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Industry on the Gwynns Falls

2018-11-27T10:33:52-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Industry on the Gwynns Falls

Subject

Industry

Creator

Gwynns Falls Trail Council

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

Gristmills, Union Stockyards, and the Wilkens Curled Hair Factory

Story

Industries flourished in the lower Gwynns Falls Valley since the early 1700s, when the Baltimore Iron Works Company turned iron into nails and anchors and Dr. Charles Carroll's gristmills ground wheat into flour. The Union Stockyards, located south of Wilkens Avenue near the railroads from 1891 to 1967, brought "every hoof under one roof" in was was claimed to be the largest stockyard east of Chicago.

Nearby Wilkens Avenue is named for William Wilkens, a German-born entrepreneur who built a large factory complex in 1845 to the east where the Westside Shopping Center is located. The Wilkens Curled Hair Factory, which had as many as 1,000 employees and operated until the 1920s, processed animal hair from slaughterhouses to make mattresses and upholstery—and, like many other industries, dumped its waste into the waterways flowing to the Chesapeake Bay. Wilkens built housing for some of his workers and provided land for the avenue that bears his name today.

Street Address

2700 Frederick Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21223

Ellicott Driveway

2019-01-18T22:45:08-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Ellicott Driveway

Subject

Parks and Landscapes

Creator

Gwynns Falls Trail Council

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Lede

Close beside the Gwynns Falls is Ellicott Driveway, completed by the city in 1917 as the kind of stream valley parkway envisioned by the Olmsted Brothers landscape architectural firm in 1904.

Story

Ellicott Driveway was built on top of the millrace that once carried water to Three Mills operated by the Ellicott Brothers near Frederick Road. In the 1800s, twenty-six gristmills along the Gwynns Falls and others on the Jones Falls and Patapsco River contributed to Baltimore's first economic boom. Besides their Ellicott City mills, the Ellicotts built the Three Mills complex in this area and were partners in the five Calverton Mills upstream at Leon Day Park. The Ellicotts also helped build the Frederick Turnpike so wagons could carry their products to ships at their Inner Harbor wharf.

The Ellicott Driveway was completed by the city in 1917 as the kind of stream valley parkway envisioned by the Olmsted Brothers landscape architectural firm in 1904. The diversion dam for the millrace created a dramatic waterfall: "Baltimore's Niagara Falls." In 1930, the Municipal Art Society of Baltimore praised the route, writing:

"so gracefully following the curves of the stream in Gwynn's Falls park [Ellicott Driveway]... adapts itself to the con91��Ƶ of the terrain and... takes full advantage of natural beauty."

Today, the route is closed to cars and trucks and reserves its natural beauty for bicycles and pedestrians along the Gwynns Falls Trail.

Street Address

Ellicott Driveway, Baltimore, MD 21216

Carroll Park

2020-03-20T09:19:06-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Carroll Park

Subject

Parks and Landscapes

Creator

Gwynns Falls Trail Council

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

Carroll Park is Baltimore's third oldest city park and was originally part of the enormous Mount Clare plantation owned by Charles Carroll, Barrister in the mid-eighteenth century. The park was the site of Camp Carroll during the Civil War and, in the 30 years prior to becoming a park, the area surrounding Mt. Clare was leased from the Carrolls and became Southwestern Schuetzen Park—a private recreation area used by Baltimore's German immigrant community.

In 1890, the City purchased 20 acres of the former estate to create Carroll Park and in 1906 engaged the Olmsted Brothers to develop a master plan. The famous firm’s recommendations respected the historic character of the west side, including the Mt. Clare mansion, while providing for sports facilities on the east, in keeping with the trend toward more active recreation for urban dwellers.

The Carroll Park Golf Course, on a separate parcel farther west, became the focus of Civil Rights protests over segregation and was integrated in 1951; it features a 9-hole executive course. The Gwynns Falls Trail passes through the edge of the golf course and the park.

