Union Square is a neighborhood located in the Sowebo area of Baltimore . It dates to the 1830s and includes a historic district of houses and commerce buildings.
117-413: Named for the graceful park at its center, Union Square is a diverse urban setting - home to art galleries, artist studios, H.L. Mencken ’s lifelong residence, and spacious three-story Italianate and Victorian rowhouses . On the historic ground of Southwest Baltimore is known to locals as " Sowebo " (SouthWest Baltimore). Union Square is less than a mile from Camden Yards and within walking distance of
234-476: A National Historic Landmark in 1985, this Italianate brick row house at 1524 Hollins Street was the home of one of Baltimore's most famous citizens – noted Baltimore Sun journalist and author Henry Louis Mencken lived here from 1883 until his death in 1956. Mencken wrote of his home: “I have lived in one house in Baltimore for nearly 45 years. It has changed in that time, as I have – but somehow it still remains
351-462: A balustraded parapet . The principal block is flanked by two lower asymmetrical secondary wings that contribute picturesque massing, best appreciated from an angled view. The larger of these is divided from the principal block by the belvedere tower. The smaller, the ballroom block, is entered through a columned porte-cochère designed as a single storey prostyle portico . Many examples of this style are evident around Sydney and Melbourne, notably
468-526: A Memorial Day practice in the South to a group of women of Columbus, Georgia . The women were the Ladies Memorial Association of Columbus. They were represented by Mary Ann Williams (Mrs. Charles J. Williams) who as association secretary wrote an open letter to the press on March 11, 1866 asking for assistance in establishing an annual holiday to decorate the graves of soldiers throughout
585-517: A day early on April 25, 1866, gathered together at Friendship Cemetery to decorate the graves of the Confederate soldiers. They also felt moved to honor the Union soldiers buried there, and to note the grief of their families, by decorating their graves as well. The story of their gesture of humanity and reconciliation is held by some writers as the inspiration of the original Memorial Day. According to
702-559: A declining fashion." Anthony Salvin occasionally designed in the Italianate style, especially in Wales, at Hafod House, Carmarthenshire, and Penoyre House , Powys, described by Mark Girouard as "Salvin's most ambitious classical house." Thomas Cubitt , a London building contractor, incorporated simple classical lines of the Italianate style as defined by Sir Charles Barry into many of his London terraces. Cubitt designed Osborne House under
819-451: A division of the Department of Veterans Affairs , credits Mary Ann Williams with originating the "idea of strewing the graves of Civil War soldiers—Union and Confederate" with flowers. Official recognition as a holiday spread among the states, beginning with New York in 1873. By 1890, every Union state had adopted it. The world wars turned it into a day of remembrance for all members of
936-484: A footnote to a story about her brother, Mrs. Sophie (Keller) Hall described how she and Emma Hunter decorated the grave of Emma's father, Reuben Hunter, and then the graves of all soldiers in the cemetery. The original story did not account for Reuben Hunter's death occurring two months later on September 19, 1864. It also did not mention Mrs. Elizabeth Myers as one of the original participants. A bronze statue of all three women gazing upon Reuben Hunter's grave now stands near
1053-401: A key role in using Memorial Day rituals to preserve Confederate culture. Various dates ranging from April 25 to mid-June were adopted in different Southern states. Across the South, associations were founded, many by women, to establish and care for permanent cemeteries for the Confederate dead, organize commemorative ceremonies, and sponsor appropriate monuments as a permanent way of remembering
1170-521: A national holiday. . . . [W]e can keep alive the memory of debt we owe them by dedicating at least one day in the year, by embellishing their humble graves with flowers, therefore we beg the assistance of the press and the ladies throughout the South to help us in the effort to set apart a certain day to be observed, from the Potomac to the Rio Grande and be handed down through time as a religious custom of
1287-698: A number of Italianate lighthouses and associated structures, chief among them being the Grosse Point Light in Evanston, Illinois . The Italianate style was immensely popular in Australia as a domestic style influencing the rapidly expanding suburbs of the 1870–1880s and providing rows of neat villas with low-pitched roofs, bay windows , tall windows and classical cornices. The architect William Wardell designed Government House in Melbourne —the official residence of
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#17330931989201404-562: A sacred charge upon a Nation's gratitude—the soldiers' and sailors' widow and orphan. On May 5, 1868, General John A. Logan issued a proclamation calling for "Decoration Day" to be observed annually and nationwide; he was commander-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR), an organization of and for Union Civil War veterans founded in Decatur, Illinois . With his proclamation, Logan adopted
1521-455: A sacred event. With the Civil War, a new theme of death, sacrifice, and rebirth enters the civil religion. Memorial Day gave ritual expression to these themes, integrating the local community into a sense of nationalism. The American civil religion, in contrast to that of France, was never anticlerical or militantly secular; in contrast to Britain, it was not tied to a specific denomination, such as
1638-523: A windstorm two years later. Newman organized the effort to quickly rebuild and re-open the market by the end of 1839. The market was named for John Smith Hollins (1786–1856), an estate owner in West Baltimore and one-term mayor of the city from 1852 to 1854. In 1863, the City Council appropriated $ 23,000 to erect the high-ceilinged Italianate red brick edifice as an addition to the old market house. As this
1755-426: Is a dense area of rowhouses that includes Federal, Greek Revival and Italianate architectural styles. To the west, Union Square Park contains an ornate fountain and Greek Revival pavilion, and forms one of the two open spaces preserved in the neighborhood. Hollins Market, in the east, is an Italianate-style market house built in 1838 and expanded in 1864, and is the oldest city market still in operation. A large part of
