We are a group dedicated to preserving the stories and places of Hampden through community engagement and action. We are partnered with Baltimore Heritage.
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Operating as usual
We appreciate everyone who took the time to send in letters and testify!
As he has in the past, the developer berates members of the commission and points a finger at community critics.
Nicely done Johns!
Baltimore is home to some of the most beautiful and well-preserved mill buildings in the United States. Today we feature Mt. Washington Mill, and a still-sta...
We are saddened by the loss of our friend Guy Hollyday. Guy was a real mover and shaker in Baltimore, and an incredible advocate for the environment. We knew him best as the historian of Stone Hill. In his book "Stone Hill in Baltimore: Stories from a Cotton Mill Village" Guy interviewed the people who worked in the mills and spent much of their lives in Stone Hill. The book is an invaluable resource for understanding our history, and it was always a special day when Guy came to talk at one of our programs. Our thoughts go out to his partner Pam and his loved ones.
Guy Hollyday shares some photos of Stone Hill homes.
He spoke at the Hampden Branch of Pratt Library on September 24th.
This is who we are up against.
The developer’s apartment project seemed headed for CHAP approval – the staff had recommended it. But then Jennings turned the hearing into a personal grievance session – and the meeting went off script.
Thank you to everyone who wrote letters!
In a surprise decision, CHAP overrules its staff and rejects Larry Jennings’ Clipper Road project.
"Replacement of the Schenuit building with a self-storage facility will compromise Woodberry’s historic character, Nathan Dennies, chair of the Greater Hampden Heritage Alliance, said.
'It’s a shame that such a prominent historic building is planned to be torn down. I’m disappointed that the City Council created an amendment to the Woodberry Historic District that allows the developer to bypass CHAP and replace the factory with a strip-mall-style self-storage facility.'"
Replacing the factory with a self-storage building is made possible by an amendment from the district’s councilman.
Outrageous.
"The goal of the suit is explicitly stated in the complaint: To intimidate the residents and have a chilling effect on free speech and participation in public forums by seeking 'a substantial punitive award. . . to deter such conduct in the future.'"
Critics have cited zoning law and the developer’s character – he says they gave up their right to object when they signed the deed or lease to their residence.
It's shocking that the City would issue a demolition permit when project plans were recently nullified by the Baltimore Circuit Court. And as legislation to make Woodberry a local historic district is close to being signed into law.
Despite a court order, Larry Jennings, a very well-connected developer, gets the permits he wants from Baltimore’s housing department.
We're witnessing history here on the Avenue with modern mainstays like Ma Petite Shoe and Hampden Junque closing their brick and mortar shops as a result of COVID-19.
"Before the 1990s, W. 36th Street was lined mostly with utilitarian shops and businesses that served the immediate community and offered staples–a food market, bakery, clothing stores, banks, a thrift shop. Many of the merchants were reaching retirement age. Hampden Junque’s space formerly housed Benson’s Hardware Store.
Hampden Junque represented something different–a non-essential business filled with items mostly for fun and amusement, and that celebrated Baltimore. Along with Cafe Hon, its neighbor, it has been been credited with helping spark a retail renaissance for Hampden that brought visitors from other parts of the city and beyond."
After 25 years at 1006 W. 36th St., Hampden Junque is making the transition from a brick-and-mortar store to an online emporium this week. Makarovich said he decided to make the change because of the uncertainly over the store's future due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
CHAP's May meeting begins at 1pm and the Tractor Building is on the agenda. Character defining features will be demolished including the roof, monitors, and at least one of the walls. We are urging CHAP to closely follow its guidelines when assessing major alterations/additions to landmarked buildings. The Tractor Building is one of the largest historic buildings in the neighborhood, and located in the heart of Woodberry.
Please join in and testify if you can.
You may join by computer or smartphone at: https://bmore.webex.com/bmore/onstage/g.php?MTID=e67d3c80e8c202deadd5251e9e60eab07
Nice piece about the time typhoid hit Woodberry. It was the impetus for the city to bring better sanitation to the neighborhood.
The debates surrounding current coronavirus pandemic were heard in the early 1900s when Baltimore's Woodberry neighborhood was stricken with typhoid.
