Otterbein is a small
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...
of historic
rowhouses in
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 ...
,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
. Otterbein is immediately southwest of, and in close walking distance to, the
Inner Harbor. The neighborhood is very compact, entirely located between
Hanover Street and Sharp Street, and between Barre Street and Henrietta Street. It is in small parts of
zip codes 21201 and 21230. It is named for Old
Otterbein Church (Baltimore, Maryland), located immediately north of the neighborhood.
History
The original houses in the neighborhood were constructed in the 1840s and 1850s as single houses or as two-house "developments." The size of the houses, and the social status of their occupants, varied primarily based on their location within a square-block pattern. The largest homes and most affluent residents were located on the primary east-west streets (Barre, Lee, and Hill). These homes were built and lived in by a mixture of business people involved in leadership positions in some of the most important industries of the city, including construction (especially brick-making), shipping, shipbuilding, the
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and retail sales. Houses on the primary north-south streets (Sharp and Hanover) were smaller but still sizable for the time period. Residents in these homes were involved in many of the same industries as their wealthier neighbors, but usually in less-remunerative skilled or clerk positions. The smallest homes in the neighborhood were built on half-sized lots along the east-west and even north-south "alleys" on the interior of blocks formed by the primary streets (Welcome Alley, York Street, Comb Alley, Peach Alley). These homes were largely occupied by unskilled manual laborers or low-skill craftspeople, including cordwainers (cobblers), draymen, carters, factory workers, and construction laborers. In addition to the mix of social class and house size within a particular block, house size and social class also went slightly from higher to lower along a northeast to southwest gradient (richest people and largest homes to the north and east, diminishing in the southern and western parts of the neighborhood). In addition to this diversity in housing size, employment, and social class, the neighborhood was also a diverse mix of "native" whites, white immigrants from other states, established and prosperous
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
and
Irish immigrants, newer and poorer
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
and
Irish immigrants, and free blacks.
Otterbein experienced a new wave of immigration in the late nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries by immigrants from
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
,
Greece
Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
, and
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
. A Catholic church on Lee St. and an affiliated school on Hill St. helped serve many of these immigrants. The housing stock and overall affluence of the neighborhood declined throughout this period as wealthier families moved into larger homes in newly established neighborhoods farther away from downtown Baltimore.
The final stage in this decline began during World War II, as a need for war housing led the owners of Otterbein homes to split up the individual rowhouses into many apartments, leading to overcrowding, poor sanitation, architectural sloppiness, and deteriorating physical conditions. After the war ended, few workers remained in this inner-city slum but rather moved to the suburbs, while property owners did not reinvest nor reverse the earlier shift to apartments. Alley homes and backyard shacks especially deteriorated, while the factories, shipping, and shipbuilding industries which had supplied most of the area jobs largely left the area, leaving the Inner Harbor a desolate expanse of rotting piers, empty warehouses, and sunken ships.
The neighborhood was seized by the government during the early 1970s and emptied of its residents, churches, and other institutions in preparation for the building of
Interstate 95
Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from U.S. Route 1, US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between M ...
and
Interstate 70 through downtown Baltimore. The interstate would have destroyed the historic neighborhoods of Otterbein,
Federal Hill,
Highlandtown
Highlandtown is a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland, United States.
Description and history
The area currently known as Highlandtown was established in 1866 when the area known as "Snake Hill" was established as a village outside the Baltimor ...
and
Fell's Point
Fell's Point is a historic waterfront neighborhood in southeastern Baltimore, Maryland. It was established around 1763 along the north shore of the Baltimore Harbor and the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River. The area has many antique, musi ...
. While Otterbein was successfully taken by the government, residents of Federal Hill and Fell's Point organized a very powerful grassroots coalition that succeeded in re-routing the interstate to a more southern route and saving all three neighborhoods. This effort was led in part by Highlandtown resident
Barbara Mikulski, who used her success and prominence in this fight to launch her political career.
The changed path of Interstate 95 left the government in possession of hundreds of badly-deteriorated rowhouses in Otterbein. After starting to tear them down, the City of Baltimore decided to keep the remaining houses intact and inaugurate the largest
urban homesteading program in the history of the United States. All of the existing original neighborhood houses were restored in the 1970s as a part of Baltimore's "dollar homes" urban homesteading program. After the success of this homesteading project in Otterbein was assured, the city allowed for the development of new townhomes and condominiums around the existing core of historic homes.
References
''Artslife - Otterbein'' profile article;
Baltimore Sun
''The Baltimore Sun'' is the largest general-circulation daily newspaper based in the U.S. state of Maryland and provides coverage of local and regional news, events, issues, people, and industries.
Founded in 1837, it is currently owned by Tr ...
.
External links
The Otterbein Community AssociationOtterbein on LiveBaltimore.com
{{coord, 39, 16.9, N, 76, 37, W, type:city(2000)_scale:5000_region:US, display=title
Baltimore National Heritage Area
German-American culture in Baltimore
Historic districts in Baltimore
Irish-American culture in Baltimore
Neighborhoods in Baltimore