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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

Dickeyville

2020-10-16T14:41:47-04:00

Dublin Core

Title

Dickeyville

Subject

Neighborhoods

Creator

Johns Hopkins

Curatescape Story Item Type Metadata

Story

The Gwynns Falls first saw industrial development as early as the late 1700s and, by 1808, the small industrial village began to form around an early paper mill along the water where Dickeyville sits today. Although few of these early stone structures remain, the village endured and grew in the mid 1800s when the Wethered Brothers, owners of the mills, began building homes for their workers and made other improvements for the community. The Wethereds sold off small lots to private owners, many of whom built their own houses along with public buildings such as a fraternal hall, a general store, and churches. The diversity of worker housing and industrial buildings created over time resulted in a uniquely diverse architecture that is at the heart of the historic village’s captivating character today. In the 1930s, however, the isolated mill village was rocked by change thanks to the start of the Great Depression and the introduction of electrified industrial facilities that brought older mills like those on the Gwynns Falls to a stop. In 1934, the entire stock of buildings was sold at auction and bought by a group called the Title Holding Company. The new owners hired Palmer and Lamdin, noted local architects from the Roland Park Company, to build new houses and renovate existing ones, using the Roland Park Company as its sales agent. A rush of new residents decided they wanted their community to resemble an English village in design and name—making Dickeyville one of Baltimore’s earliest attempts at historic restoration. The new homeowners added many historic details such as gas-lamps, Belgian block gutters, and picket fences, and gave their streets names evoking another era—like Pickwick Road named for an English village. Dickeyville residents have worked hard for several generations to maintain and build from the village’s historic buildings and character. Standing in the center of the community today, you might swear you were in the middle of an nineteenth century village in the Cotswalds.

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Official Website

Street Address

Pickwick Road, Baltimore, MD 21207