Armistead Gardens is a

neighborhood A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...

in the Northeast District of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

. It is located north of Pulaski Highway and east of Erdman Avenue, between Herring Run Park (northeast) and the East District neighborhood of Orangeville (southwest). Armistead Gardens is home to four churches, Armistead Gardens Elementary School, and the Bohemian National Cemetery. The nearest major highways are Pulaski Highway (

U.S. Route 40 U.S. Route 40 or U.S. Highway 40 (US 40), also known as the Main Street of America (a nickname shared with U.S. Route 66), is a major east–west United States Highway traveling across the United States from the Mountain States to the Mid- ...

) and Erdman Avenue.

History

Known as the White Ghetto, it was originally built by the Housing Authority of Baltimore City as

public housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

for

white people White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...

coming to work in industries supplying

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Most of these white workers were from states of

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

such as

West Virginia West Virginia is a mountainous U.S. state, state in the Southern United States, Southern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States.The United States Census Bureau, Census Bureau and the Association of American ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, and

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

and came to Baltimore to work at

Glenn L. Martin Company The Glenn L. Martin Company, also known as The Martin Company from 1917 to 1961, was an American aircraft and aerospace industry, aerospace manufacturing company founded by aviation pioneer Glenn L. Martin. The Martin Company produced many impo ...

and other major defense plants. The first section was built in 1939, with two additions in 1941. Even though it is only 60 years old, many of the homes are destroyed and many have moved out. In 1956 a cooperative (Armistead Homes Corporation) was formed by the residents and the 1500 homes were acquired from the Housing Authority. Because of the unit construction with common utilities, homes are not individually owned, but rather members have a 99-year lease with two 99 year options. Many of the current members are third and fourth generation.

Demographics

Gate entrance Bohemian National Cemetery 0

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2008, there were 3,150 people living in the neighborhood. The racial makeup of Armistead Gardens was 81.4%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 1.0%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 1.0% Native American, 1.0% Asian, 2.7% from other races, and 4.0% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 10.0% of the population. 65.0% of occupied housing units were owner-occupied. 35.0% of housing units were vacant. 20.0% of the population were employed, 12.1% were unemployed, and 55.9% were not in the labor force. The median household income was $15,123. About 42.8% of families and 34.5% of the population were below the

poverty line 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 ...

Popular culture

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, actor, writer, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his transgressive cult films, including '' Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), '' Pink Flamingos'' (1972) and '' Fe ...

mentions both the neighborhood and the Bohemian National Cemetery in his book ''Role Models'':

Armistead Gardens, a neighborhood originally built as public housing for the influx of people coming to work in factories during World War II. It has been called a "white ghetto" of "row-ranchers," surprising in their "now outdated modernity." There is an amazing graveyard nearby where the star of my early movie ''Eat Your Makeup'', Maelcum Soul, is buried. No one ''ever'' shops in Armistead Gardens.

References

External links

Demographics from Neighborhood Indicators Alliance

History

Demographics

Popular culture

References

External links

See also