39°18.5′N76°37.5′W / 39.3083°N 76.6250°W /39.3083; -76.6250
Bolton Hill | |
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 Interactive map of Bolton Hill | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Maryland |
| City | Baltimore |
| District | Central |
| Settled | 1850 |
| Founded by | George Grundy |
| Named after | Bolton le Moors |
Bolton Hill Historic District | |
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| Location | Baltimore, Maryland |
| Architect | Multiple |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian, Late 19th And 20th Century Revivals |
| NRHP reference No. | 71001031[1] |
| Added to NRHP | September 17, 1971 |
Bolton Hill is a neighborhood inBaltimore, Maryland, with 20 blocks of mostly preserved buildings from the late 19th century. It is listed on theNational Register of Historic Places,[2] preserved as a Baltimore City Historic District,[3][4] and included within the boundaries ofBaltimore National Heritage Area.[5] The neighborhood is bounded by North Avenue, Mount Royal Avenue, Cathedral Street, Dolphin Street, and Eutaw Place.[3] Bolton Hill is a largely residential neighborhood with three-story row houses with red brick, white marble steps, and high ceilings.[2] There are also larger more ornate originally single-family houses, many houses of worship, parks, monuments, and a few large apartment buildings.[3] Many significant residents have lived in the neighborhood, includingF. Scott Fitzgerald,Woodrow Wilson, theCone sisters, andFlorence Rena Sabin.[6]
Bolton Hill is within easy walking distance of theState Center station on theBaltimore Metro Subway and theMt. Royal/MICA station on theBaltimore Light Rail.[6]
In the 2010 Census, there were 4,974 people residing within the Bolton Hill neighborhood boundaries. Theracial makeup of Bolton Hill, as found in the 2010 census, was 56.4% White, 31.8% Black, 7.3% Asian, 0.2% Native American, 1.1% some other race, and 3.2% two or more races. 65.8% of housing units were renter-occupied, 24% were owner-occupied, and 10.2% were vacant, as of 2010.[7]
As of the 2020 Census, there were 5,034 people residing in the neighborhood. The racial makeup was 46.7% non-Hispanic White, 29.7% Black, 11.8% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.7% some other race, and 4.8% two or more races. The Hispanic or Latino population of any race was 6.1%. Among all housing units, 27.7% were owner-occupied, whilst 16% of units were vacant.[8]
The name Bolton Hill is derived fromBolton-le-Moors, the English locality after which the Baltimore merchant, George Grundy, named his original estate house. Grundy's estate house, Bolton, stood on the current site of theFifth Regiment Armory.[6][9] In 1832, TheNorthern Central Railroad builtBolton Station which was the terminal of the line until 1850 whenCalvert Street Station opened. Around 1850, the area began to transition from large estate to traditional Baltimore row houses, which were built along a diagonal street grid, unlike the traditional north–south grid of most Baltimore neighborhoods. This grid was constructed by Thomas Poppleton to follow what is now Pennsylvania Avenue and theJones Falls. Early row houses featured plain brick facades with decorative cornices, door surrounds, and window lintels. Later, row houses were constructed featuring more ornate designs. Construction of row houses continued until the end of the 19th century, but a few large apartments were constructed at the beginning of the 20th century.[6]
Unlike other prominent neighborhoods in Baltimore at the end of the 19th century, which hadrestrictive covenants against African-Americans, Jews, and Asians,[10] Bolton Hill was a relatively diverse neighborhood. Although socially segregated, many African-American servants for the mansions of wealthy Bolton Hill residents lived in the alley houses of Bolton Hill. At the end of the 19th century, Baltimore's German Jewish community moved to Bolton Hill. Jews had moved to the western edge of Bolton Hill, and many synagogues, such asBaltimore Hebrew,Chizuk Amuno, and Shearith Israel, moved to McCullough Street and Madison Avenue just west of Bolton Hill. Furthermore, two large temples were built within Bolton hill.Eutaw Place Temple was built byTemple Oheb Shalom on Eutaw Place in 1892, and theHar Sinai Congregation built a large temple on Bolton Street in 1894—now the oldest Reform congregation in the United States.[6]
At the beginning of the 20th century, white residents of Bolton Hill began to fear the expanding African-American community to the west of the neighborhood, eventually leading towhite flight. The Mount Royal Improvement Association (MRIA) was established in 1928 and pushed for covenants against African-American residency in the neighborhood. An early pamphlet stated that Bolton hill was a "protected area" and claimed that "the greatest achievement of the Mount Royal Improvement Association has been the subjecting of the property in its area to a restriction for white occupancy only." By the mid-20th century, however, many Bolton Hill residents moved to the suburbs for modern homes with yards, and in the early 1960s most of the Jewish institutions had moved to the northwest suburbs.[6]
In the early 1960s, federalurban renewal funds were used to demolish houses on the western edge of the neighborhood, which were considered "slums" and targeted for "stabilization." Several large new developments were built in their place. In 1967, Bolton Hill became a Baltimore City historic district, and in 1971 it was placed on the National Register of Historic Places. As a result, the majority of the neighborhood was largely preserved.[6]
In 2018, the community association changed its name from Mount Royal Improvement Association to the Bolton Hill Community Association; this was to abandon any connection with its origins in racial segregation and to be more representative of its location and diverse community.[11]
Beginning in 2012, theNetflix seriesHouse of Cards filmed the exterior of a home in Bolton Hill to represent the fictitious Underwoods' Washington, D.C., home, also creating a set for interior scenes modeled after the same house.[12]
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Places adjacent to Bolton Hill, Baltimore | |
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