Looking back at Baltimore from above

31 Photos

Text by Jacques Kelly

Baltimore’s constantly changing landscape reveals itself in aerial photographs. Over the years Baltimore Sun photographers have flown over the construction of the Baltimore Beltway, the reconfiguration of the harbor and the building of public housing tracts in old neighborhoods.

A light snow coating the roofs of Baltimore rowhouses provided contrast for East baltimore flyovers. While the city streets are straight, creating a grid of right angles, the roads and avenues of Baltimore County twist and turn. No matter how much physical disruption alters the scenery, there is always some constant, some non-changing landmark. The old Memorial Stadium vanished in the 1990s, but the rowhouses along 36th Street remain. While the old Westport Power Plant also disappeared, the Middle Branch of the Patapsco River reminds us of its location.

The construction of the Jones Falls Expressway about 55 years ago altered many landmarks along Falls Road and the Jones Falls Valley. Sun photographers documented what had been a reservoir in Hampden. It was filled and is now a public park.