1872-573: Is also ( Md. Route 295 and Interstate 295 ), and the old historic Washington Boulevard from colonial times now of U.S. Route 1 , and further to the west is U.S. Route 29 , all connecting to the Capital Beltway around the Nation's Capital, in Maryland and Virginia, Interstate 495 . A 2.5-acre (10,000 m) public space at the west side of the neighborhood, Union Square Park dates from 1847 and contains
1989-694: Is an example of this further evolution of the style. As in Australia, the use of Italianate for public service offices took hold but using local materials like timber to create the illusion of stone. At the time it was built in 1856, the official residence of the Colonial Governor in Auckland was criticized for the dishonesty of making wood look like stone. The 1875 Old Government Buildings, Wellington are entirely constructed with local kauri timber, which has excellent properties for construction. ( Auckland developed later and preferred Gothic detailing.) As in
2106-849: Is held in the streets around Hollins Market on the Sunday afternoon of the Memorial Day weekend. Also in the Union Square Historic District, attractions include annual events such as the Union Square Christmas Cookie Tour plus the Black Cherry Puppet Theater, the Enoch Pratt Free Library No. 2 Branch (1886), and Sowebo Arts, Inc. Other nearby sites of interest include the B&;O Railroad Museum ,
2223-514: Is not very well known, but a clear example of Italianate architecture, is St. Christopher's Anglican church in Hinchley Wood , Surrey, particularly given the design of its bell tower . Portmeirion in Gwynedd , North Wales, is an architectural fantasy designed in a southern Italian Baroque style and built by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis between 1925 and 1975 in a loose style of an Italian village. It
2340-495: Is now owned by a charitable trust. Williams-Ellis incorporated fragments of demolished buildings, including works by a number of other architects. Portmeirion's architectural bricolage and deliberately fanciful nostalgia have been noted as an influence on the development of postmodernism in architecture in the late 20th century. The Italianate revival was comparatively less prevalent in Scottish architecture , examples include some of
2457-515: Is part of the Baltimore public market system that began in 1763. In 1835, the City granted a petition of piano manufacturer Joseph Newman and “others” to erect a market house at their own expense. Banker George T. Dunbar donated the land which, at that time, was on the western fringe of the city. The doors opened in September 1836 and the market soon became very successful, but the fragile structure blew down in
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#17330931989202574-546: Is the birthplace of the writer Katherine Mansfield . Memorial Day Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day ) is one of the federal holidays in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces . It is observed on the last Monday of May. Memorial Day is also considered the unofficial beginning of summer in
2691-449: The B&O Yards to the south of the neighborhood. The buildings were brick and low-scale – no more than three stories except for some commercial buildings. Evenly spaced doorsteps, windows, and doors, as well as continuous rooflines create the visual rhythms for which Baltimore rowhouses are noted. Although residential construction ended in the 1880s, commercial building continued into the early 20th century. The two-and-one-half acres for
2808-492: The Church of England . The Americans borrowed from different religious traditions so that the average American saw no conflict between the two, and deep levels of personal motivation were aligned with attaining national goals. Since 1867, Brooklyn, New York, has held an annual Memorial Day parade which it claims to be the nation's oldest. Grafton, West Virginia , and Ironton, Ohio have also had an ongoing parade since 1868. However,
2925-682: The Declaration of Independence ), and daughter of General Winfield “Old Fuss and Feathers” Scott (a hero in the War of 1812 and unsuccessful Whig presidential candidate in 1852). Within a year, she donated it to the Roman Catholic Church as a school for delinquent girls, under the administration of the Congregation of the Good Shepherd. Additions and renovations changed the original structure over
3042-817: The Lithuanian Hall , Carroll Park, the Mount Clare Museum, the Babe Ruth Museum, the Irish Shrine and Railroad Workers Memorial Museum , and the Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum . The Union Square-Hollins Market Historic District is a dense area of rowhouses and commercial structures located approximately 10 blocks west of the Inner Harbor in Baltimore. The district contains approximately 1,321 buildings with about 31 structures which do not contribute to
3159-624: The Medici . Upon his return to Lebanon in 1618, he began modernising Lebanon. He developed a silk industry, upgraded olive oil production, and brought with him numerous Italian engineers who began building mansions and civil buildings throughout the country. The cities of Beirut and Sidon were especially built in the Italianate style. The influence of these buildings, such as those in Deir el Qamar , influenced building in Lebanon for many centuries and continues to
3276-544: The Old Treasury Building (1858), Leichhardt Town Hall (1888), Glebe Town Hall (1879) and the fine range of state and federal government offices facing the gardens in Treasury Place. No.2 Treasury Gardens (1874). This dignified, but not overly exuberant style for civil service offices contrasted with the grand and more formal statements of the classical styles used for Parliament buildings . The acceptance of
3393-704: The Reform Club 1837–41 in Pall Mall represents a convincingly authentic pastiche of the Palazzo Farnese in Rome, albeit in a 'Grecian' Ionic order in place of Michelangelo 's original Corinthian order . Although it has been claimed that one-third of early Victorian country houses in England used classical styles, mostly Italianate, by 1855 the style was falling from favour and Cliveden came to be regarded as "a declining essay in
3510-731: The Tudor and Gothic styles at the Houses of Parliament in London, was a great promoter of the style. Unlike Nash, he found his inspiration in Italy itself. Barry drew heavily on the designs of the original Renaissance villas of Rome , the Lazio and the Veneto or as he put it: "...the charming character of the irregular villas of Italy." His most defining work in this style was the large Neo-Renaissance mansion Cliveden , while
