Remington, Baltimore

Remington is a neighborhood in northern Baltimore bordered to the north by Hampden, Wyman Park, and Johns Hopkins University and to the east by Charles Village. The southernmost boundary is North Avenue and the long southwestern boundary is formed by Falls Road in the I-83 corridor. The neighborhood is split between two Baltimore City Council Districts (District 14, currently represented by Mary Pat Clarke, and District 12, currently represented by Carl Stokes).

History

Remington shared its early history with other nearby communities that grew up alongside the mills built along the Jones Falls, whose 260-foot (79 m) drop powered grist mills, iron foundries and textile mills. In addition to the water-powered factories along the Jones Falls, quarries in the Remington area operated for over 100 years and provided an enormous amount of stone for the building of Baltimore, furnishing material for thousands of foundations, walls and steps.

The neighborhood was named after William Remington, an early landowner who held property in the center of the area. As the population grew with the mills and quarries, America’s first electric railway, built in 1885, brought new residents. Remington became an attractive suburb and was annexed into the city in 1888. Extensive building occurred from 1914 through the 1920s, with daylight and marble row houses being the dominant types. Marble row houses were characterized by their flat or slightly bowed fronts and featured decorative marble and stained glass. The more elaborate daylight row houses became popular in the 1920s and featured a window in each room, often including a skylight in interior rooms.

Subneighborhoods

Due to its elongated shape, Remington is often divided into three distinct subneighborhoods. Upper Remington refers to the area north of 29th Street, the main westbound arterial street through the area. Upper Remington is adjacent to the Johns Hopkins University and Wyman Park. Although primarily residential in character, it contains many of Remington's notable businesses and landmarks, including Charm City Cakes and The Dizz. Upper Remington's rowhouses tend to hold their value better than other parts of the neighborhood, and have a high rate of homeownership.

Middle Remington refers to the part of the neighborhood bounded by 29th Street on the north and the CSX rail corridor on the south. Middle Remington is more ethnically and racially diverse than the rest of the neighborhood. It is also more commercial in nature, with numerous historical corner businesses, light industrial uses, restaurants, and auto repair shops interspersed among the rowhouses that dominate the neighborhood's housing stock. Middle Remington contains notable institutions such as Paper Moon Cafe, Mill Valley Garden Center and the Open Space art gallery.

Lower Remington (also known as "Fawcett") refers the area south of the CSX rail corridor. The majority of the land area here is commercial and light industrial, but there are also a few blocks of rowhouses that feel secluded due to their isolation from other residential neighborhoods. Lower Remington is directly south of the proposed 25th Street Station development, which will likely transform the character of the area.

Demographics

According to the 2000 Census, there are 2,297 residents living in Remington. 59% are White, 32% are Black, 6% are Asian and 2% are Hispanic).^[1]

Healthy Neighborhoods initiative

Remington is part of the Baltimore's Healthy Neighborhoods initiative, a ground-breaking effort to stabilize "strong yet undervalued" neighborhoods in the city. Homeowners and home buyers are eligible for special financing for renovating and/or improving existing homes. Several dozen properties in Remington have benefited from the Healthy Neighborhoods program, often turning dilapidated and vacant houses into productive, modern occupied residences. Remington's Healthy Neighborhoods program is administered by the non-profit Greater Homewood Community Corporation.

Education and schools

Parents of school-age children in Remington have a variety of options. Most younger students attend Margaret Brent Elementary/Middle School in nearby Charles Village. Margaret Brent uses a project-based learning curriculum and benefits from high parent involvement, volunteers from organizations such as Americorps and Johns Hopkins and Loyola university students.

Remington also includes several privately run schools. The GreenMount School in Upper Remington is a small K-8 school founded as a parent-run coop school in 1993. The school has fewer than 100 students and follows an experimental, thematic learning curriculum. The school requires an extensive parent commitment to the school: each parent must commit at least 40 hours per year to school-related volunteer work. The Community School is intended for high-school age students. It provides a full high school curriculum and offers volunteer-led after-school tutoring and mentoring programs. Dayspring Head Start provides facilities for some 38 pre-school age children.^[2]

Commerce

Remington is home to an eclectic mix of dozens of commercial and light industrial enterprises representing hundreds of jobs. Businesses include several restaurants, corner markets and convenience stores, auto repair shops, daycare centers, taverns, supply warehouses and churches.

25th Street Station

25th Street Station is a $70 million mixed-use development planned in the Remington and Charles Village neighborhoods of central Baltimore. The developer plans to build some 330,000 square feet (31,000 m²) of retail space, anchored by Walmart and Lowe's, with several ancillary businesses, 70 apartments and over 1,000 parking spaces in a three-story parking garage. The plans were initially revealed in February 2010. The project site is 11 acres and is currently occupied by the Anderson auto dealership, which sells General Motors cars. GM declined to renew Anderson's contract as part of its restructuring plan, so the auto dealer announced plans to sell the site. After a lengthy debate throughout most of 2010, the development was given final design approval on December 16, 2010. In the fall of 2011, Lowe's announced it was withdrawing from the project. Construction has yet to begin.

References

Coordinates: 39°19′5″N 76°37′21″W / 39.31806°N 76.62250°W / 39.31806; -76.62250