Wednesday, September 12, 2007

A is for Abell


Today I begin something I thought would be fun. Every Wednesday I am going to tell you about a specific neighborhood in Baltimore. Baltimore is known for its distinctively different neighborhoods and I thought it would be fun. It will be a way for me to learn something about my own city, as there are places I have never been. I am going down the list in alphabetical order. This will take a while, my little city has over 200 neighborhoods!


Abell is a small, residential community on the north side of town. It was named for the Abell family which owned the Baltimore Sunpapers. The family's large summer home known as Guildord, was located just north of this neighborhood.


The first Oriole Park existed in this neighborhood in 1889. It was considered to be too far from the city and was abandoned after only two years. In 1914 another field was established in the neighborhood and became known as Oriole Park after the Federal League Baltimore Orioles started playing there. In 1937 the new electric scoreboard was billed as the largest in the world. The stands and scoreboard were destroyed by fire in 1944.


The Huntington Baptist church was established in at the corner of 31st Street and Barclay Ave. in 1836 as a Sabbath school for ailing soldiers. The soldiers were sent to Abell from Fort McHenry because the higher ground was considered a healthier atmosphere and safer from malaria. The church that sits on this site today is not the original, it was built in 1922, replacing the older structures.


The Abell neighborhood is home to the Waverly Library, the Waverly Farmers Market, and one of my personal favorites, The Book Thing. This is the place to go if you want to donate your old books and browse for some new ones (well new to you). There is no limit on the free books you can take or drop off. It is fantastic. They have the books grouped by category but if you are expecting anything more than that, go to a bookstore. When I went there I felt like I had struck gold walking out with all those books for free. I have no idea how they do it.

The average price of a home in Abell according to 2006 data was $248,625.

Next week.....Allendale.



2 comments:

Cricky said...

My Baltimore hailing coworker is in love with your blog now, lol.

P.S. - You received an award, its on my blog.

charmcitygirl said...

awww, that made my day!! Thank you

mmmmmmwaaaahhhhh (that's supposed to be like a big kiss)