3627-514: The Uniform Monday Holiday Act , which moved four holidays, including Memorial Day, from their traditional dates to a specified Monday in order to create a convenient three-day weekend. The change moved Memorial Day from its traditional May 30 date to the last Monday in May. The law took effect at the federal level in 1971. In 1913, an Indiana veteran complained that younger people born since
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3744-508: The United States , where it was promoted by the architect Alexander Jackson Davis . Key visual components of this style include: A late intimation of John Nash 's development of the Italianate style was his 1805 design of Sandridge Park at Stoke Gabriel in Devon . Commissioned by the dowager Lady Ashburton as a country retreat, this small country house clearly shows the transition between
3861-526: The United States Library of Congress , "Southern women decorated the graves of soldiers even before the Civil War’s end. Records show that by 1865, Mississippi, Virginia, and South Carolina all had precedents for Memorial Day." The earliest Southern Memorial Day celebrations were simple, somber occasions for veterans and their families to honor the dead and tend to local cemeteries. In following years,
3978-460: The governor of Victoria —as an example of his "newly discovered love for Italianate, Palladian and Venetian architecture ." Cream-colored, with many Palladian features, it would not be out of place among the unified streets and squares in Thomas Cubitt's Belgravia , London, except for its machicolated signorial tower that Wardell crowned with a belvedere . The hipped roof is concealed by
4095-542: The half-staff position, where it remains only until noon. It is then raised to full-staff for the remainder of the day. The National Memorial Day Concert takes place on the west lawn of the United States Capitol . Scholars, following the lead of sociologist Robert Bellah , often make the argument that the United States has a secular " civil religion "—one with no association with any religious denomination or viewpoint—that has incorporated Memorial Day as
4212-625: The " Inner Harbor " (formerly known as "The Basin" of the harbor), the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River , the B&O Railroad Museum , Ravens Stadium (later known as M. & T. Bank Stadium) , and the University of Maryland at Baltimore , (the original and founding campus of the U. of M. system, from 1807). The state-of-the-art U.M.B. Biotech Park on West Baltimore Street is a recent addition, with portions still under construction. One of
4329-499: The "baptism of blood" on the battlefield. In the national capital in 1913 the four-day "Blue-Gray Reunion" featured parades, re-enactments, and speeches from a host of dignitaries, including President Woodrow Wilson , the first Southerner elected to the White House since the War. James Heflin of Alabama gave the main address. Heflin was a noted orator; his choice as Memorial Day speaker
4446-405: The 1850s when Union Square played the title role in the lush 1997 movie adaptation of Henry James's biting novel Washington Square from acclaimed director Agnieszka Holland . The excitement continued in 1997 as the community celebrated the sesquicentennial of Union Square with a re-dedication of the park including the placement of a stone tablet commemorating the event at the foot of one of
4563-456: The Arts, a Young Audiences Gala and fundraiser. Steuart Hill Academy is located at 30 South Gilmor Street directly across the street from Union Square Park. The school was originally named Steuart Hill Elementary as a pre-K –6 school. The school's playground was torn down in 1999 and the school went without a playground for 4 years until awareness was brought to the attention of the city by a group of
4680-481: The Civil War. Its popularity was due to being suitable for many different building materials and budgets, as well as the development of cast-iron and press-metal technology making the production more efficient of decorative elements such as brackets and cornices. However, the style was superseded in popularity in the late 1870s by the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles. The popularity of Italianate architecture in
4797-680: The Confederate dead. The most important of these was the United Daughters of the Confederacy , which grew throughout the South. Changes in the ceremony's hymns and speeches reflect an evolution of the ritual into a symbol of cultural renewal and conservatism in the South. By 1913, David Blight argues, the theme of American nationalism shared equal time with the Confederate. By the 20th century, various Union memorial traditions, celebrated on different days, merged, and Memorial Day eventually extended to honor all Americans who fought and died while in
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4914-589: The Confederate prison camp located there. After the city fell, the freed Black population unearthed and properly buried the soldiers, placing flowers at their graves. The event was reported contemporaneously in the Charleston Daily Courier and the New-York Tribune . Historian David Blight has called this commemoration the first Memorial Day. However, no direct link has been established between this event and General John Logan 's 1868 proclamation for
5031-527: The H. L. Mencken House opened as part of the City Life Museums and a center for theatrical, literary and musical events. Although the City Life Museums closed in 1997, a $ 3 million donation from retired naval commander Max Hency allowed the organization to begin renovating the house, and it opened to the public in 2019, though only by prior reservation. The park and fountain – as well as parts of Stricker, Hollins and Lombard streets – were transported back to
5148-686: The Italianate style for government offices was sustained well into the 20th century when, in 1912, John Smith Murdoch designed the Commonwealth Office Buildings as a sympathetic addition to this precinct to form a stylistically unified terrace overlooking the gardens. The Italianate style of architecture continued to be built in outposts of the British Empire long after it had ceased to be fashionable in Britain itself. The Albury railway station in regional New South Wales , completed in 1881,
