Local Neighborhoods by grandmaR
Baltimore City has over 200 neighborhoods and there are more in Baltimore County. My husband grew up in Rogers Forge in Baltimore County-between York Rd and Bellona Avenue, just north of city line. The neighborhood consists of row houses (town houses) which were built in the 40s and 50s.
Pictured is the house my husband lived in. It is the end house on the row so it has side windows. Behind the house is an alley - the houses have small (40s era car size) garages off the alley, and they also had a cut-out in the alley so they could park another car there without blocking the alley (photo 3)
During WWII, they leased part of the house out to another couple. My father-in-law, mother-in-law, and sister-in-law lived on the second floor and my husband slept in the attic. The couple that rented from them lived on the first floor. After the war, the renters left, and my future in-laws moved back downstairs.
I grew up in Roland Park, which is in Baltimore City. We lived on St. Johns Road between Roland Avenue and the railroad tracks. Our house was the original farmhouse of the district - it had a pantry and a woodshed, but did not originally have indoor plumbing. (photo 5)
Roland Park is between Tuscany Road, Canterbury Road and Wilmslow Road on the east, University Parkway, Falls Road and Jones Falls Espressway on the south and west and Northern Parkway on the north. Our side of Roland Avenue was the "50 cent side" where the homes were smaller. It was laid out by George Kessler. The west side was the "dollar side" and was laid out by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Roland Park indirectly derives its name from Lake Roland, located to the north, which in turn is named for a Baltimore County landowner, Roland Thornberry. Development plans were begun in 1890, when William Edmunds decided to subdivide 100 acres of his property lying between Roland Avenue (then Maryland Avenue), Wynhurst Avenue, Cold Spring Lane, and the new Baltimore and Lehigh Railroad (later the Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad) along the Stony Run.