Baltimore Heritage

Join public artist Graham Coreil-Allen and environmental activist Jennifer Kunze as they explore the cultural and environmental impacts of cars in and around Druid Hill Park. Beginning in the 1940s, car-oriented planning deprived neighboring residents of the public health, cultural, and economic benefits of Druid Hill Park. Construction of the Druid Hill Expressway and the Jones Falls Expressway resulted in dangerous five-to-nine-lane-wide highways encapsulating the park, and blocking access by nearby residents. Further, this influx of cars brought increased air pollution into the neighborhoods.

Captain Jan Miles will be joining us from the Pride of Baltimore II to discuss the history of the Pride of Baltimore, clipper schooners and privateers, and what is happening with the ship today.

When we think of classical architecture, we usually think of ancient temples, or the cathedrals and palaces that Renaissance architects built in imitation of classical antiquity. We don’t usually think of row houses.

We should. In the years between 1600 and about 1850, the years when the people of the North Atlantic world wanted classical architecture, they invented the row house and built the first row house cities.

The women’s suffrage movement. Cast-in-place concrete. Katherine Hepburn. What do these three things have in common? The Roosevelt Park Recreation Center, of course! In this installment of Virtual Histories, BAF board member Jackson Gilman-Forlini will present his ongoing research into the origins and architecture of Baltimore’s first rec center.