5265-536: The Italianate style in England tend to take the form of Palladian -style building often enhanced by a belvedere tower complete with Renaissance -type balustrading at the roof level. This is generally a more stylistic interpretation of what architects and patrons imagined to be the case in Italy, and utilises more obviously the Italian Renaissance motifs than those earlier examples of the Italianate style by Nash. Sir Charles Barry , most notable for his works on
5382-413: The Italianate style lined the blocks leading up to and surrounding the square. Less ornate homes were put up in groups on side and alley streets, but all shared many identical features such as cornices, marble steps, and iron work. Developers and homeowners attempted to build the most economic dwellings possible, so they crammed narrow rowhouses along every road, avenue and alley in the district. Common brick
5499-737: The Italianate style, such as the James Lick Mansion , John Muir Mansion , and Bidwell Mansion , before later Stick-Eastlake and Queen Anne styles superseded. Many, nicknamed Painted Ladies , remain and are celebrated in San Francisco . A late example in masonry is the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Los Angeles . Additionally, the United States Lighthouse Board , through the work of Colonel Orlando M. Poe , produced
5616-545: The Ladies' Memorial Association and other groups increasingly focused rituals on preserving Confederate culture and the Lost Cause of the Confederacy narrative. The 1863 cemetery dedication at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania , included a ceremony of commemoration at the graves of dead soldiers. Some have therefore claimed that President Abraham Lincoln was the founder of Memorial Day. However, Chicago journalist Lloyd Lewis tried to make
5733-515: The Market, is bounded by S. Stricker and S. Gilmore Streets from the east and west respectively, and by Hollins and W. Lombard Streets to the north and south. The area is built on a grid street system which conforms to the original 1818 layout of the area. Zip Code: 21223. Begun during the influx of English, Irish and German immigration of the 1830s, the Union Square / Hollins Market Historic District
5850-412: The Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard running in an arch around the west side of downtown with its connection to the Jones Falls Expressway , ( Interstate 83 ) going north towards the Baltimore-Harrisburg Expressway , the main East Coast highway, north to south is Interstate 95 with its Fort McHenry Tunnel and the Baltimore Harbor Tunnel cutting under the harbor and port of the Patapsco River and
5967-418: The Memorial Day parade in Rochester, Wisconsin , predates both the Doylestown and the Grafton parades by one year (1867). In 1915, following the Second Battle of Ypres , Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae , a physician with the Canadian Expeditionary Force , wrote the poem " In Flanders Fields ". Its opening lines refer to the fields of poppies that grew among the soldiers' graves in Flanders . Inspired by
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#17330931989206084-435: The Memorial Day practice that had begun in the Southern states two years earlier. The northern states quickly adopted the holiday. In 1868, memorial events were held in 183 cemeteries in 27 states, and 336 in 1869. One author claims that the date was chosen because it was not the anniversary of any particular battle. Logan's wife noted that the date was chosen because it was the optimal date for flowers to be in bloom in
6201-487: The North. In 1873, New York made Decoration Day an official state holiday and by 1890, every northern state had followed suit. There was no standard program for the ceremonies, but they were typically sponsored by the Women's Relief Corps , the women's auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR) , which had 100,000 members. By 1870, the remains of nearly 300,000 Union dead had been reinterred in 73 national cemeteries, located near major battlefields and thus mainly in
6318-484: The South. In some cities, mostly in Virginia, other dates in May and June were observed. General John Logan commented on the observances in a speech to veterans on July 4, 1866, in Salem, Illinois . After General Logan's General Order No. 11 to the Grand Army of the Republic to observe May 30, 1868, the earlier version of the holiday began to be referred to as Confederate Memorial Day . Following Mary William's call for assistance, four women of Columbus, Mississippi
6435-503: The South. The letter was reprinted in several southern states and the plans were noted in newspapers in the North . The date of April 26 was chosen, which corresponded with the end date of the war with the surrender agreement between Generals Johnston and Sherman in 1865. The holiday was observed in Atlanta, Augusta, Macon, Columbus and elsewhere in Georgia as well as Montgomery, Alabama; Memphis, Tennessee; Louisville, Kentucky; New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi, and across
6552-445: The South. The most famous are Gettysburg National Cemetery in Pennsylvania and Arlington National Cemetery , near Washington, D.C. On May 26, 1966, President Lyndon B. Johnson designated an "official" birthplace of the holiday by signing the presidential proclamation naming Waterloo, New York , as the holder of the title. This action followed House Concurrent Resolution 587, in which the 89th Congress had officially recognized that
6669-413: The U.S. before and during the American Civil War . Other claims may be less respectable, appearing to some researchers as taking credit without evidence, while erasing better-evidenced events or connections. On June 3, 1861, Warrenton, Virginia was the location of the first Civil War soldier's grave to be decorated, according to an article in the Richmond Times-Dispatch in 1906. This decoration
6786-409: The U.S. military service. Indiana from the 1860s to the 1920s saw numerous debates on how to expand the celebration. It was a favorite lobbying activity of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). An 1884 GAR handbook explained that Memorial Day was "the day of all days in the G.A.R. Calendar" in terms of mobilizing public support for pensions. It advised family members to "exercise great care" in keeping
6903-457: The U.S. military who fought and died in service. In 1971, Congress standardized the holiday as "Memorial Day" and changed its observance to the last Monday in May. Two other days celebrate those who have served or are serving in the U.S. military: Armed Forces Day , which is earlier in May, an unofficial U.S. holiday for honoring those currently serving in the armed forces, and Veterans Day on November 11, which honors all those who have served in
