Abell Featured Apartment:
Baltimore-Abell - We've got a newly-renovated one bedroom unit that has a great layout for roommates who need their privacy but also need a one-bedroom sized rent. In this apartment, we've put a door on the living room, so it can be used as a second bedroom. View More Listings -->
About Abell
Abell is a predominantly residential community that structurally conforms to a
grid street pattern established in the area during the first quarter of the
twentieth century. However, remnants of earlier diagonal roads still exist in
the neighborhood -- today's Merryman Lane, and the truncated Vineyard Lane, both
of which are in the northeast section of the area.
The Abell neighborhood, like Abell Avenue, derives its name from the Abell
family, longtime owners of the Baltimore Sun newspapers. The Abell family owned
a large summer estate known as Guilford, which was located a short distance
north of today's Abell community.
Abell is a predominantly residential community that structurally conforms to a
grid street pattern established in the area during the first quarter of the
twentieth century. However, remnants of earlier diagonal roads still exist in
the neighborhood -- today's Merryman Lane, and the truncated Vineyard Lane, both
of which are in the northeast section of the area.
The Abell neighborhood, like Abell Avenue, derives its name from the Abell
family, longtime owners of the Baltimore Sun newspapers. The Abell family owned
a large summer estate known as Guilford, which was located a short distance
north of today's Abell community.
The majority of residential structures in Abell are row houses of
medium-to-large size. East of Barclay Street in the northern portion are a
number of interesting late-nineteenth century individua lframe structures which
remain from the former Victorian-era village of Waverly. Scattered throughout
the community are a number of small apartment buildings. Mixed residential and
commercial uses are prevalent along Greenmount Avenue. Since the 1950s, portions
of the community's southeast section have been dedicated to light industrial and
educational use.
Early in its development, during the 'Teens and 1920's, Abell was known for its
well-constructed row houses and such plumbing amenities as running water and
indoor sanitary provisions. Daylight houses, which allowed light into all rooms,
were built mostly by Edward J. Storck in the northern blocks. Areas to the south
were developed with bay window, porch-front row houses. These new blocks were
advertised as being in the Guilford area, thereby capitalizing on their
proximity to that wealthier neighborhood to the north.
The Abell community was part of the original "Huntington" tract of' 136 acres
laid out for Tobias Stanboro in 1688. The early subdivision of Huntington had
brought into being a number of attractive country seats including a few in the
Abell neighborhood. In 1889 a portion of this land near 29th Street and
Greenmount Avenue was used as a baseball park -- the first Oriole Park. However,
this was abandoned two years later because it was considered too far out from
the City. In 1914 Terrapin Park was established north of 29th Street at
Greenmount Avenue as a ballpark for the Federal League's Baltimore Orioles, and
the field was renamed Oriole Park. The lives of many local children revolved
around the dramatic presence of baseball in their community. In 1937 a new
scoreboard, as tall as a three-and-a-half story building and as wide as four
houses, was erected and billed as the largest scoreboard in the world, its
ability to display all the important operations of the game using electricity
was a marvel of the time. When a 6-alarm nighttime fire destroyed the wooden
stands and buildings in 1944, 1,500 people had to flee the neighborhood. The
intense heat melted asphalt on 29th Street and tar on nearby roofs. The Orioles
moved to the twenty-year-old Baltimore Municipal Stadium, and Barclay Street was
cut through the old Oriole Park site. For years the land stood vacant and was
used as a playground. During the mid-1950s, commercial and warehouse structures
were built along the eastern portion, and the Barclay (originally Barclay
Elementary, then Middle) School, #54, was built to the west in 1959.
An important local landmark originally part of the early Waverly community still
exists in Abell. The Huntington Baptist Church, at the northwest corner of 31st
Street and Barclay Avenue, was founded in 1836 as a small Sabbath school for
convalescent soldiers. Throughout the early 1800s men from Ft. McHenry were
moved to the higher and healthier atmosphere of the Abell area, near the
intersection of Old and New York Roads, to escape the threat of malaria.
Occasionally, convalescing soldiers from the barracks would attend Baptist
services in private homes of the neighborhood. A Sabbath school was established
nearby in an old barracks building in 1836. Alternate visiting ministers
preached weekly sermons for soldiers and a few civilians. In 1846 James Wilson,
a large landowner in the area, erected a small chapel which he called the
Huntington Baptist Church. The congregation grew steadily until it required a
new building in 1873. Modeled after Talmage's Tabernacle in Brooklyn, it was
covered with corrugated iron plates. In service for fifty years, the old
tabernacle landmark was replaced in 1922 with the present church.