Official Website

Street Address

1500 Washington Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21230

Carrollton Viaduct

2021-02-15T16:57:01-05:00

Dublin Core

Title

Carrollton Viaduct

Subject

Transportation

Creator

Gwynns Falls Trail Council

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Subtitle

1829 Railroad Bridge Named for Charles Carroll of Carrollton

Story

On July 4, 1828, Charles Carroll of Carrollton, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence and a director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, laid the cornerstone for the Carrollton Viaduct and remarked, "I consider this among the most important acts of my life, second only to my signing the Declaration of Independence."

Completed in 1829, the railroad named the 300-foot stone structure for Charles Carroll of Carrollton. This bridge over the Gwynns Falls was the first major stream crossing as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad headed west from its Pratt Street terminus. Worried about competition from canals, Baltimore's business leaders cast their lot with a new untested technology, railroads. Horses initially pulled the loads, but the B&O successfully introduced steam-powered locomotives and became known as "the Railroad University of the United States"

By 1880, the railroad helped make Baltimore a major livestock and coal terminal and the second largest port for grain in the nation. Carrollton Viaduct has endured and is now the world's oldest active railroad bridge.

Street Address

2100 Washington Boulevard, Baltimore, MD 21230

Access Information

Street address is the location of Gwynns Falls Trail South trailhead at Carroll Park. The viaduct is located a short walk north along the trail from Washington Boulevard.

Crimea Estate at Leakin Park

2020-10-21T10:20:46-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Crimea Estate at Leakin Park

Subject

Environment

Architecture

Industry

Description

The Crimea Estate is the former summer home of Thomas DeKay Winans, a chief engineer of the Russian Railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 19th Century. The estate features Winans' Italianate stone mansion, Orianda, as well as a gothic chapel, a "honeymoon" cottage, and a carriage house. The architectural design is said to have been inspired by Winans' French-Russian wife, Celeste Louise Revillon.

An early, and now often overlooked, part of the estate is called Winans Meadow in Leakin Park. This current meadow was the site of an early milling operation along the Gwynns Falls River. An iron water wheel still remains that pumped water to the Orianda mansion. Along with the water wheel, a barn, silo, smokehouse, and root cellar also tell the story of early development in West Baltimore. There is even an intriguing battlement near the meadow that is thought to be modeled after the Battle of Balaklava where the Russian stand against the British was immortalized in Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade."

Although Leakin Park has retained its original structures in a picturesque natural setting, it almost wasn't so. In the 1970s, federal and city officials planned to route Interstate 70 through the park in front of the mansion and directly through the carriage house. Saved by a group of dedicated Baltimoreans, the estate remains a central element in Leakin Park.

Creator

Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

The Crimea Estate is the former summer home of Thomas DeKay Winans, a chief engineer of the Russian Railway between Moscow and St. Petersburg in the 19th Century. The estate features Winans' Italianate stone mansion, Orianda, as well as a gothic chapel, a "honeymoon" cottage, and a carriage house. The architectural design is said to have been inspired by Winans' French-Russian wife, Celeste Louise Revillon. An early, and now often overlooked, part of the estate is called Winans Meadow in Leakin Park. This current meadow was the site of an early milling operation along the Gwynns Falls River. An iron water wheel still remains that pumped water to the Orianda mansion. Along with the water wheel, a barn, silo, smokehouse, and root cellar also tell the story of early development in West Baltimore. There is even an intriguing battlement near the meadow that is thought to be modeled after the Battle of Balaklava where the Russian stand against the British was immortalized in Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem "The Charge of the Light Brigade." Although Leakin Park has retained its original structures in a picturesque natural setting, it almost wasn't so. In the 1970s, federal and city officials planned to route Interstate 70 through the park in front of the mansion and directly through the carriage house. Saved by a group of dedicated Baltimoreans, the estate remains a central element in Leakin Park.

Watch our on the water wheel!

Watch on Leakin Park!

Official Website

Street Address

1901 Eagle Drive, Baltimore, Maryland 21207