7020-399: The United States Armed Forces. A variety of cities and people have claimed origination of Memorial Day. In some such cases, the claims relate to documented events, occurring before or after the Civil War. Others may stem from general traditions of decorating soldiers' graves with flowers, rather than specific events leading to the national proclamation. Soldiers' graves were decorated in
7137-552: The United States, the timber construction common in New Zealand allowed this popular style to be rendered in domestic buildings, such as Antrim House in Wellington, and Westoe Farm House in Rangitikei (1874), as well as rendered brick at "The Pah" in Auckland (1880). On a more domestic scale, the suburbs of cities like Dunedin and Wellington spread out with modest but handsome suburban villas with Italianate details, such as low-pitched roofs, tall windows, corner quoins , and stone detailing, all rendered in wood. A good example
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#17330931989207254-498: The United States. It is a day for visiting cemeteries and memorials to mourn the military personnel who died in the line of duty. Volunteers will place American flags on the graves of those military personnel in national cemeteries . Others such as family and friends will also come to lay flowers and grieve on the graves of those who died in the US military. The first national observance of Memorial Day occurred on May 30, 1868. Then known as Decoration Day and observed on May 30,
7371-401: The Upland South argues for the age of the tradition, which was carried westward (and eastward to Africa) by nineteenth-century migration and has survived in essentially the same form till the present." While these customs may have inspired in part rituals to honor military dead like Memorial Day, numerous differences exist between Decoration Day customs and Memorial Day, including that the date
7488-424: The architect Sir Charles Barry in the 1830s. Barry's Italianate style (occasionally termed "Barryesque") drew heavily for its motifs on the buildings of the Italian Renaissance , though sometimes at odds with Nash's semi-rustic Italianate villas. The style was employed in varying forms abroad long after its decline in popularity in Britain. For example, from the late 1840s to 1890, it achieved huge popularity in
7605-428: The big race to continue, so Governor Warren McCray vetoed the bill and the race went on. Memorial Day endures as a holiday which most businesses observe because it marks the unofficial beginning of summer. ( Labor Day is the unofficial end of summer.) The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War (SUVCW) advocated returning to the original date. The VFW stated in 2002: Changing
7722-426: The case that it was Lincoln's funeral that spurred the soldiers' grave decorating that followed. On July 4, 1864, ladies decorated soldiers' graves according to local historians in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania . Boalsburg promotes itself as the birthplace of Memorial Day. However, no published reference to this event has been found earlier than the printing of the History of the 148th Pennsylvania Volunteers in 1904. In
7839-425: The community's signature structure, a Greek Revival Pavilion (1850) with fluted iron columns. Other features include the H. L. Mencken Memorial Fountain (1976) and curved walkways with park benches. Throughout the year, there are many impromptu events in the Square, including neighborhood dinners, outdoor movies , tag sales, Easter egg hunts, Halloween pumpkin carvings, and various other parties. A vital part of
7956-415: The community, Hollins Market was built in the Italianate style in 1838 at the east side of the neighborhood and is Baltimore's oldest home to food merchants. The H. L. Mencken House is located at 1524 Hollins Street. Baltimore's famous son, Henry Louis Mencken , lived here from 1883 until his death in 1956. More details in History section (below). An annual event - the Sowebohemian Arts Festival -
8073-422: The commuter rail service MARC Train beginning in the northeastern corner of the state at Havre de Grace at the head of the Chesapeake Bay down to Baltimore and onto Washington, D.C. 40 miles away. Surrounding the city is the encircling Baltimore Beltway which is also Interstate 695 and connects via four parallel highways, from east to west: Interstate 95 , then the Baltimore-Washington Parkway which
8190-401: The country, to wreathe the graves of our martyred dead with flowers. . . Let the soldiers’ graves, for that day at least, be the Southern Mecca , to whose shrine her sorrowing women, like pilgrims, may annually bring their grateful hearts and floral offerings. . . The National Cemetery Administration , a division of the Department of Veterans Affairs , and scholars attribute the beginning of
8307-424: The date merely to create three-day weekends has undermined the very meaning of the day. No doubt, this has contributed a lot to the general public's nonchalant observance of Memorial Day. In 2000, Congress passed the National Moment of Remembrance Act, asking people to stop and remember at 3:00 pm. On Memorial Day, the flag of the United States is raised briskly to the top of the staff and then solemnly lowered to
8424-426: The direction of Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha , and it is Cubitt's reworking of his two-dimensional street architecture into this freestanding mansion which was to be the inspiration for countless Italianate villas throughout the British Empire. Following the completion of Osborne House in 1851, the style became a popular choice of design for the small mansions built by the new and wealthy industrialists of
8541-432: The district. There are two major features in the district: Union Square Park, a speculative park and housing development of the 1840s, and Hollins Market, an Italianate style market house built in 1838 and 1864. The remainder of the district developed after 1830 mainly as housing for workers in nearby industries and consist of low scale, two and three story brick vernacular dwellings while larger, high-style rowhouses surround
8658-474: The early and mid-19th century. Mr. Mills was a prominent cabinetmaker and carpenter, providing furnishings and carpentry for many of the early homes in the neighborhood. Bill Adler of the Union Square neighborhood is at the head of a preservation effort to revitalize this valuable structure as a “historic life museum” and as a preservation, fine arts, or urban studies field site for local universities. Designated
