|
History of Morrell Park
Morrell Park, together with Westport, Violetville, and
Mount Winans, once
comprised an expansive 2,368 acre tract entitled
"Georgia," or "Georgia
Plantation," and later called "Mount Clare." This survey
was deeded to Dr.
Charles Carroll in 1732. It encompassed territory on
either side of the
Gwynn''s Falls and consumed much unclaimed land as well
as various occupied
lots. Of the original surveys embraced by the creation
of "Georgia," are
John Mercier's "Mill Haven" (1695); Thomas Bale''s "Momouth
Green" (1702);
Dr. Charles Carroll's own "Barely Hills" (1728) and his
"Discovery" (1729).
However, the precise disposition of these surveys are
not certain.
Dr. Carroll acquired his land for the express intention
of mineral
extraction. The following year the huge tract was
conveyed to the incipient
Baltimore Company, to which he belonged. Other charter
members of the
Baltimore Company or the Baltimore Iron Works Company,
were Daniel Dulaney,
Benjamin Tasker, and Charles and Daniel Carroll. The
Baltimore Company
thrived well into the 19th Century. It engaged in the
entrepreneurial
activities of mining, smelting, and forging bog iron
ore.
This land was said to be most picturesque and abounded
with farms and
forestland. The property inherited the name of "Hurley's
Woods," at some
point thereafter. The origin of this designation is
still unknown, but is
thought to have included the same portion of land below
Wilkens Avenue and
west of the Gwynns Falls. In the mid 19th Century the
Morrell Park territory
was divided among such individuals as William Pennell,
William Randle, C.
Eichelman, Joseph Maitland, and no least of all, a
member of the Morrell
Family. However, it appears that as though the
preponderance of the area was
part of the vast Canton Estate.
One of the first industries was a distillery on the edge
of an ice pond, in
what was long considered part of Mount Winans. The
distillery was supplanted
in the 1880s by a white lead factory and then converted
into an ice plant.
It was overseen by T.J. Waxter, and was hence called
Waxter's Ice Pond. It
is much smaller today, because the B&O filled in one end
of the pond for its
Camden cut-off. The property enveloping the pond was
acquired by Ross Winans
in the 1820s. Upon his arrival, the hills and fields
were barren. He
proceeded to plant orchards and erect greenhouses. Two
cottages were built
for his gardener and his caretaker. These were situated
on what is now
Wicomico Street. By 1880, streets were in place and lots
had been sold.
In response to the growing competition among Baltimore's
livestock markets,
the Union Stock Yards Company of Baltimore was formed in
1891. The B&O''s
Central Stock Yards, the Baltimore Stock Yards, and the
Pennsylvania
Railroad's Calverton Stock Yards were consolidated and
the B&O set up shop
on 50 acres adjoining their rail lines in Morrell Park.
Hogs were driven
daily from here to local butchers and abattoirs.
Livestock shows were staged
after 1928, which drew cattle breeders from as far as
Texas. The
headquarters for the Union Stock Yards Company was the
three-story Claremont
Hotel. The hotel offered accommodations for cattle
breeders and it housed a
barber shop, a telegraph office and a dining room as
well. In its heyday, it
was served by a streetcar which ran by the main
entrance. In later years it
was remodeled and called the Livestock Exchange Building
which housed the
offices of the business.
For many years the Stock Yards were second in size only
to the massive yards
in Chicago. Its slogan was "Every Hoof under every
roof," suggesting that
all livestock were afforded shelter, since stock made a
better appearance
when protected from the weather. Horse-drawn delivery
wagons from nearby
packaging houses would race down Wilkens Avenue to large
steamships on the
river to beat sailing time.
The livestock exchange began declining in the 1960's,
ascribed to better
transportation, and technological innovations that drew
most of the meat
packers closer to the source of the supply. The
Baltimore Union Stock Yards
shut down in 1967, and its grounds were purchased by the
Baltimore
Industrial Development Corporation in 1973. It now
serves as an industrial
park. Morrell Park, as the older neighborhoods in
southwest Baltimore
typically, was developed comparatively late. Woodland
covered a major
portion of the land into the 20th Century. In 1900, not
a single residence
existed in the western half. Only a mere few structures
dotted the eastern
end (Mount Winans), notably the Stone variety on Sexton
Street. Development
was sparse even at the outbreak of World War II. Mostly
dwelling units were
of the Daylight type architecture, built during the
1920s. These were
predominantly wood-frame units with scattered brick
structures, particularly
the row of brick dwellings on Washington Boulevard.
Several of the street names were changed at the time of
the 1918 annexation.
Washington Road became Washington Boulevard. Eighth
Street was changed to
Wilmington Avenue. Tenth Street became Letitia Avenue,
and today's Morrell
Park Avenue was formerly Thirteenth Street. Various
street designations
along the Falls were converted as well.
|