Another huge success! Thank you everyone for your support.
PLANNING COMMISSIONERS APPROVE 6-2 TO ADVANCE the initiative for Woodberry Historic District designation!
Community,
We had no idea how the remote testimony would work or advance.
Needless to say, we had 91 in attendance. If we consider CHAP staff, reporters and Commissioners,we could suggest 70+ (for and against) in participation!!!!! Amazing.
More later on specifics. WELL DONE community. Your flood of letters was rewarding and your participation whether support or opposed is a community in action.
Woodberry Community Association
Advocacy Alert! The Baltimore City Planning Department is holding a virtual hearing to review the Woodberry Local Historic District.
This important hearing will determine the final boundaries and if the legislation will move toward becoming law. We urge everyone to virtually attend in support of this legislation or send written testimony.
If you are unable to participate, you may submit written testimony to [email protected] by 10 am on March 26th. View the full agenda below. The meeting begins at 1:00 pm. The Historic District is #10 on the agenda.
Show your support for the Woodberry Local Historic District by sending a letter to Councilman Pinkett using the form here. Legislation has reached City Council and we're now close to providing Woodberry with the historic protection it deserves.
We hope to see you between 6-8pm at Union Craft tonight to support the next steps for making Woodberry a local historic district!
Also to be introduced tonight: Charter amendment to change the makeup of the City Council and tax credits for UMB’s BioPark.
Some great news in the neighborhood and for the conservation of the Jones Falls courtesy of our friends at Friends of The Jones Falls!
Union Collective and the Friends of the Jones Falls will implement a green infrastructure master plan for the Medfield-area business collective with help from a nearly $50,000 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
Funding historic tax credits is a no brainer. It more than pays itself back and preserves our cherished places that contribute so much to livability and sense of place. You can advocate to raise the state historic tax credit cap by supporting our friends at Preservation Maryland. They're in Annapolis advocating for preservation. This tax credit is why so many of our historic mills are preserved today.
January 2020 Maryland has a treasure trove of historically significant buildings that connect us to the past and reflect the unique heritage of the state. Historical buildings are often built with higher-quality materials and construction representing a diversity of architectural styles, adding to t...
At risk for demolition, Tractor Building gets temporary landmark listing | Baltimore Brew
Move by Baltimore’s CHAP preservation panel protects the 116-year-old Woodberry structure, which is being eyed for redevelopment.
Getting underway with the church tour at St. Mary's -- Chesapeake Shakespeare Factory!
Hooray! Thank you to everyone who has supported this effort so far. We still have a ways to go before the Woodberry Historic District becomes law, but we've cleared an important step in the process. We'll still need your support as this moves forward to the next stage, likely early into the new year.
The designation now must be approved by the Planning Commission and the City Council.
The CHAP hearing is today! Please send a letter using the form below if you haven't already. We need your support!
We're asking for something more important than money this #GivingTuesday. We need your support for the Woodberry Local Historic District. Please send a letter to CHAP using the form below. Your support goes a long way to establishing real protection for historic buildings in the neighborhood. You can also plan to attend the hearing on December 10, 1:00 pm at 417 East Fayette Street, Eighth Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202-3416.
Stacie Guerin
Starting the holiday cheer with Julia FitzGerald, wonderful fiddler and friend, and Elise Kress
Are you having a holiday celebration? Why not have some live music? Give us a call at 703-522-2866 or email at [email protected].
#Celticmusic
#Celticparty
We're asking for something more important than money this #GivingTuesday. We need your support for the Woodberry Local Historic District. Please send a letter to CHAP using the form below. Your support goes a long way to establishing real protection for historic buildings in the neighborhood. You can also plan to attend the hearing on December 10, 1:00 pm at 417 East Fayette Street, Eighth Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202-3416.
The second hearing for the Woodberry local historic district is coming up on December 10, 1:00 p.m.-4:00 p.m at the public CHAP meeting, 417 East Fayette Street Eighth Floor.
