Druid Heights: Exploring Baltimore’s Neighborhoods
Traipsing across the vacant, littered lot at the Southwest corner of Druid Hill Avenue and Baker Street, Anthony Pressley looked ahead proudly to 17 newly constructed homes. In this perpetually struggling West Baltimore neighborhood, those gleaming houses were a substantial victory for Pressley and his colleagues at the Druid Heights Community Development Corporation.
- 11/13/01: Dr. Calvin W. Burnett, 69 takes a walk to the Inner Harbor and back to the Coppin campus two or three mornings a week. Burnett crosses North Ave. at Pennsylvania Ave. (Kim Hairston/staff)
- 03/17/1980: Work time comes early for “Big Jim” Johnson, who distributes the Sunday editions of The Sun and the News American. Here, he walks in the pre-dawn light near his home in the 2000 block of McColloh street.
- 4/14/1968: Families walk along Pennsylvania Avenue, past burnt and boarded stores on Easter Sunday during the riots. (Weyman Swagger/Baltimore Sun)
- Pennsylvania avenue, shown here north from Pitcher street, was the focus of the Upton Urban renewal program. The area roughly forms a triangle from Bloom street, down Fremont avenue to George street, to Biddle street to McCulloh street. The program is for the people of low income who now live there, or others like them. (Baltimore Sun, undated)
- 4/27/15: As fire trucks put out the fire at CVS in the background, police form a line across North Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave. to contain rioting on the day of Freddie Gray’s funeral. Gray died in police custody on April 19th. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)
- 05/02/15: Marchers head north on Pennsylvania Ave toward North Ave after Saturday’s rally at War Memorial Plaza. (Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun)
- 04/04/2002: Druid Heights Peace Patrol members Ionie Gordon (left) and Catherine Trotter clasp hands as the group prays before they walk through neighborhoods to spread information to reach out to people who are having drug- related problems Thu., Apr. 4, 2002. (Baltimore Sun/Karl Merton Ferron)
- Oct. 26, 2000: Political signs on the side of a building at North Ave and Druid Hill Ave. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
- May 5, 2014: This is a row of buildings on part of the 500 block of Baker Street. (Barbara Haddock Taylor/Baltimore Sun)
- 11/16/14: “Frederick Douglass,” second from right, played by Steven A. Cole, leaves the Sharp Street Memorial United Methodist Church on Etting Street with Robert Reyes, right, the vice-president of the Baltimore Civil War Museum, which sponsored Cole’s visit to Baltimore. Cole, of Freeport, Illinois, re-enacted the “A Friendly Word to Maryland” speech given by Douglass 150 years ago at the original Sharp Street Church following the emancipation of slaves in Maryland. He also spoke to the Urban League at the Orchard Street Church on Saturday, and visited other historic sites. The Nov. 17, 1864 speech given by Douglass at the Sharp Street Church marked the abolitionist’s first return to Maryland in 26 years. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
- Oct. 31, 1998: Former homesites where Thurgood Marshall lived in Baltimore City. 1838 Druid Hill Ave. (Larry C. Price/Sun Staff)
- 1/7/97: 2122, 2124, 2126, 2128 Etting Street sitting already in disrepair. (Andre F. Chung/Sun)
- Pennsylvania and Baker Street in 1928. (A. Aubrey Bodine/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A newer development of homes at Bakers View – an 87-home development targeting low-middle income families. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A newer development of homes at Bakers View – an 87-home development targeting low-middle income families. Colorful shops and rowhomes sit dilapidated in the background along North Ave. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- in 2010, a typo at Druid Hill Avenue and Bloom Street. (Liz Kay / Baltimore Sun Staff Reporter)
- August 21, 1957: An old trolley, No. 4732, being removed from Pennsylvania Avenue Station to one near Greenmount Avenue. The photo shows the streetcar being pulled at Pennsylvania Station and North Avenue. The Brooks-Price building is pictured in the background. Photo by Sun Photographer Clarence Garrett.
- 8/15/14: Daniel Griffin, 28 and Micah Guess, 9, enjoy an afternoon at the Orchard Garden apartments during the Druid Heights back-to-school rally. (Lloyd Fox/Sun Photographer)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed and lots where shanty’s once were. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 7/23/08: 2100 block of Pennsylvania Avenue — The former Sphinx Club, a members-only club opened in 1946, for Baltimore’s elite African-American. The club, which closed in 1992, represented a historic piece of the city’s African-American heritage and culture. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)
- 7/23/08: 2100 block of Pennsylvania Avenue — The former Sphinx Club, a members-only club opened in 1946, for Baltimore’s elite African-American. The club, which closed in 1992, represented a historic piece of the city’s African-American heritage and culture. (Kenneth K. Lam/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: The former Sphinx Club at the western edge of Druid Heights. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 08-22-1977: A floral celebration on McColloh street. (Sun file – Richard Childress)
- 1983: Maggie Quille, Bil McIntyre with homes being rehabbed in the 500 Laurens St.
