History

Auchentoroly Terrace - Blue Star Memorial Highway

The New Auchentoroly Terrace Association

The New Auchentoroly Terrace Association traces its roots to the Mid-1980’s when Nick Lee, who owned a house on Auchentoroly, wanted to talk about the development of Section 8 housing in renovated apartment buildings along the Terrace. The meetings were first held in his basement, later moved to the Shaarei Tfiloh Synagogue, when Howard Ehrenfeld became president. Ruth Morgan succeeded him, but the association dwindled and had virtually disappeared by 1999, when Barbara Anderson-Dandy retired from the city public school system and assumed the mantle of acting president in order to organize cleanups and deal with city agencies. Although the association never had any formal bylaws, it now considers its boundaries as all of Auchentoroly Terrace and the 2300 blocks of Whittier, Bryant and Orem Avenues.

  • ATA received The Mayor’s Citation, as a recipient of the 2002 Neighborhood Grant Program sponsored by Comcast and The Office of Promotion & The Arts
  • February 4, 2003, at City Hall for contributions to civic welfare of the city and for public service.
  • ATA was awarded The Baltimore Community Foundation’s Mobilization Grant for $5000 at the Grant Award Celebration on June 30, 2003, at Citizens Planning and Housing Association (CPHA) to support ATA’s Trash Can/Rat Eradication Project.
  • ATA also received a $1000 Affiliate Grant from GMCC under the auspices of the Baltimore Community Foundation for its Curb-Side Appeal Project/Beautification Day on May 22, 2004.
  • Auchentoroly Terrace was featured in The Sun Newspaper as a “sleeper” neighborhood on July 9, 2004.
  • Comcast and The Office of Promotion & The Arts also funded ATA’s Youth Community Day on August 14, 2004.
  • August 2005 ATA celebrated its local historic district designation. The Baltimore Office of Promotion & The Arts and Comcast funded ATA’s Historic District Celebration.
  • As of July 1, 2005, ATA had two Target Blocks with Healthy Neighborhood, which have since been expanded to five blocks: 3000-3400.
  • ATA received 20 trees from the Federated Garden Clubs of Maryland on March 16, 2006, which were planted on the median south of Gwynns Falls Parkway.
  • On May 20, 2006, ATA participated in Baltimore Heritage’s Spring 2006 “Baltimore By Foot”.
  • The Baltimore Community Foundation awarded ATA a grant of $5000 for its Historic Signage Project – July 2006.
  • Gable Signs installed ATA’s two Historic community signs on March 5, 2007.
  • ATA’s Gang Awareness Forum 2007, sponsored by the State’s Attorney’s Office was held on April 12, 2007.
  • With support from an APA Plan4Health grant secured by Bikemore and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, ATA worked with local public artists in October 2016 to install a temporary crosswalk improvement pedestrian access to the Druid Hill Farmers Market.
  • Blue Water Baltimore worked with community members to plant trees in the Auchentoroly Terrace median on April 30, 2017.
  • On August 20, 2017 ATA held our Back to School Youth Event funded by a $1000 MECU Neighborhood Events Grant awarded by Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts and a $2000 donation from Whiting-Turner.
  • In March 2018 ATA established our “Adopt Your Block to Be Litter Free Project” with a $1000 grant from Bmore Beautiful.
  • ATA secured a $1000 LifeBridge Health Community Grant to support our Youth Jam for Health and Safety that took place August 25, 2019 at the Liberty Pavilion in Druid Hill Park.
  • On February 18, 2019 Bmore Beautiful awarded ATA a Love Your Block grant in support of our neighborhood street pole banners. In addition, real estate developer Meadow Development Group sponsored two street pole banners.
  • In December of 2020 ATA won a Spruce Up grant from Neighborhood Housing Services and a second grant from the Baltimore Community Foundation to fund a community-inspired artistic crosswalk connecting our blocks with Druid Hill Park at Fulton Avenue.

In The News

Neighborhood History

Auchentoroly Terrace is a locally designated historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Click here for more information on guidelines and incentives for investing in our historic district.

Auchentoroly Terrace

From the Baltimore City Historic District Ordinance 04-815

The street Auchentoroly Terrace consists of nine rows of housing, two mansion houses and two duplexes that all face the west side of Druid Hill Park. Built between 1876 (when the Orem and West mansions were built) and the mid 1920s, Auchentoroly Terrace represents an unusually impressive collection of architecture. Built at the height of Victorian sensibility, these rows exemplify grand rowhouse design and a lively, diverse array of architectural details. Framing the western boundary of Druid Hill Park, the buildings eloquently contrast with the park’s open space, a synergistic composition of neighborhood and park.

Auchentoroly Terrace sits on the west side of Druid Hill Park separated from the park by Swann Drive. The area was first owned by George Buchanan around 1723, according to a biography on Admiral Franklin Buchanan written by Charles Lee. He named it Auchentorolie after his home in Scotland. Today’s Druid Hill Park area was also part of the Auchentorolie estate. In 1856 Lloyd Nicholas Rogers, great grandson of George Buchanan, sold 33 ½ acres to John Morris Orem, a Baltimore dry goods magnate; and in 1860 Rogers sold Druid Hill to the City. Mr. Orem then built a large summer estate and named it Auchentoroly in tribute of the Buchanan estate (which by this time was known as Druid Hill). In 1876 Orem built two other mansions on Auchentoroly Terrace and gave them to his son William Morris Orem and his son-in-law William West. Today, these are apartment houses. In 1912, Park School resided in William Morris Orem’s old mansion at 3436 Auchentoroly Terrace. The school was one of the first in Baltimore to integrate the classroom with Jewish and Christian students. The other mansion house is 3442 Auchentoroly Terrace and has been an apartment house. By 1896, houses on the 2700-3000 blocks of Auchentoroly Terrace were constructed. Between 1896 and 1906, the 3100-3300 blocks of Auchentoroly Terrace were built, and between 1906 and 1914, most of the 3400 block of Auchentoroly Terrace was built. The 3400 block was completely built up by the 1920s when two duplex were built.

Auchentoroly by Foot Walking Tour

Click here download a full history and self-guided walking tour of Auchentoroly Terrace published for the Auchentoroly by Foot walking tour held on April 20, 2018.

Druid Hill Park

From the Baltimore Department of Recreation and Parks

Baltimore’s first large municipal park, Druid Hill is commonly known for its shady lawns, rolling hills, picturesque water features and majestic forest. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the history of Druid Hill Park began over two centuries ago, when the Susquehannock Indians ceded land that included the park’s area in its holdings to Lord Baltimore in 1652. It is believed that Druid Hill would have been a desirable place for Native Americans because of its access to the Jones Falls Stream, as well as the multiple springs at the site.

Formerly the estate of George Buchanan, one of the seven commissioners responsible for the establishment of Baltimore City, his estate named “Auchentorlie” included 579 of the 745 acres that comprise Druid Hill Park today.

Purchased in 1860, the park was developed as part of a nationwide movement to provide large parks for urban dwellers (Central Park began development in 1858). This movement followed in the tradition of European parks developed in the picturesque garden style.

Druid Hill Park was primarily used for strolling, driving, riding and ballgames. Its numerous water features included natural springs, streams and lakes that also functioned as drinking water reservoirs for the citizens of Baltimore. Druid Hill Lake began construction in 1863 and remains the largest earthen dammed lake in the country.

Other sites in Druid Hill include the Howard Peters Rawlings Conservatory, opened in 1888 and the country’s second-oldest Victorian glass conservatory, and the Maryland Zoo, which was established in 1876 as a result of people donating various animals to the park.

More on Druid Hill Park

Additional Historical References