We encourage you to attend if you can. Like the first time around, we need a good showing of public support to push it through. You can also sign on to a letter to CHAP showing your support by following the link below. Written testimony makes a difference. Let's make the Woodberry local historic district a reality! It's the only way to make sure the neighborhood's historic buildings are protected and to give the community a say about future development.
https://secure.everyaction.com/X1KgA4DcuECLxqKkeOH9wQ2
Great bike ride today! Thank you to everyone who stuck it out in the cold to explore the Jones Falls valley. Special thanks to Bob Wagner for leading the ride!
We couldn't have asked for a better showing at yesterday's CHAP hearing. Thank you to everyone who showed support by attending or sending in testimony. There are still a few hearings to go and we'll need your continued support!
An effort to designate a “hot” real estate market for historic protection is opposed by one person at CHAP hearing – developer Larry Jennings.
CHAP to begin hearings on whether to make Woodberry a historic district
If commissioners opt to proceed with a "deeper study" of Woodberry's historic district potential tomorrow, CHAP would then schedule a second hearing to vote on the designation.
This is a reminder that this Tuesday the Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) will be holding the first hearing on establishing a Woodberry Local Historic District. Use this form to send a letter of support to CHAP. A sample letter will be prepared for you to send right away or personalize.
https://secure.everyaction.com/PyEsO4QNAUmTABZLMFVISg2
You can also attend the hearing in person October 8, 2019 at 2 p.m. (Plan to arrive by 1:45). Location: 417 East Fayette Street, Eighth Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202
Woodberry holds an indelible place in Baltimore's history and needs to be protected for current and future generations. While already designated as a National Register Historic District, that primarily honorary designation offers very little protection from thoughtless demolition and development. By designating Woodberry as a CHAP District, we can help safe guard the important historic fabric in this neighborhood.
Photo: Meadow Mill, courtesy Enoch Pratt Free Library
It's happening! On October 8, the Commission on Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP) will be holding the first hearing on establishing a Woodberry Local Historic District. Use this form to send a letter of support to CHAP. A sample letter will be prepared for you to send right away or personalize.
https://secure.everyaction.com/PyEsO4QNAUmTABZLMFVISg2
You can also attend the hearing in person October 8, 2019 at 2 p.m. (Plan to arrive by 1:45). Location: 417 East Fayette Street, Eighth Floor, Baltimore, MD 21202
Woodberry holds an indelible place in Baltimore's history and needs to be protected for current and future generations. While already designated as a National Register Historic District, that primarily honorary designation offers very little protection from thoughtless demolition and development. By designating Woodberry as a CHAP District, we can help safe guard the important historic fabric in this neighborhood.
Photo: Poole Engineering & Machine Company, Hughes Company Glass Negatives Collection, UMBC
Great to see the chimney swifts get some press! It was a spectacular migration this year. We love the intersection of conservation and preservation.
Each spring and fall, thousands of migrating chimney swifts spend the nights in a Hampden smokestack.
Biggest crowd ever for the chimney swifts! Now waiting for the birds to show up.
Another major project announced while Woodberry seeks a local historic district designation with CHAP. Hopefully we see a stronger preservation solution.
"CHAP director Eric Holcomb, who did not attend the UDAAP meeting, said afterwards that the preservation commission will likely discuss neighbors’ request to add the Tractor Building to the city’s landmark list at its next meeting on Sept. 10.
If the building is added, any changes to the exterior, up to and including demolition, would have to be approved by CHAP. "
"You've got to be a bit careful that this does not present itself as Disney-esque," a member of UDAAP warned the development team.
How is this a "building within a building" when it appears most of the original building is being destroyed?
Plans call for retaining three sides of the historic Tractor Building but removing the massive roof and most of the south wall, and then creating a "building within a building."
Adding insult to injury. Woodberry deserves better.
“It looks like a public storage facility!” So says a resident about the building unveiled by developer Katherine Jennings to replace the historic stone houses razed in May.
Nice Explore Baltimore Heritage piece on Mill No. 1!
Mill No. 1 sits on the site of Laurel Mill, a late 18th-century flour mill originally owned by prominent businessman and abolitionist Elisha Tyson. In 1849, the newly chartered Mount Vernon Company built a textile mill on the site. Mill No. 1 stood at the threshold of a burgeoning textile empire tha...
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Holiday Art Show benefiting Moveable Feast
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Jewish Museum of Maryland Education and Schoo
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