Edmondson Village is a neighborhood in the southwestern section of

Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore wa ...

, encompassing most of the

Edmondson Avenue U.S. Route 40 (US 40) in the U.S. state of Maryland runs from Garrett County in Western Maryland to Cecil County in the state's northeastern corner. With a total length of , it is the longest numbered highway in Maryland. Almost half of the r ...

corridor in 21229. The Edmondson Village area is made up of several smaller communities. Its communities include Hunting Ridge, Uplands, Rognel Heights, Wildwood, West Mulberry, Allendale, Edgewood, and Lower Edmondson Village. It is located north of Frederick Avenue, and south of the

Gwynns Falls Parkway Windsor Mill Road is a road that runs through parts of Baltimore, Maryland and its western suburb Woodlawn. The road starts as a one-way street named Edgewood Street, then makes a slight left corner and becomes Windsor Mill Road. The road, which ...

, Leakin and

Gwynns Falls Park Gwynns Falls/Leakin Park is the largest woodland park in an East Coast city, constituting a contiguous area of . Envisioned as a "stream valley park" to protect Baltimore's watersheds like the Gwynns Falls from overdevelopment and to preserve ...

s. Communities in the area range from middle class to lower income. A notable shopping center opened in the neighborhood in 1947.

History

In 1947, Joseph and Jacob Meyerhoff built Edmondson Village Shopping Center, which featured a bowling alley, movie theatre, and acres of free parking. Retail establishments at the shopping center included Hess Shoes, Food Fair, Tommy Tucker, Whelan's Drugs, and Hochschild, Kohn & Co. Racial succession and

white flight White flight or white exodus is the sudden or gradual large-scale migration of white people from areas becoming more racially or ethnoculturally diverse. Starting in the 1950s and 1960s, the terms became popular in the United States. They refer ...

occurred in Edmondson Village as a result of the real estate sales process of

blockbusting Blockbusting was a business practice in the United States in which real estate agents and building developers convinced white residents in a particular area to sell their property at below-market prices. This was achieved by fearmongering the ho ...

between 1955 and 1965. According to '' The Corner: A Year in the Life of an Inner-City Neighborhood'', it was not uncommon at this time for communities within the Edmondson Village area to shift from 100% White to 100% Black in a span less than one year.

Education

The neighborhood is home to Edmondson High School. Other schools in Edmondson Village include wildwood Elementary/middle school, Mary E. Rodman Elementary, and Rognel Heights Elementary/Middle, And Thomas Jefferson Elementary/Middle.

Public transportation

The Edmondson Village area is served by Baltimore Link, provided by the

Maryland Transit Administration The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) is a state-operated mass transit administration in Maryland, and is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation. The MTA operates a comprehensive transit system throughout the Baltimore-Washingt ...

In popular culture

Bunk Moreland William "Bunk" Moreland is a fictional character in ''The Wire'', played by Wendell Pierce. Bunk's character is based on a retired Baltimore detective named Oscar "The Bunk" Requer. He is portrayed as a generally competent, if profane and curmud ...

and

Omar Little Omar Devone Little is a fictional character on the HBO drama series ''The Wire'', portrayed by Michael K. Williams. He is a notorious Baltimore stick-up man, who frequently robs street-level drug dealers. He is legendary around Baltimore for h ...

, both fictional characters from HBO's ''

The Wire ''The Wire'' is an American crime drama television series created and primarily written by author and former police reporter David Simon. The series was broadcast by the cable network HBO in the United States. ''The Wire'' premiered on June 2 ...

'', grew up in the Edmondson Village area. Bubbles' sister lived in Edmondson Village in The Wire, and Bubbles lived in her basement for a period of time. Edmonson Village Shopping Center was a featured location of interest in the

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

2017 documentary series

The Keepers ''The Keepers'' is a seven-episode American documentary web series that explores the unsolved murder of nun Catherine Cesnik in 1969. Cesnik taught English and drama at Baltimore's all-girls Archbishop Keough High School, and her former student ...

about the disappearance and

murder of Catherine Cesnik Catherine Anne Cesnik (born November 17, 1942; disappeared November 7, 1969) was an American Catholic religious sister who taught English and drama at Archbishop Keough High School in Baltimore, Maryland. On November 7, 1969, Cesnik disappeared ...

References

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*Edmondson Village Neighborhoods {{Baltimore neighborhoods African-American history in Baltimore Neighborhoods in Baltimore Southwest Baltimore