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| Cedar Avenue (Keswick) Bridge, from the Remington Side, 1922 (EPFL) |
I have spent six hours this morning defending the Remington community by posting to various Baltimore websites and blogs in defense of our community. On every one of these sites, someone has at least once referred to Remington as an extension or satellite of Hampden. They say the residential development of Remington was a result of the influx of mill workers employed in the mills of the Hampden-Woodberry area. Oh how this myth prevails! In 1977, Mae Mortimer, with support of the
Baltimore Development Corp., and the
Maryland Humanities Council, attempted to create the history of Remington. Her efforts were eventually published in the
CPHA's booklet entitled "
Beyond the White Marble Steps: A Look at Baltimore Neighborhoods", 1979 and reworded for inclusion in University of Baltimore's
North Baltimore Fact Book in 1989. Poor Mae. There was no World Wide Web in those dark ages and it was easier to get away with presenting folklore as fact. Her words are repeated on the
Live Baltimore website and about a dozen other sites and blogs. It's time to break the cycle and present REAL research backed by FACTS not FOLKLORE. To this end I have submitted a proposal to the Arcadia Publishing "Images of America" series offering a book about Remington.
In 2006, Mark Chalkley, published
Hampden-Woodberry for this series and he simply "stepped over the bridge." In fact, several bridges. Many of the photos included in his book are of Remington. He, too, considers the community a satellite of Hampden. My book will set the record straight. Original Remington settlers worked the Remington quarries. They were teamsters who travelled the Falls Road Turnpike to deliver goods; they were merchants who developed industry in and around the Jones Falls waterway. OK, a few worked the mills on the REMINGTON side of the bridge (and, of course those mills below Stone Hill (which IS a satellite of Hampden)).
To further my quest for truth and just, I plead with anyone out there who has photos of Remington between 1990-present, please upload them. I may ask your permission to include them in the book.
