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.