8775-567: The early work of Alexander Thomson ("Greek" Thomson) and buildings such as the west side of George Square . The Italian, specifically Tuscan, influence on architecture in Lebanon dates back to the Renaissance when Fakhreddine , the first Lebanese ruler who truly unified Mount Lebanon with its Mediterranean coast, executed an ambitious plan to develop his country. When the Ottomans exiled Fakhreddine to Tuscany in 1613, he entered an alliance with
8892-645: The entrance to the Boalsburg Cemetery. Although July 4, 1864, was a Monday, the town now claims that the original decoration was on one of the Sundays in October 1864. ... Let us then gather around their sacred remains and garland the passionless mounds above them with the choicest flowers of Springtime; let us raise above them the dear old flag they saved from dishonor; let us in this solemn presence renew our pledges to aid and assist those whom they have left among us as
9009-425: The era. These were mostly built in cities surrounded by large but not extensive gardens, often laid out in a terrace Tuscan style as well. On occasions very similar, if not identical, designs to these Italianate villas would be topped by mansard roofs , and then termed chateauesque . However, "after a modest spate of Italianate villas, and French chateaux" by 1855 the most favoured style of an English country house
9126-514: The ground, or even flat roofs with a wide projection. A tower is often incorporated hinting at the Italian belvedere or even campanile tower. Motifs drawn from the Italianate style were incorporated into the commercial builders' repertoire and appear in Victorian architecture dating from the mid-to-late 19th century. This architectural style became more popular than Greek Revival by the beginning of
9243-509: The history of Classical architecture . Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism , the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian Renaissance architecture with picturesque aesthetics. The resulting style of architecture was essentially of its own time. "The backward look transforms its object," Siegfried Giedion wrote of historicist architectural styles; "every spectator at every period—at every moment, indeed—inevitably transforms
9360-661: The holiday was proclaimed by Commander in Chief John A. Logan of the Grand Army of the Republic to honor the Union soldiers who had died in the American Civil War . This national observance followed many local observances which were inaugurated between the end of the Civil War and Logan's declaration. Many cities and people have claimed to be the first to observe it. However, the National Cemetery Administration ,
9477-531: The label "Confederate" to their commemorations and claimed that Northerners had appropriated the holiday. The first official celebration of Confederate Memorial Day as a public holiday occurred in 1874, following a proclamation by the Georgia legislature. By 1916, ten states celebrated it, on June 3, the birthday of CSA President Jefferson Davis . Other states chose late April dates, or May 10, commemorating Davis' capture. The Ladies' Memorial Association played
9594-570: The leadership of women during the war, an increasingly formal practice of decorating graves had taken shape. In 1865, the federal government also began creating the United States National Cemetery System for the Union war dead. By the 1880s, ceremonies were becoming more consistent across geography as the GAR provided handbooks that presented specific procedures, poems, and Bible verses for local post commanders to utilize in planning
9711-455: The local event. Historian Stuart McConnell reports: on the day itself, the post assembled and marched to the local cemetery to decorate the graves of the fallen, an enterprise meticulously organized months in advance to assure that none were missed. Finally came a simple and subdued graveyard service involving prayers, short patriotic speeches, and music ... and at the end perhaps a rifle salute. In 1868, some Southern public figures began adding
9828-529: The military dead. Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions pre-date the United States Memorial Day holiday. According to scholars Alan and Karen Jabbour, "the geographic spread ... from the Smokies to northeastern Texas and Liberia, offer strong evidence that the southern Decoration Day originated well back in the nineteenth century. The presence of the same cultural tradition throughout
9945-467: The neighborhood is built on the former estate of merchant-shipper Thorowgood Smith (1744–1810). Smith was Baltimore's second mayor, from 1804 to 1808, filling the vacancy caused by the resignation of James Calhoun (Calhoun Street passes through the Union Square neighborhood). In 1799, Smith built his summer home, Willow Brook, in the Palladian style popular in mid-18th century England and the United States. At
10062-502: The next 100 years until the school closed in 1965, the property was sold, and the buildings were dismantled. Willow Brook's interior oval drawing room had long enjoyed national acclaim and, still intact, it was moved to the Baltimore Museum of Art for public and permanent display. Steuart Hill Elementary School was constructed on the site. The area was designated a National Register Historic District in 1967, two years after Willow Brook
10179-642: The observance is inscribed on the southeast panel of the Confederate Monument in Jackson, erected in 1891. Vaughan's account is contradicted by contemporary sources. On May 1, 1865, in Charleston, South Carolina , the recently freed Black population held a parade of 10,000 people to honor 257 dead Union soldiers. The soldiers had been buried in a mass grave at the Washington Race Course, having died at
10296-465: The park was approved for that use and donated by the Donnells in 1847. The park is one block square, bordered by Lombard, Stricker, Gilmor, and Hollins streets. The landscape of Union Square – with its walkways, pavilion, fountain, and wrought iron lamps – recalls Victorian Era Baltimore. Architect John F. Hoss designed the iron Greek-style pavilion with fluted columns in 1850 – it covers a natural spring that
