Roland Park: Exploring Baltimore’s Neighborhoods
Moving to the suburbs in the late 19th century was a fashionable thing to do, particularly for wealthy residents of city neighborhoods like Mount Vernon and Bolton Hill. Roland Park, a North Baltimore development created in the 1890s, was not the first of its kind in this area to inspire relocation. But in many ways, “Roland Park was the catalyst for the Baltimore suburban movement that followed it.”
That’s what Douglas P. Munro wrote in his 2015 book “Greater Roland Park,” which takes readers on a photographic journey through the neighborhood’s history. Conceived as a garden suburb that incorporated topography into its planning, Roland Park’s spacious lots and large homes earned it a reputation as Baltimore’s premier neighborhood for the affluent. That status has endured through time.
- The McCormick family home at 402 Hawthorn Road. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- Laurel Path, one of the many neighborhood trails in Roland Park. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- The houses along Longwood Road are tucked below the street level. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- The houses along Longwood Road are tucked below the street level. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- The houses along Longwood Road are tucked below the street level. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- The Engine No. 44 fire station at Roland Avenue and Upland Road in Roland Park. It was built in 1899. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- The Engine No. 44 fire station at Roland Avenue and Upland Road in Roland Park. It was built in 1899. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- French restaurant Petit Louis is a part of Roland Park’s only commercial district. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- 401 Hawthorn Road, the first lot in Roland Park. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- Upland Path, one of the many neighborhood trails in Roland Park. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- Upland Path, one of the many neighborhood trails in Roland Park. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- Roland Park Presbyterian Church was founded in 1901. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- 118 and 120 Hawthorn Road are believed to be the first houses built in Roland Park. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- 108 Ridgewood Road in Roland Park. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- 104 Ridgewood Road in Roland Park. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- The Roland Park Water Tower, originally built in 1904-05 to provide water to the adjacent areas. (Emma Patti Harris/Baltimore Sun)
- A home on Roland Ave. at W. Melrose Ave. (Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum, March 2010)
- Schneider’s Hardware in Roland Park is pictured on Sept. 27, 2004. (Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum)
- This is the exterior of the dream home of Amy and Tim Askew, which is in Roland Park. (Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor, Oct. 24, 2012)
- The front porch of the dream home of Amy and Tim Askew, which is in Roland Park. (Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor, Oct. 24, 2012)
- Jim and Debby Naylor moved to this 5-bedroom attached house in Roland Park after their children were grown. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun / June 9, 2015)
- Garden educator Cheryl Carmona supervises students picking vegetables in the Gardens for Learning at Roland Park Country School in Baltimore. (Photo by Doug Kapustin for The Baltimore Sun, Nov. 4, 2015)
- This is the location of what will become the new restaurant by Foreman and Wolf, located in the Roland Park Shopping Center. (Baltimore Sun photo by Barbara Haddock Taylor, Jan. 25, 2011)
- The backyard and pool of Joan and Tom Dolina’s Roland Park house. (Baltimore Sun photo by John Makely, October 3, 2006)
- A view of Roland Park at Hawthorne Road at Upland. (1941 Baltimore Sun photo by Aubrey Bodine)
- A view of S’ghetti Eddie’s in Roland Park. (Baltimore Sun photo by André F. Chung, March 22, 2007)
- Avery Goldstein, 6, of Roland Park, in front, leads a cluster of riders, including Lynn Heller, also of Roland Park, in a pumpkin costume, at right. Cyclists, walkers, joggers, kids on scooters, and pets came out for Roland Park’s second Ciclovia event, in which the southbound lane of Roland Avenue was closed between Northern Parkway and Cold Spring Lane from 8a.m. until 1p.m. on Oct. 31, 2010. (Amy Davis, Baltimore Sun)
- Firefighters work a two-alarm fire on a home in Roland Park on Jan. 23, 2014. (Baltimore Sun photo by Karl Merton)
- The tudor style Roland Park Shopping Center will soon be home to another restaurant at the expense of the Roland Park Deli which will close. The deli, located in the rear of the shopping center has been a community fixture for years. (Photo by Jerry Jackson/Baltimore Sun)
