New Views of Old Bolton Hill

Change is one of the laws of urban life, from the introduction to Then & Now: Baltimore Architecture (2006), by Charlie Duff & Tracey Clark.

This month we are lucky to have several new photos to share, showing Bolton Hill during its “urban renewal” period in the mid-20^th century. R. Julian Roszel, Jr. was a president of one of the earlier iterations of the neighborhood association then — instrumental in getting the John Street Park created in 1955. Before the wrecking ball hit several blocks of houses, he had the forethought to grab his camera and snap photographs.

Roszel’s daughter, lifelong Bolton Hil resident Merry Rogers of W. Lanvale St., saved the photos all these years. Recently she unearthed them so they could be donated to the archives at the University of Baltimore. Aiden Faust, archivist at UB, scanned some of the best of the slides for us, and here we present a selection, with some context for each. The dates range from 1956 to 1963.

This 1913 Polk’s directory lists a drug store at that address in that year, the “John St. Drug Store”:

The next photo simply shows the facades of a couple of houses to the right of that store, useful to illustrate the extreme state of neglect at the time.

Then we have a view from the back of the first row of houses in the first block of West Lanvale, looking southeast toward Mt. Vernon:

We can see in the distance familiar landmarks like the Belvedere and the Mt. Royal Station (then bearing its B&O signage, under the clock on the tower). Notice the tan triangular building to the left of the foliage: it’s the old Bryn Mawr School location, where the Meyerhoff symphony hall stands today.

Looking up the hill from the bottom of the 1200 block of John St., we can see the still-standing facades of some of the John Appleton Wilson houses in the background on the right:

In the foreground there, at Dolphin St. & John St., is “Kay Exterminating Co.,” with its windows boarded up. Today, this is about where the Re-New Apartments (formerly known as Sutton Place) keep a dumpster.

Here’s an art show on the sidewalk of John St. just north of Lanvale:

That sidewalk scene was alongside 132 W. Lanvale St. Turning a few steps farther north there’s a glimpse of the John Street Park in its earliest days, with potted plants ready to be nestled in empty beds:

Several of Roszel’s photos captured Linden Ave. — now nearly entirely gone — replaced by modern, shorter townhouses. Here he shows us the even side of the 1400 block of Linden Ave., and at right you can see a corner of the Marlborough Apartments (where the Cone sisters lived):

Linden Ave. was home to some notable folks. The writer Letitia Stockett, who taught at the Friends School, lived with her parents at 1430 Linden Ave.:

In her 1928 book Baltimore: A Not Too Serious History, Ms. Stockett writes that Dr. Jesse Lazear was born in the 1200 block of Linden Ave. And the artist and Bryn Mawr teacher Gabrielle de Veaux Clements once resided at 1415 Linden Ave.

South of the 1400 block, Roszel labeled this photo Lanvale at Linden:

And this one is Linden at Lanvale:

Down at the bottom of Linden Ave., by Dolphin St., the Western Maryland Dairy used to have a large facility. Current BHCA president Lee Tawney’s mother worked there. It was located around where the Bolton House apartments are now, at 1100 Bolton St.

Coming back around to Bolton Hill proper, we have this view looking north from the 1100 block of Park Ave., up the hill toward W. Lanvale St.:

Those boarded-up homes stood where the entrance to the Sutton apartment’s upper parking lot is today. Look farther up the hill to see what was once a garage called Jenkins & Davis—now residential. Lottie Shivers remembers when she and Frank took their car to those mechanics.

Finally, on the left side of that same block, where the Bolton Hill Swim & Tennis Club is now, we see Monumental Storage Security Co., a massive furniture storage and rug-cleaning operation:

A remnant of those structures can still be seen along the sidewalk in that block:

These were among the best of the Bolton Hill photos, but the Roszel collection at UB includes others, as well as many pictures of downtown and the Inner Harbor during that era: https://archivesspace.ubalt.edu/repositories/2/resources/256.

We’re indebted to Mr. Roszel for his prescient impulse to grab his camera and preserve these images, no doubt recognizing the magnitude of the impending changes. And we’re also grateful to Merry Rogers for hanging onto the slides all these years and sharing them with us and with UB for future researchers. Views like these of Bolton Hill just don’t seem to exist anywhere else.

Or do they? Do you or any former neighbors have similar pictures collecting dust in an attic or basement? Let us know at history@boltonhillmd.org, and maybe they can be shared in a future Bulletin article.

–Kevin Cross

Links to Full Resolution photos are below

The Bolton Hill Bulletin

New Views of Old Bolton Hill

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