fearing the poor population would not be contained much longer, White residents decided to fix the problem. This led to a “slum clearance” program created by Baltimore’s Public Works Administration (PWA). The plan was to replace the worst houses in Baltimore with better low cost housing for the poor. A PWA committee surveyed Baltimore and chose five of the worst areas and planned for their rebuilding. These areas had particularly high Black populations and disease rates. The map below diagrams the areas chosen to be cleared.


(Baltimore Housing Authority, "The Geography of Blight, Choosing Sites for Slum Clearance," in Mary Ellen Hayward, Baltimore's Alley Houses: Homes for Working People Since the 1780s (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Press, 2008), 243)



The project began in 1940 and was funded by the federal government, yet, there were numerous issues. A reoccurring problem was the relocation of residents during construction. Some residents misunderstood the program and believed they would be able to move back into the homes once construction was complete. However, many were forced to move to areas just as bad because the housing authority did not provide them new housing in time. The ultimate defeat was during WWII when the federal government prohibited housing production unless the houses were for defense workers. The sudden focus of building for defense workers caused low-cost housing programs to be halted as well. Housing developments such as the Armistead and the Perkins which were meant for both black and white low income residents were instead used for workers who came to Baltimore.

New Demands



Accession Number P75-54-0832g, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection,
Courtesy of the Photography Collections, University of Maryland, Baltimore County
The newly annexed territories of 1918 tripled the geography of the city, and the new municipal drinking water system quickly had to adapt to meet these demands.  This photo shows row upon row of filter beds in the north and south galleries of the Filter Building at Lake Montebello.