10413-678: The park. The Union Square-Hollins Market Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. On the Square and on nearby streets, spacious three-story rowhouses predominate. Most are pre- and post-Civil War Italianate in style, but there are many examples of Early Victorian Greek Revival and Late Victorian Romanesque Revival . A majority of the homes have ten- to fourteen-foot ceilings, tall distinctive windows, wood floors, and plaster walls. Exteriors are brick and mortar facades with attractive cornices and marble steps. On
10530-483: The past according to his own nature." The Italianate style was first developed in Britain in about 1802 by John Nash , with the construction of Cronkhill in Shropshire . This small country house is generally accepted to be the first Italianate villa in England, from which is derived the Italianate architecture of the late Regency and early Victorian eras. The Italianate style was further developed and popularised by
10647-485: The patriotic tradition of observing Memorial Day had begun one hundred years prior in Waterloo, New York. The legitimacy of this claim has been called into question by several scholars. In April 1865, following Lincoln's assassination , commemorations were extensive. The more than 600,000 soldiers of both sides who fought and died in the Civil War meant that burial and memorialization took on new cultural significance. Under
10764-467: The pavilion columns. The celebration was highlighted with concerts and a marching band performance, and the dedication of a new park at Pratt and Gilmor streets. As of the census of 2000, there were 5,420 people living in the neighborhood. The racial makeup of Union Square was 30.2% White , 63.4% African American , 0.0% Native American , 3.0% Asian , 1.1% from other races , and 2.3% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.1% of
10881-450: The picturesque of William Gilpin and Nash's yet to be fully evolved Italianism. While this house can still be described as Regency , its informal asymmetrical plan together with its loggias and balconies of both stone and wrought iron; tower and low pitched roof clearly are very similar to the fully Italianate design of Cronkhill , the house generally considered to be the first example of the Italianate style in Britain. Later examples of
10998-600: The poem, YWCA worker Moina Michael attended a YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference three years later wearing a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed over two dozen more to others present. The National American Legion adopted in 1920 the poppy as its official symbol of remembrance. Decoration Days in Southern Appalachia and Liberia are a tradition which arose by the 19th century. Decoration practices are localized and unique to individual families, cemeteries, and communities, but common elements that unify
11115-415: The population. 38.0% of occupied housing units were owner-occupied. 34.9% of housing units were vacant . 49.5% of the population were employed, 7.4% were unemployed, and 43.7% were not in the labor force. The median household income was $ 30,765. About 14.9% of families and 27.5% of the population were below the poverty line . Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in
11232-423: The present time. For example, streets like Rue Gouraud continue to have numerous, historic houses with Italianate influence. The Italianate style was popularized in the United States by Alexander Jackson Davis in the 1840s as an alternative to Gothic or Greek Revival styles. Davis' design for Blandwood is the oldest surviving example of Italianate architecture in the United States, constructed in 1844 as
11349-428: The preservation of this impressive collection, with large-scale renovation efforts beginning to repair urban blight. Cincinnati's neighbouring cities of Newport and Covington, Kentucky also contain an impressive collection of Italianate architecture. The Garden District of New Orleans features examples of the Italianate style, including: In California, the earliest Victorian residences were wooden versions of
11466-462: The residence of North Carolina Governor John Motley Morehead . It is an early example of Italianate architecture, closer in ethos to the Italianate works of Nash than the more Renaissance-inspired designs of Barry. Davis' 1854 Litchfield Villa in Prospect Park, Brooklyn is an example of the style. It was initially referred to as the "Italian Villa" or "Tuscan Villa" style. Richard Upjohn used
11583-552: The same.... It is as much a part of me as my two hands. If I had to leave it I’d be as certainly crippled as if I lost a leg.” After his death on January 26, 1956, his home was bequeathed to the University of Maryland . In 1983 the City of Baltimore acquired the H. L. Mencken House from the University, in exchange for the Old Pine Street Station . With period furniture, his restored second-floor office, and backyard gazebo ,
11700-550: The several public golf courses is nearby in Carroll Park, also home to the historic Mount Clare Mansion of 1754 built by Charles Carroll, Barrister , (1723-1783), next to the newly renovated Montgomery Park office building, formerly the store and regional warehouse of the Montgomery Ward & Company , famous for their catalog orders and sales in the last century. Access to several transportation directions are minutes away with
11817-593: The side streets and alleys there are an additional variety of charming two-story and two-story-with-attic rows. House prices range from $ 40,000 to $ 400,000. Opened in August 2005, the Southwest Baltimore Charter School (SBCS) is located at 31 South Schroeder Street. Its K – 4 enrollment serves a diverse population in southwest Baltimore City. SBCS accomplishments include increases in reading performance across all grade levels and student performances at Taste
11934-565: The students. In 2002 these students were presented a grant from the Department of Parks and Recreation for $ 1 million. This money was used to rebuild their playground and several other Baltimore City playgrounds as well. In 2002, Steuart Hill Academy enrolled as a pre-K – 8 school. [REDACTED] The District is bounded by South Fulton Street to the west and South Schroeder Street to the east, with north and south borders of West Baltimore and West Pratt Streets . Union Square proper, just west of
12051-621: The style extensively, beginning in 1845 with the Edward King House . Other leading practitioners of the style were John Notman and Henry Austin . Notman designed "Riverside" in 1837, the first "Italian Villa" style house in Burlington, New Jersey (now destroyed). Italianate was reinterpreted to become an indigenous style. It is distinctive by its pronounced exaggeration of many Italian Renaissance characteristics: emphatic eaves supported by corbels , low-pitched roofs barely discernible from
