BALTIMORE — In May 1910, a young, Yale-educated lawyer named George McMichen moved his family to 1834 McCulloh Street in what’s now the Upton neighborhood in West Baltimore. It set off a firestorm in this city that led to decades of redlining and housing discrimination.
Now, this neighborhood and other neighborhoods nearby are working to right those wrongs and to bring unity in their communities.
This plaque is a physical reminder of a painful part of Baltimore’s history. It honors William Marbury, who was an influential lawyer and segregationist.
“Mr. Marbury was instrumental in organizing what was called the Mount Royal Protection Association,” says Lee Tawney, president of the Bolton Hill Community Association, successor to the Mount Royal Protection Association. “And it’s raison d’etre was to prevent African Americans from living in the Mount Royal area, which was broader that what is now Bolton Hill.”
In November, the community removed the plaque from a Park Avenue hill where it had been since 1937.
“People understand that that was not right,” Tawney says. “And now because we are diverse and we’re reaching out to our neighbors in Marble Hill and Madison Park, we’ve changed the paradigm I think – or are changing the paradigm.”
For the last few years, Bolton Hill and bordering neighbors Madison Park and Marble Hill have formed a coalition they call ‘the greater community.’
“Our goal is to have inclusivity,” says Marion Blackwell with the Historic Marble Hill Community Association. “To be able to, through the arts and gardening and greening program, begin to bridge the gaps and the understanding – or the misunderstanding – between the greater communities.”
Blackwell has lived in the Marble Hill section of Upton over 50 years.
“We used to call this the other side,” she says. “And we used to be on the other side. It was because the covenants that were mostly along Eutaw Place coming over to Bolton Hill. People of color were not allowed in the community through those covenants.”
Now, it’s different. The neighbors are working together.
“We’re looking at a future where we can move forward,” Blackwell says. “We can be supportive of each other. And it’s a new day. And it’s time for a new day.”
The spot of dirt where the plaque was is now a reminder to the greater community. Not of a dark past, but of a fresh start.
