James Carey originally sold the generous country estate that became Loudon Park Cemetery in 1853. The new owner, James Primrose, built a stone wall with an ornamental railing at the cemetery entrance and enlisted an engineer to map out lots for purchase at twenty-five cents per square foot. The cemetery’s popularity grew quickly, leading to reburials from Green Mount Cemetery, Loudon’s greatest competitor. The cemetery made a series of large land purchases including William F. Primrose’s nearby “Linden” estate. In 1895, the cemetery purchased the last parcel of land bordering on Wilkens Avenue to build a main entrance to the grounds. This still serves as the main entrance to this day.

Loudon Park Cemetery became the first cemetery to have its' own trolley system, opening a railway line in 1905. Baltimore City used a special trolley car named the “Dolores” to transport caskets and grieving family members to the cemetery gate. From there, the family transferred to the cemetery’s personal trolley and a horse-drawn hearse carried caskets to the grave. Baltimore City sold the cemetery two rail cars, later renamed “Loudon” and “Linden”. Equipped with oak finishes and velvet lining, each car seated up to thirty.

The National Cemetery and Confederate Hill also occupy space at Loudon Park. During the Civil War, Maryland contributed around 63,000 Union forces and about 22,000 Confederate forces. As a “border state” families from both sides needed to bury their loved ones. Loudon Park sold a portion of its land (5.28 acres) on the eastern boundary to the government for the burial of Union soldiers. Lots sold at ten cents for soldiers and twenty-five cents for officers. Confederate Hill came about as lot-holders with southern sympathies donated their plots for the burial of Confederate veterans. On the southwest corner of the Loudon Park National Cemetery, a stone monument marks the burial place of twenty-nine Confederate soldiers who died at Fort McHenry as prisoners.

Cemetery monuments mark more famous plots such as the Jerome Bonaparte Monument by the remains of Napoleon’s nephew, niece-in-law, and several other members of the Bonaparte family. The family of Charles Weber, who established the Fifth Regiment Band, erected a mausoleum lined in Japanese Hollies with his likeness etched in stained glass. Richard B. Fitzgerald’s striking monument contains beautiful statues and large urns while the Weisskittels built a silver-painted, cast-iron one. Lastly, the Weissner Monument, for the family that once owned the American Brewery, stands tall with detailed angels and urns.

3620 Wilkens Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21229

Factory for the “Superior Pantaloon Button” and the “Perfect Trousers’ Hook”

Founded in 1887 by twenty-eight-year-old German immigrant Herman Kerngood, the Alma Manufacturing Company manufactured a wide variety of metal clothing trimmings including buckles, clasps, fasteners and steel buttons. The new operation was conveniently located alongside the Baltimore & Ohio railroad tracks. Before Kerngood started his business, textile companies in the United States had imported all their steel buttons from Germany. The firm produced around 35,000 specialized products (the “Superior Pantaloon Button” and “Perfect Trousers’ Hook” to name just a few) and could be found attached to hats, umbrellas, shoes and, of course, clothing produced at factories around the country.

Kerngood lived in northwest Baltimore at The Esplanade and attended Oheb Shalom Synagogue up until his death in 1932. Herman’s sons, Allan and Martin, continued to grow the business, producing around twenty-nine million pieces a month at its height, and maintaining sales offices in cities around the U.S. and internationally. The original complex on Monroe Street closed in 1940 and, in 1946, the Alma Manufacturing Company sold to the North and Judd Manufacturing Company of New Britain, Connecticut.

Over the past seventy years, the Monroe Street complex has been used by bakers, tailors and even candy manufacturers, including the Standard Tailors Company, Acme Packing Company, George Weston Bakers, Peyton Bakers Supply Company, Columbia Container Corporation and American Plastics Industries. Baltimore’s Naron Candy Company, founded in 1945 by Jim Ross and Gerald Naron, occupied the building in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s before their merger with Mary Sue Candies in 1996. Mahendra Shah purchased the building around 1983 and rented the facility as the Shah Industrial Park. In 2001, Shah started a fire in the building which has left it in a perilous state today.

, Baltimore Slumlord Watch, 2014 October 2

611-661 S. Monroe Street, Baltimore, MD 21223

Baltimore's Oldest Operating Public Market

The market was conceived in 1835 after piano makers Joseph Newman and his brother Elias Newman were given permission by the city to erect a market on the 1100 block of Hollins Street. In 1838, winds from a severe storm destroyed the original market, which was rebuilt the following year. The market found success in the following decades and expanded in 1864 with the creation of the current Italianate building, designed by architect George Frederick.

26 S. Arlington Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21223

Open Monday to Saturday, 7 am – 6 pm

The Willowbrook estate becomes an urban oasis

Union Square began as part of Willowbrook, the John Donnell Federal-period estate, which he purchased in 1802 from Baltimore merchant and later Mayor Thorowgood Smith. In 1847, the Donnell family heirs donated the two-and-a-half-acre lot in front of the manor house to the City of Baltimore to be designated as a public park. Beginning in the 1850s, the Donnell family started to work with a number of speculative builders to develop the neighborhood.

In 1867, the Donnells left Willowbrook (now the site of Steuart Hill Academic Academy), and the house was given to the Sisters of the Good Shepherd. The building served as a convent and home for wayward girls until its demolition in the mid-1960s. The oval dining room was removed from the mansion and recreated in the Baltimore Museum of Art where it remains a part of the American Decorative Arts wing.

This demolition sparked a renewed awareness of historic places and their importance to the community, as residents organized to form the Union Square Association and received historic district designation for the area in 1970.

Hollins Street and S. Stricker Street, Baltimore, MD 21223