Baltimore, Maryland - Cityscape - Neighborhoods

Neighborhoods

See also: List of Baltimore neighborhoods

Baltimore is divided officially into nine geographical regions: Northern, Northwestern, Northeastern, Western, Central, Eastern, Southern, Southwestern, and Southeastern, with each patrolled by a respective Baltimore Police Department district. However, it is common for locals to divide the city simply by East or West Baltimore, using Charles Street as a dividing line, and/or into North and South using Baltimore Street as a dividing line.

The Central district includes Downtown Baltimore, the city's main commercial area. Home to Harborplace, The Camden Yards Sports Complex (Oriole Park at Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium), the Convention Center, and the National Aquarium in Baltimore, the area also includes many nightclubs, bars and restaurants, shopping centers and various other attractions. Many of Baltimore's key businesses, such as Legg Mason and Constellation Energy are based here. In addition, the University of Maryland, Baltimore campus is housed in this area, with the long-associated University of Maryland Medical System adjacent to the school.

The downtown core has mainly served as a commercial district with limited residential opportunities. However, since 2002 the downtown population has doubled to 12,000 residents. The Central district stretches north of the downtown core up to the edge of Druid Hill Park. This northern portion of Central, between downtown and the park, is home to many of the city's cultural opportunities. Maryland Institute College of Art, the Peabody Institute of music, the Lyric Opera House, The Walters Art Museum, The Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, as well as several galleries are located in this region.

Crime in the Inner Harbor and Mount Vernon neighborhoods of the Central district became of greater concern in 2009, as an increasing number of random assaults on tourists were reported.

The Northern District lies directly north of the Central district and is bounded on the east by The Alameda and on the west by Pimlico Road. Loyola University Maryland, The Johns Hopkins University and College of Notre Dame of Maryland are located in this district as well as the affluent residential neighborhood of Roland Park, the first planned suburban community in America.

The Southern District, a mixed industrial and residential area, consists of the area of the city below the Inner Harbor, east of the B&O railroad tracks. It is a mixed socio-economic region consisting of working class, culturally and ethnically diverse neighborhoods such as Locust Point; the historic Federal Hill area, home to many working professionals, pubs and restaurants; and low-income residential areas such as Cherry Hill.

The Port of Baltimore operates two terminals in this district and the old Domino Sugar plant is located here. Westport is another lower-income neighborhood that has been approved for tremendous waterfront development in the years to come. (See Westport Waterfront)

East Baltimore consists of the Northeastern, Eastern, and Southeastern districts.

The Northeastern district is primarily a residential neighborhood, home to Morgan State University, bounded by the city line on its northern and eastern boundaries, Sinclair Lane, Erdman Avenue, and Pulaski Highway on its southern boundaries and The Alameda on its western boundaries. It has undergone demographic shifts over many years and has become predominantly African American.

The Eastern district is the heart of what is considered East Baltimore and is home to Johns Hopkins Hospital and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. Located below Erdman Avenue and Sinclair Lane, above Orleans Street, it is an almost exclusively African American area, made up of low-income residential neighborhoods. Entire blocks of abandoned buildings and its chronic problem with drug trafficking made this area a frequent on-site film location for The Wire, a television drama produced from 2002 to 2008.

The Southeastern district, located below Orleans Street, bordering the Inner Harbor on its western boundary, the city line on its eastern boundaries and the Baltimore harbor on its southern boundaries, is a mixed industrial and residential area. The demography of individual neighborhoods varies widely, from predominantly black O'Donnell Heights, where 66 percent of the population was measured below the poverty line in 2000, to predominantly white Fells Point, with less than 17 percent below the poverty line. Yet, even these two neighborhoods have a significant mix of other races and cultures, a common characteristic of Southeastern neighborhoods.

West Baltimore consists of the Northwestern, Western, and Southwestern districts.

The Northwestern district, bounded by the county line on its northern and western boundaries, Gwynns Falls Parkway on the south and Pimlico Road on the East, is home to Pimlico Race Course, Sinai Hospital. Its neighborhoods are mostly residential. Formerly the center of Baltimore's Jewish community, the district's Park Heights neighborhood, has undergone white flight since the 1960s, becoming an almost exclusively black.

Northern Parkway divides the Northwestern district into two distinctly different demographic areas. Neighborhoods to the north of the parkway, such as Mount Washington and Cheswolde are predominantly white, with low-density suburban housing. South of the parkway, the neighborhoods are mostly black. Some of the neighborhoods south of the parkway also have suburban housing, but several are high density urban communities, with greater percentage of residents reported below the poverty level in the 2000 census.

The Western district, located west of downtown, is the heart of West Baltimore, bounded by Gwynns Falls Parkway, Fremont Avenue, and Baltimore Street. Coppin State University, Mondawmin Mall, and Edmondson Village, located in this district, have been historic cultural and economic centers of the city's African American community. Once home to many middle to upper class African Americans, over the years the more affluent residents have migrated to other sections of the city or beyond the city line into Baltimore County and Howard County.

Income levels below the poverty line were reported by the 2000 census for more than 45 percent of residents in some of the district's neighborhoods, which are almost exclusively black. Like East Baltimore, the area's crime problems have provided subject material for television series, such as The Wire.

Local organizations, such as the Sandtown Habitat for Humanity and the Upton Planning Committee, have been steadily transforming formerly blighted areas of the Western district into clean, safe and well-kept communities.

The Southwestern district is bounded by Baltimore County to the west, Baltimore Street to the north, and the downtown area to the east. St. Agnes Hospital is located in this district, amid a mix of industrial parks and residential areas. Economic and demographic characteristics of Southwestern district vary greatly. Almost exclusively black, the Uplands neighborhood, near the Central district, had 39.9 percent of its residents measured below the poverty line by the 2000 census. Predominantly white Violetville, at the city's southwest edge, had only 6.4 percent of its residents reported below the poverty line.

• Belair-Edison

• Homeland

• Woodberry

• Charles Village

• Carrollton Ridge

• Station North

• Fells Point

• Roland Park