- The Roland Park branch of the Enoch Pratt Free Library will reopen on Monday, following a two-year, $5.3 million renovation and expansion. The library space was doubled, and many new amenities have been added. (December 14, 2007, Baltimore Sun Photo/Amy Davis)
- Judith Lennox is retrofitting her Roland Park home to make it more environmentally friendly. The green house features passive solar, energy efficient appliances and recycled materials. (KIm Hairston/Baltimore Sun/Feb. 25, 2005)
- Petit Louis Restaurant at 4800 Roland Ave. is pictured on Oct. 26, 2011. (Baltimore Sun photo by Algerina Perna)
- A Roland Park home is pictured on May 9, 2001. (Baltimore Sun/Karl Merton Ferron)
- David Stelzer wields a Force FX Light Saber, at his family’s store, Shananigans Toy Shop in Roland Park on November 23, 2007. (Baltimore Sun photo by Amy Davis)
- Realtor Scott Smith of Keller Williams Realty (center) shows a Roland Park home to Ahmet Baschat and his wife, Miriam Doyle-Baschat. (Doug Kapustin/For The Baltimore Sun)
- Bob Kean says taxes alone on his West University Parkway home are $12,000. (Baltimore Sun photo by Jed Kirschbaum, Oct. 23, 2009)
- Video Americain, a neighborhood move rental store, is celebrating its 20th year in Roland Park. Photo taken on March 6, 2009. (Amy Davis / Baltimore Sun)
- Roland Park Country School is pictured in an undated Baltimore Sun photo.
- The city’s streetcar buffs say these trolleys in Roland Park need a roof – -a “living museum” — to honor the time when people paid 5 cents or less to ride them. (Baltimore Sun photo, August 4, 1964)
- This 26-room mansion in the Poplar Hill section of Roland Park has been acquired by Boys Latin School. (Baltimore Sun photo, July 26, 1970)
- Roland Park Water Tower pictured on Oct. 5, 1970. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- The Roland Park Water Tower is pictured on July 5, 1969. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- A view of Pleasant Place in Roland Park on May 26, 1961. (Baltimore Sun photo by William Mortimer)
- Members of the Womens Club of Roland Park ride through the neighborhood on Dec. 6, 1946. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- Woodlawn and Kenwood Roads in Roland Park are pictured on May 5, 1941. (Baltimore Sun photo by A. Aubrey Bodine)
- A city policeman keeps an eye on a bus at Roland Park Junior High School on Oct. 16, 1975. (Baltimore Sun photo by Carl D. Harris)
- A view of the Women’s Club of Roland Park. (Baltimore Sun photo, undated)
- The Roland Park Country School was engulfed in flames in 1947. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- A view of Dohme Estate in Roland Park on April 4, 1978. (Baltimore Sun photo by Clarence B. Garrett)
- A view of Dohme Estate in Roland Park on April 4, 1978. (Baltimore Sun photo by Clarence B. Garrett)
- A view of the Enoch Pratt Free Library branch in Roland Park on Jan. 29, 1966. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- Girls’ Latin School in Roland Park is pictured on June 21, 1951. (Baltimore Sun photo by Ellis Malashuk)
- A view of a Roland Park apartment building on July 4, 1974. (Baltimore Sun photo by Richard Childress)
- Emily Johnson poses in front of her Roland Park home on March 20, 1992. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- A five-alarm blaze strikes Roland Park Country School on Nov. 27, 1976. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- A view of Roland Park Country School on March 30, 1977. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- A view of a Roland Park home at Atwick Road on Aug. 5,1967. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- A view of Roland Park Place on April 4, 1986. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- A view of Roland Park on May 5, 1941. (Baltimore Sun photo)
- The crew for Barry Levinson’s “Diner” prepares to film a scene at St. David’s Episcopal Church in Roland Park on March 18, 1981. (Baltimore Sun photo by Weyman Swagger)
- The Roland Park Shopping Center is pictured on Dec. 11, 1976. (Baltimore Sun photo by Carl D. Harris)
Roland Park
» Border streets: Jones Falls, Northern Parkway, Roland Avenue, Wyndhurst Avenue, Stony Run, Oakdale Road, Schlenly Road, Cold Spring Lane
» Neighboring areas: North Roland Park/Poplar Hill, Wyndhurst, Loyola/Notre Dame, Evergreen, Keswick, Tuscany-Canterbury, Wyman Park, Hampden, Hoes Heights, Medfield, Cross Keys
» More neighborhoods
» Help us catalog the signs of Baltimore City’s neighborhoods
“It’s still a very suburban feel, even though since 1919 all this has been in the city limits,” Munro said during a January tour of the neighborhood. “People around here aren’t ashamed of the word ‘suburb.’ We think it’s a great word. It’s used disparagingly lots of times, but nobody uses it disparagingly around here.”
