Evergreen is a neighborhood in the North District of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

. Evergreen's buildings date from the late 19th to early 20th century. It is known as one of the first early non-

rowhouse In architecture and city planning, a terrace or terraced house ( UK) or townhouse ( US) is a form of medium-density housing that originated in Europe in the 16th century, whereby a row of attached dwellings share side walls. In the United State ...

styled suburban communities in Baltimore.

Boundaries

*North–Oakdale Road *South–Cold Spring Lane *East–Stony Run Park *West–Maynadier Road Zip code–21210

History

The Evergreen neighborhood is located in North

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, and List of United States cities by popula ...

and was one of the first

residential development A residential area is a land used in which housing predominates, as opposed to industrial and commercial areas. Housing may vary significantly between, and through, residential areas. These include single-family housing, multi-family residen ...

s in its area, coming even before

Roland Park Roland Park is a community located in Baltimore, Maryland. It was developed between 1890 and 1920 as an upper-class streetcar suburb. The early phases of the neighborhood were designed by Edward Bouton and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. History J ...

. The land subdivided to become Evergreen was inherited by an heir of the Cockey family in 1813 and was originally called “Ridgely’s Whim.” Lewand, Karen. ''North Baltimore, from estate to development''. The Dept., 1989. In 1873, two men named Brooks and Barton purchased the land and began to create a neighborhood called Evergreen for

middle-class The middle class refers to a class of people in the middle of a social hierarchy, often defined by occupation, income, education, or social status. The term has historically been associated with modernity, capitalism and political debate. Comm ...

workers and their families. The Evergreen is a rare example of an early non-rowhouse suburban-style community. The neighborhood was easily accessible, despite being several miles from the heart of Baltimore. There were two railroad stops on opposite corners of the neighborhood; one was at Cold Spring Lane and one at Oakdale. This connection to the city allowed the neighborhood to grow and thrive. However, neither the railroad nor these stops exist today. The neighborhood was overwhelmingly composed of hard-working citizens. Many of its residents were builders and tradesmen who worked in Roland Park during its major period of construction from 1895 to 1910. Most of Roland Park's firemen (who were mostly volunteers) ironically lived in the Evergreen neighborhood.

Demographics

According to the 2000 census, the Evergreen neighborhood is made up of 405 residents. It is a predominantly white neighborhood, with 97.5 percent of the people being white. The majority of the residents do not have children under 18 years old living in their households (though there is a considerable upward trend of young children since the census), and the median age is 35 years. About half of the residents are married. The median family income is about $65,000 per year. 43 percent of the residents are single with an average salary of $46,000 per year. Forty of the individuals are below the

poverty level The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...

, and there are 34 individuals who have not completed high school. However, 195 of the residents have completed college, with 115 stopping at a bachelor's degree and 80 holding a graduate or professional degree. The most common occupations among residents are considered management and professional roles.http://censusprofile.bnia.org/Evergreen%20Demographic%20Profile.pdf

Architecture and design

The 205 houses that make up Evergreen, come in many different

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

s. Schenley Road, Keswick Road, Wilmslow Road and Evergreen's other smaller streets feature Victorian houses as well as two-story shingle-style houses, -story Queen Anne–style houses and contemporaries. While Evergreen is mostly composed of residential houses, it also features a neighborhood commercial area on the south boundary at Cold Spring Lane. The neighborhood streets are set up in a

grid pattern In urban planning, the grid plan, grid street plan, or gridiron plan is a type of city plan in which streets run at right angles to each other, forming a grid. Two inherent characteristics of the grid plan, frequent intersections and orthogo ...

with alleys. The driveways to the houses—that is, those few that have driveways—are accessible by the alleys. This allows the sidewalks to be unbroken by curb cuts. The houses, which face the street, are surrounded by luscious greenery. Most houses have good-sized yards, well-tended gardens and a variety of trees, shrubs, and bushes. The sidewalks in front of the houses promote communication between residents and allow for a close-knit community.

References

External links