- 7/3/07: SCHANZE: 2426 Pennsylvania Avenue, still has its two statues of muses from its vaudeville and film days, above the Arch Social Club. (Baltimore Sun Staff Photo/Amy Davis)
- 10/9/02: Ruby Glover speaks passionately about the jazz clubs that once drew great musicians and many patrons to Pennsylvania Avenue. Two clubs, Tijuana and Le Coq D’Or, were located in the vacant lot to the right. (Kim Hairston/staff)
- 3/2015: The mural outside of the one-time Sphinx Club at the western edge of the neighborhood. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/30/09: Jahiti of Brown Fish, left, and spoken word artist B-FLY. at microphone at right, performed Monday at the dedication of the Alvin Kirby Brunson mural by artist Donald Tyson-Bey in the 2000 block of Pennsylvania Avenue. The Brunson family and the Pennsylvania Avenue Redevelopment Collaborative hosted the event to celebrate the life and work of historian and educator Alvin Kirby Brunson, who dedicated his life to African-American history in the Pennsylvania Ave. corridor, and died one year ago when the building he was renovating for his museum collapsed. (Amy Davis/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: One of the neighborhood murals, painted by Michelle Santos on the corner of Druid Hill Avenue and Presstman Street, representative of women who are important to the neighborhood. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 10/21/08: Then-Baltimore Ravens cornerback Samari Rolle and 160 Home Depot volunteers built a playground in the Druid Heights Community. (Monica Lopossay/Sun Photographer)
- 8/15/14: Milan Walker, 7, on the playground at the Orchard Garden apartments during Druid Heights kids at back-to-school rally. (Lloyd Fox/Sun Photographer)
- 3/2015: A memorial for those who have died in the neighborhood. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 05/10/1983: Salwyn Vickers, left, a student at Hopkins Medical, uses a student of Druid Heights Academy to illustrate a lesson. (Sun file)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A walk through Druid Heights shows the rowhouse architecture, many vacant or rehabbed. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 3/2015: A block of rehabbed rowhomes shows on a walk through Druid Heights. (Kalani Gordon/Baltimore Sun)
- 10/1/07 – LENOX (1919-1964), 2115-2117 Pennsylvania Avenue, began as a vaudeville and movie house called the RAINBOW. It became a church after closing in 1925, and in 1936 the theater returned as the LENOX. (Baltimore Sun Staff Photo/Amy Davis)
- 8/30/09: The Bethel A.M.E. congregation returned to its historic Druid Hill Avenue church for services after a two-alarm fire on July 1st caused by a lightning strike damaged the steeple and left water and fire damage. (Amy Davis/Sun Photographer)
- 8/21/14: Kelly Little the Executive Director of Druid Heights Community Development Corp. walks behind a home in the 2200 block of Druid Hill Ave. that they have tried to clean up. (Lloyd Fox/Sun Photographer)
- 4/10, 2015: Nkem Obineme and Veronique Williams hope to farm on the lot in Druid Heights at 2325 Division Street. (Julie Scharper, Baltimore Sun)
- 4/27/2015: Smoke billows at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and North Avenue (seen from Fulton Ave), April 27, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Riots have erupted in Baltimore following the funeral service for Freddie Gray, who died last week while in Baltimore Police custody. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
- 4/27/15: Police officers continue to man the intersection of North Ave. and Pennsylvania Ave. the morning after the riots, sparked by the death of Freddie Gray who died while in police custody on April 19th. (Algerina Perna/Baltimore Sun)
- 05/2015: A man walks by a tagging reading ‘One Baltimore’ on the corner of North Ave., and Pennsylvania Ave., a day after Baltimore authorities released a report on the death of Freddie Gray on May 2, 2015 in Baltimore, Maryland. Marilyn Mosby, Baltimore City state’s attorney, ruled the death of Freddie Gray a homicide and that criminal charges will be filed on six Baltimore City Police officers. Gray, 25, was arrested for possessing a switch blade knife April 12 outside the Gilmor Houses housing project on Baltimore’s west side. According to his attorney, Gray died a week later in the hospital from a severe spinal cord injury he received while in police custody. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)
Druid Heights
» Border streets: W. North Ave., Pennsylvania Ave., Division Street, McCulloh St., Madison Ave., Laurens St.