With an almost non-existent crime rate and an average home price that exceeds $460,000, it’s easy to see why residents shrug off any seemingly derisive comments about the neighborhood’s suburban similarities. The exclusivity of Roland Park has always been a selling point.
Under the direction of Edward H. Bouton, the secretary of the Roland Park Company of Baltimore, the neighborhood was laid out in six distinct areas, with Plat 3 emerging “as the go-to place for the wealthy,” Munro said. “Why? That’s where the golf course is. … There are only two plats with the juxtaposition of modest houses and massive homes (Plats 1 and 5). Plats 2, 3 and 6 are more uniform in the sense of grandiosity.”
Roomy homes were certainly a draw, but Munro said that the Roland Park Company’s decision to bankroll the building of the golf course’s clubhouse and leasing the land on “incredibly favorable terms” added to the neighborhood’s cachet – particularly as fellow RPC developments Guilford and Homeland were taking off. The ease of transportation only aided Roland Park’s growth.
“People coming from Mount Vernon to play golf would take the street car along Roland Avenue and pass all these living advertisements for the Roland Park Company’s wares,” Munro said. “It was a brilliant move. In the long term, it paid off spectacularly for getting people familiar with the area.”
Behind the scenes, however, an unsavory strategy for growing RPC neighborhoods emerged. A 2014 Johns Hopkins Magazine piece chronicled those efforts.
“By 1912, Bouton and the Roland Park Company would push the legal limit and include blatant deed restrictions against African-Americans in Guilford,” Elizabeth Evitts Dickinson wrote. “In an era marked by Jim Crow laws and fears over public health and immigration, the Roland Park Company became a pioneer in selling planned communities for their safety, their incorporation of nature, and, above all else, their homogeneity. The company promoted the notion that the most desirable place to live should be exclusionary.”
In 1948, the Supreme Court ruled that courts could not enforce real estate covenants based on race. Roland Park still has covenants in place, though Munro said they exist for aesthetic purposes, such as “not having outhouses and chickens running about. I couldn’t have pigs, I couldn’t have chickens, I couldn’t have an outhouse and I couldn’t have a stable. Just in case I wanted any of those things.”
Munro, a former vice president of the Roland Park Civic League, said the neighborhood today is tight-knit despite its size – roughly 1,100 households. There is a tremendous sense of civic engagement, perhaps best exemplified by the Enoch Pratt Free Library branch on Roland Avenue.
“That was a very tumbled-down branch of the library,” Munro said. “The Roland Park Community Foundation raised a ton of money to rehab it. They didn’t take it over. It’s not owned by Roland Park – it’s still a city library. But Roland Park raised millions to rehab it and make it much bigger. It’s maybe even double the size of what it once was.
“Obviously a lot of places just don’t have the resources to raise $2 million to rehab a library. Nevertheless, even in places which do have the money, I think perhaps there might be some reticence to raise a ton of money that in the end, you’re not going to have any control over. I call it local patriotism. There’s a great sense of pride in Roland Park and involvement.”
Munro was swept away by that involvement when he moved to Roland Park in 2004. An Englishman who came to Baltimore to do graduate work in political science at Johns Hopkins nearly 30 years ago, Munro had grown tired of his Charles Village row house, and sought a neighborhood with more green space where he and his wife could raise their two children. In Roland Park, he found that and much more – impressive architecture, proximity to shopping and restaurants, nature integrated with community, and safety.
“It’s a great place to raise children,” Munro said. “If you are like I was in your late 30s and you’re looking to upgrade from your rowhouse neighborhood, you’re going to be very pleasantly surprised by how [little traffic there] is here [and] how there are so many nature-related things to do. … It’s a very neighborly-ish neighborhood. That’s hopelessly redundant, but it’s wonderful in that sense. There’s a sense of common cause and pulling together to make Roland Park better.”
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.
Peggy
Mar 02, 2016 @ 19:15:14
Wonderful photographic memories of Roland Park. But do you have any of the Post Office where my Dad was postmaster for over 30 years.
Thank you,
Peggy