Thanks to Anomalous_A for sharing this great shot of St. Alphonsus Church in the Baltimore Heritage Flickr Group. Please share your own photos on Flickr and on our Facebook page!
Author: Eli
Eli Pousson started as a Field Officer at Baltimore Heritage in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation in October 2009. Prior to moving to Baltimore, Eli worked for the DC Office of Historic Preservation and completed graduate work in anthropology and historic preservation at the University of Maryland College Park. Eli continues to work with the Lakeland Community Heritage Project and other heritage organizations in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
Maryland Historical Trust leads effort to update statewide preservation plan this spring
We’re glad to share a guest post from Tim Leahy who is working with the Maryland Historical Trust leading the update to our State Historic Preservation Plan. This plan is not just important to the Maryland Historical Trust but is intended to offer direction on preservation issues for everyone from local governments to non-profit advocacy organizations like Baltimore Heritage to individual citizens. In addition to his work with MHT, Tim serves as the Vice Chairman of the Annapolis Historic Preservation Commission and is a long-time volunteer with the Charles Carroll House of Annapolis.
Earlier this month, the Maryland Historical Trust announced the start of a new effort to update Maryland’s State Historic Preservation Plan. The goal of the preservation plan is to gain a full understanding of the issues facing historical and cultural resources in Maryland and to identify innovative strategies for their recognition, long term care, and enhancement. State historic preservation plans are prepared periodically, in part to comply with National Park Service requirements. Plans must be updated in order for state historic preservation offices to remain eligible to participate in programs that provide federal funding and support for local preservation efforts across the country. Maryland’s most recent statewide preservation plan was published in 2005.
MHT is conducting interviews with stakeholders this winter and planning a series of public forums across the state for spring and summer. MHT is also looking to get input from citizens in Baltimore and across the state of Maryland with an easy online survey. Find more information about the plan on the Maryland Historical Trust website or PreserveMaryland Facebook page. You can also contact Tim Leahy at (410) 514-7625 or tleahy@mdp.state.md.us with questions and comments.
Welcoming a Canton neighbor into the Centennial Homes program on March 25
We’re excited to welcome our latest home-owner into the Baltimore Heritage Centennial Homes program with a plaque presentation for Mr. Roland Moskal on Fait Avenue at the monthly Canton Neighborhood Association meeting on March 25.
Moskal Centennial Home Plaque Presentation at the Canton Neighborhood Association Meeting
Monday, March 25, 2013, 7:00pm
United Evangelical Church, 3200 Dillon Street, Baltimore, MD 21224
Social gathering starts at 6:30pm and the presentation starts at 7:00pm with brief remarks from the Canton Neighborhood Association President, Daryll Jurkiewicz.
In 1904, Roland Moskal’s maternal grandmother, Maggie Williams, a widow, purchased a newly constructed rowhouse at 3408 Fait Ave. in the neighborhood of Canton in Baltimore City. She paid off her mortgage 17 months later in 1905. Over the last 108 years, Maggie Williams was followed by three generations of her family who have owned and occupied the property including her grandson Robert Moskal. Read on for the extensive profile of the history of this long-time Canton family and their home. Special thanks to our hard-working volunteer Lisa Doyle for her continuing work on the Centennial Homes program. If you have information on a Centennial Homeowner in your neighborhood, please contact Lisa Doyle at 410-484-7878 or doyle@baltimoreheritage.org.
Explore Baltimore Heritage is public history in action thanks to BreakingGround and UMBC graduate students
Thanks to a grant from UMBC’s BreakingGround initiative this past fall, Baltimore Heritage enjoyed a unique opportunity to work closely with UMBC Professor Dr. Denise Meringolo and nine UMBC students in a graduate-level public history course. The students worked with us to develop short video documentaries on the stories of Baltimore’s historic landmarks for our new website and smartphone application, Explore Baltimore Heritage. The student videos — produced with support from the UMBC New Media Studio — share images and vignettes from the history of grave-robbing at Davidge Hall, the ignominious demise of Edgar Allen Poe and his burial at the Westminster Burying Ground, and the complicated past of urban renewal at Baltimore’s First Mariner Arena.
When we first started working with Dr. Meringolo and her public history students in spring semester of 2012, we developed a project that allowed students to build on on our existing research and tell new stories about historic places like the Baltimore Bargain House or Hutzler’s Department Store with writing and archival photographs. When Dr. Meringolo offered us the opportunity to continue working with her students into the fall, we settled on an ambitious goal: use the wealth of historic photos from local archives to tell stories with short videos. Fortunately, several of the students from the spring semester collaboration decided to continue with the second course and brought valuable expertise on the history of downtown Baltimore to this new challenge.
It has been exciting observe how the students have gained a new perspective on the role of public history in the often political and messy debates around economic development and preservation in an urban downtown. For Baltimore Heritage, the partnership has greatly extended the capacity of our small two-person non-profit and enabled us to expand the featured buildings on Downtown’s West Side.
Please enjoy these great videos on YouTube, check out Explore Baltimore Heritage online, or download the iPhone or Android application today!
This post originally appeared on the BreakingGround blog.
The woman whose love was worth more than the throne of England
Happy Valentine’s Day! Thanks to everyone who showed up for the Mount Vernon Valentine’s Tour this past Sunday. One of our favorite stories from the tour was the story of Baltimore’s Wallis Simpson and her marriage to Edward VIII: a man who gave up the throne of England to be with the woman he loved. Nathan Dennies, one of our volunteer writers and a student at the University of Baltimore, has finished writing a great story on Wallis’ time living with her mother and stepfather at 212 East Biddle Street:
Image courtesy of “That Woman” by Anne Sebba.
The house on 212 East Biddle Street had three bedrooms: one for Wallis, one for her mother,and another that Wallis assumed was a guest bedroom. Little did she know that her mother was planning on remarrying and the extra bedroom would soon become the room of her new stepfather, John Freeman Rasin, son of the head of the Baltimore Democratic Party, Carroll Rasin. Wallis was crushed. She had envisioned a life of independence with her mother, free from relying on the financial help of others. Wallis threatened to run away, but reluctantly came to terms with her mother’s decision.
The marriage was held in the parlor of their home on June 20, 1908. The climax of the wedding came when Wallis, perhaps out of spite, snuck off to the kitchen and dug her hands into the cake in search of the good-luck tokens hidden inside. When her mother and stepfather came into the kitchen and saw the ruined cake, they stood speechless. Suddenly, Mr. Rasin laughed, picked Wallis up, and twirled her in the air. This act of forgiveness touched the young Wallis, and she never gave her stepfather any more trouble.
Read the full piece on Explore Baltimore Heritage. Don’t forget to download our free Explore Baltimore Heritage app for iPhone and Android!