12168-648: The time period following 1845 can be seen in Cincinnati, Ohio , the United States' first boomtown west of the Appalachian Mountains . This city, which grew along with the traffic on the Ohio River , features arguably the largest single collection of Italianate buildings in the United States in its Over-the-Rhine neighbourhood, built primarily by German-American immigrants that lived in the densely populated area. In recent years, increased attention has been called to
12285-588: The time, the property was on the outskirts of the city. Across town, next door to the Shot Tower (1828), Smith's principal residence is restored as the Circa 1790 Home, open to the public, and maintained by the Women's Civic League. Upon the death of the childless Smith, the villa with twenty-six acres passed to his wife, the former Mary Blaikley Stith (1750–1822) and then to a nephew, merchant and privateer John Donnell. Donnell
12402-417: The traditions and diversity of the market and the quality of goods still holds true. The 1990 Barry Levinson film “ Avalon ” depicts Hollins Market in its heyday. Hollins Market, at 26 South Arlington Street, is open Monday through Saturday from 7:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. It is closed on Sunday. At 1504 W. Baltimore Street is the residence of Malachai Mills, a free-born African-American businessman in
12519-408: The various Decoration Day practices are thought to represent syncretism of predominantly Christian cultures in 19th century Southern Appalachia with pre-Christian influences from Scotland, Ireland, and African cultures. Appalachian and Liberian cemetery decoration traditions are thought to have more in common with one another than with United States Memorial Day traditions which are focused on honoring
12636-554: The veterans sober. Memorial Day speeches became an occasion for veterans, politicians, and ministers to commemorate the Civil War and, at first, to rehash the "atrocities" of the enemy. They mixed religion and celebratory nationalism, allowing Americans to make sense of their history in terms of sacrifice for a better nation. People of all religious beliefs joined, made that German and Irish soldiers – ethnic minorities that Anti-Irish sentiment#19th century faced Anti-German sentiment#United States – had become true Americans in
12753-568: The war had a "tendency ... to forget the purpose of Memorial Day and make it a day for games, races, and revelry, instead of a day of memory and tears". In 1911 the scheduling of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway car race, later named the Indianapolis 500 , was vehemently opposed by the increasingly elderly GAR. The state legislature in 1923 rejected holding the race on the holiday. But the new American Legion and local officials wanted
12870-477: Was Gothic, Tudor, or Elizabethan. The Italianate style came to the small town of Newton Abbot and the village of Starcross in Devon, with Isambard Brunel's atmospheric railway pumping houses. The style was later used by Humphrey Abberley and Joseph Rowell, who designed a large number of houses, with the new railway station as the focal point, for Lord Courtenay, who saw the potential of the railway age. An example that
12987-420: Was criticized, as he was opposed for his support of segregation; however, his speech was moderate in tone and stressed national unity and goodwill, gaining him praise from newspapers. The name "Memorial Day", which was first attested in 1882, gradually became more common than "Decoration Day" after World War II but was not declared the official name by federal law until 1967. On June 28, 1968, Congress passed
13104-638: Was during the divisive time of the Civil War , the council refused to consider any bid for the market's construction that did not come from “parties... known to be thoroughly and unconditionally Union Men.” By 1900, Hollins Market stretched from Poppleton to Carey Streets, with 160 inside and 180 outside stalls. Over the years, an assortment of West Baltimore butchers, various European and Asian immigrants with vendor traditions, and African-American merchants have all sold and purchased meats, farm-fresh produce, baked goods, and home-produced wares. Somewhat smaller today,
13221-576: Was for the funeral of the first soldier killed during the Civil War, John Quincy Marr , who died on June 1, 1861, during a skirmish at the Battle of Fairfax Courthouse in Virginia. On April 26, 1865, in Jackson, Mississippi , Sue Landon Vaughan decorated the graves of Confederate and Union soldiers according to her account. The first reference to this event however did not appear until many years later. Mention of
13338-490: Was often used on side walls, with hard surface English brick on the front. The largest rooms were typically the front parlors and master bedrooms – smaller rooms were placed to the rear. Ceiling medallions, cornices, staircase millwork , and fireplace designs were individualized features, chosen from home order catalogs. Most of the wrought or cast ironwork in the neighborhood was made in the Hayward, Bartlett, and Co. Factory near
13455-522: Was once accessible by steps and, at one time, supplied water to the B&;O Railroad. The source of the name “Union Square” is uncertain but probably reflects the patriotic sentiment of this time before the Civil War . Fog scenes of the Square, lights agleam over wet pavements and barren limbs, were often featured in local landscape artistry. Willow Brook, the estate house, was acquired in 1864 by Emily Caton McTavish, granddaughter of Charles Carroll (a signer of
13572-412: Was razed. The original iron urns in the park were smelted down during World War II for the war effort. Economic decline occurred in the mid-20th until extensive rehabilitation began during a renaissance in the 1960s and 1970s. The Square benefitted from new lighting, shrubs, pink sidewalks, and cast iron benches installed during the 1970s. The city's oldest market structure still in use, Hollins Market
13689-424: Was responsible for parceling out the first plots of land for the construction of homes. Three sons of John Donnell leased grounds around the park, laid out specifications for houses, and graded and paved streets bordering the Square in the 1840s. Dubbed “Millionaire’s Row,” the portion of Stricker Street facing the Square featured the Italianate residences of bankers, investors, and factory owners. Other variations of
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