Westside Baltimore is the western portion of downtown Baltimore that includes Market Center and many of the newest developments in downtown Baltimore. It has increasingly become the preferred residential section of downtown. It is also home to the site of the "Superblock" project that will include hundreds of condos and apartments as well as a variety of retail and commercial space. The former home of Baltimore's many and famed department stores, Westside Baltimore is now anchored by the

University of Maryland, Baltimore The University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1807, it comprises some of the oldest professional schools of dentistry, law, medicine, pharmacy, social work and nursing in the United States ...

consisting of the University of Maryland Health System,

University of Maryland School of Law The University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law (formerly University of Maryland School of Law) is the law school of the University of Maryland, Baltimore and is located in Baltimore City, Maryland, U.S. Its location places Maryland ...

and the University of Maryland Biopark. The Westside is also home to several performing arts centers, including the Hippodrome Theatre,

Royal Farms Arena CFG Bank Arena (originally the Baltimore Civic Center and formerly Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore Arena and 1st Mariner Arena) is a multipurpose arena in Baltimore, Maryland. This venue is located about one block away from the Baltimore Convention ...

and the future home of the Everyman Theatre. The name is sometimes used to describe West Baltimore as a whole, although it is technically incorrect to use it as such.

Geography

Baltimore's Westside is located within the

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

area of Central

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 ...

. The Westside is generally bordered by Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the west, Mulberry Street to the north,

Howard Street Howard Street may refer to: *Howard Street (Baltimore), a major street in Downtown Baltimore, Maryland **Howard Street Tunnel fire, a disaster that struck the freight railroad tunnel under Baltimore's Howard Street in 2001 *Howard Street (Sheffield ...

to the east, and

Pratt Street Pratt Street is a major street in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It forms a one-way pair of streets with Lombard Street that run west–east through downtown Baltimore. For most of their route, Pratt Street is one-way in an eastbound direc ...

to the south.

History

The Westside of

Downtown Baltimore Downtown Baltimore is the central business district of the city of Baltimore traditionally bounded by Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard to the west, Franklin Street to the north, President Street to the east and the Inner Harbor area to the s ...

has been an area of heavy economic development over the years. The Westside was known to be the "Garment District" for the many clothing factories placed throughout the neighborhood. This name continued to have relevance up until the mid twentieth century due to the abundance of

department stores A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store made a dramatic appea ...

throughout the

corridor. Some of these include,

Hutzler's Hutzler's, or Hutzler Brothers Company, was a department store founded in Baltimore by Abram G. Hutzler (1836–1927) in 1858. From its beginning as a small dry goods store at the corner of Howard and Clay Streets in downtown Baltimore, Hutzler's ...

, Stewart's,

Hecht's Hecht's, also known as Hecht Brothers, Hecht Bros. and the Hecht Company, was a large chain of department stores that operated mainly in the mid-Atlantic and southern region of the United States. The firm originated in Baltimore, Maryland. By 20 ...

, and

Hochschild Kohn's Hochschild Kohn's, also known as Hochschild-Kohn or simply Hochschild's, was a 20th-century American department store chain based in Baltimore, Maryland. It was started in 1897 as a partnership between Max Hochschild, Benno Kohn, and his brother L ...

. The

Lexington Market Lexington Market is a historic market in Downtown Baltimore, Maryland. The market is now housed in a 60,000-square-foot market shed building completed in 2022 that is home to 50 merchants and kiosks. The market has occupied many market buildings ...

is another commercial center that has made the Westside a cornerstone of Baltimore's shopping history.

Neighborhood revitalization

During the late twentieth century, the Westside fell into decay due to the majority of shopping being relocated to the surrounding suburban malls. Numerous efforts have been made to revitalize Baltimore's Westside, including the

Baltimore Light Rail Baltimore Light RailLink (formerly Baltimore Light Rail, and also known simply as the "Light Rail") is a light rail system serving Baltimore, Maryland, United States, as well as its surrounding suburbs. It is operated by the Maryland Transit A ...

running through the center of the neighborhood on

, and the restorations of

, Hippodrome Theater, and the Everyman Theatre.

Future

Baltimore's Westside is expected to see a rise in development and revitalization due to the construction of the Red Line subway running under the neighborhood from east to west. The Red Line will have two stations in Westside; Poppleton Station on the western edge serving the

, and University Center/Howard Street serving the central part of the neighborhood. The University Center/Howard Street station will be a major transfer point for the existing Blue Line on Howard Street.

References

External links

* {{Baltimore neighborhoods Neighborhoods in Baltimore