» Neighboring areas: Penn North, Sandtown-Winchester, Upton, Madison Park, Bolton Hill, Reservoir Hill
» More neighborhoods
» Help us catalog the signs of Baltimore City’s neighborhoods
But surrounding those Baker Street townhomes for low- and moderate-income families are blocks of vacants you’ve grown accustomed to seeing on CNN, MSNBC and Fox News over these past few weeks. Though our tour with Pressley took place more than a month ago, the thoughts he shared on that windy late-March day have become common refrain on national news shows in the aftermath of Freddie Gray’s death and the Baltimore Uprising.
“After the ’68 riots, that’s when you see most of these boarded-up houses across the country,” said Pressley, director of community resources for DHCDC. “When a community has so many blighted properties, you were entitled to certain funds from the federal government. We started with renewal funding and grew to where we are now. … But it really went down in 1968, and we’re still trying to build up from there.”
Believe it or not, significant progress has been made in the neighborhood since 1968 – though that might be hard to fathom given the images broadcast nationally in recent weeks. Case in point: The northwest boundary for Druid Heights is Pennsylvania and West North avenues, where the CVS was burned and looted during the April 27 riots.
Below North Avenue – once the dividing line between Baltimore City and County – was “an affluent African-American community … that stayed that way throughout the segregation period.” Pennsylvania Avenue, meanwhile, was home to nationally renowned jazz clubs that drew Cab Calloway, Eubie Blake and Billie Holliday, among others. It was “where most of our parents met,” Pressley said.
Redevelopment of the once-famous Sphinx Club on Pennsylvania is one of several projects the DHCDC hopes to address in the coming years. The DHCDC’s mission is to “accelerate the revitalization of the neighborhood with self-empowerment, employment and economic opportunities all while creating a stable and safe community environment.” And that’s on display in projects like the Baker Street townhomes, drawing chains like CVS and Burger King to the neighborhood, launching local businesses like soul food restaurant Great Granns, and organizing residents to take part in clean-ups and other community-building events.
“Things move a little slower, development doesn’t happen [as fast here as it does] at other places, but it’s happening,” said Kelly Little, DHCDC’s executive director. “We still have issues of blight and the community has worked for a long time now, since the late ‘90s, to really develop community plans and set a plan and agenda for the revitalization of the neighborhood.”
Little arrived in Druid Heights in 1995 and was greeted to “open-air drug markets all day long.” There was a shanty town with makeshift huts, fires burning in barrels, drug users and prostitutes milling about just blocks away from the DHCDC building. A major scene from David Simon’s “Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets” played out nearby on the corner of Gold and Etting.
“A lot of people complain about ‘The Wire’ and things like that, but in a lot of ways, that was our reality,” Little said. “I can remember when I came in, [it was] just out of control.”
Part of the revitalization in Druid Heights has been simple beautification of the neighborhood. The shanty town was dismantled, while other dumping sites throughout the neighborhood were cleared. DHCDC built relationships with local churches, setting up a bi-monthly meeting to brainstorm ways to better connect clergy members with residents of the community through events, many of which involved environmental improvements.
Safety is still a concern, though Pressley says it is property and drug crimes and “not as much violent crime. I would think it’s more youth-related. It has something to do with a particular group of young people in the community who feel hopeless and feel like there’s a lack of resources. They’re doing what they think they need to do to survive. And we know who they are. We do.”
To address those issues, a city police officer reports to key Druid Heights stakeholders daily and attends the monthly community meeting. The officer gave the entire community his cell phone number, and receives about 40 calls a day from residents. Having that personal relationship, Pressley says, has made a significant difference.
Druid Heights’ housing stock is still strong. If the area continues to grow safer and businesses continue to invest in the area – CVS has already announced that it will rebuild here – population could rise. Little and Pressley are seeing more professionals come into the neighborhood. And they’re training a fleet of young residents at the DHCDC on community organizing and economic development. One intern specializes in photography; another writes the newsletter.
“There’s a lot going on,” Pressley said. “There’s a lot of resources here and there’s a lot of unity in the community. … There are people active on every block, they’re all attending community meetings. So you’re coming into a neighborly community.”
There’s no sugarcoating the events of the past few weeks. The fires and looting and destruction happened for a reason. But there’s more to Druid Heights than what was seen on TV.
“We’re a community that’s in transition and still have a lot of work to do,” Little said. “Then sometimes when you reflect back to the mid-90s and what it was like… We deal with that perception all the time, but things are changing. It’s starting to happen.”
This is part of an ongoing series from The Baltimore Sun about the history, culture, and future of Baltimore’s neighborhoods. Have a suggestion for what neighborhood to explore next? Let us know.