USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Essex > Short History Of Essex And Middle River, Maryland > Part 2
USA > Maryland > Baltimore County > Middle River > Short History Of Essex And Middle River, Maryland > Part 2
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CHAPTER III
INDUSTRY SHAPES THE COMMUNITIES
Industry gave a boost to the growth of Essex with the coming of the Bethlehem Steel Company. While the steel industry had al- ready been established across Back River with the building of a plant and shipyard in 1886 (the first ship was delivered on January 23, 1892), Bethlehem's coming was the beginning of an expansion program that would one day make Baltimore County the site of one of the steel-producing giants of the nation.
The Sparrows Point lands were deeded to Thomas Sparrow by Lord Baltimore in 1652. In 1916 Bethlehem acquired both plant and shipyard. The company developed these properties into the largest integrated steel mill in the United States, with a capa- city of 8,200,000 ingot tons per year.
On June 26, 1919, the Eastern Rolling Mill was incorporated, and built its plant at the head of Back River. Production of car- bon steel sheet soon got under way, and by 1920 the first puffs of black smoke from its furnaces were drifting eastward toward Essex -- a welcome economic signal to the young community. In 1944 Eastern merged with Industrial Stainless Steel, Inc., to form Eastern Stainless Steel, now the world's largest producer of stainless steel exclusively. Essex and Middle River people by the hundreds were employed by the steel makers. Local prosperity was bound closely to the two companies.
The Baltimore County government's concern with the growth of Essex was indicated in a series of county newspaper articles designed to acquaint the public with the first educational bond issue in 1922. The amount was one million dollars, subject to a
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referendum. There were serious doubts in Towson concerning the acceptance by the public of this early version of deficit spend- ing. The picture was presented as follows:
"Why Essex Needs a New School .... In January, 1913, Essex was a small school of 28 pupils who met in a bungalow on the southeast corner of Taylor Avenue and Eastern Avenue. By Sep- tember, 1914, two rooms were needed and in January, 1915, the basement of the Methodist Church had to be rented to accommodate more pupils. The School Board erected a four-room building and when June, 1916, found 111 pupils comfortably housed, Essex residents thought their school problems solved. But the Spring of 1920 told quite a different story, for the new building and three portables were crowded to the doors and another four-room building was under way. Of course, the portables were removed in the Fall because other schools in the county were becoming over-crowded. Essex, however, was soon asking for more room, and in the Fall of 1921 two more portables had to be erected there. In less than nine years, January, 1913, to Spring of 1922, the enrollment had grown from 28 to 450. The school problem of Essex is not only unsolved but is greater, for its numbers are growing. The school grounds, too, instead of being enlarged, seem to shrink in size, because every new portable building added means a smaller playground on which to crowd the ever- increasing number of pupils."13
Happily, the bond issue passed, and in 1925 the new Essex Elementary School opened at Mace and Franklin Avenues. A 1927 aerial photograph, probably the first taken of Essex, was sold by the Parent Teachers' Association to raise funds for class room equipment. The same year, Our Lady of Mt. Carmel opened its parochial school at Middle River.
13 Amey C. Crewe, No Backward Step Was Taken. Baltimore: 1949, p. 89.
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Figure 8. -- Aerial view of Essex in 1927. The new Essex Elementary School is in the center of the picture. The original school building can be seen at the lower left hand intersection.
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Figure 9. -- The Essex Methodist Church, Eastern and Taylor Avenues. The Essex Elementary School rented its basement for class rooms in 1915.
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Essex in the 1920's was a drowsy little village, lulled by the domestic sounds of crowing roosters, the lowing of an oc- casional cow pastured between its scattered cottages, and the thunk-thunk of hand operated pumps in its back yards. It was, in its modest way, fulfilling the promise of its developers, who told interested prospects that here was a community where the former city dweller could raise chickens, keep a cow, and escape the uncompromising feel of concrete paving underfoot. By night its residents could lie abed and listen to the clank-clink of an occasional automobile crossing the draw section of Back River bridge, and the rattle of the Number 23 street car, sway- ing over the tracks that paralleled Eastern Avenue.
There were diversions. A venturesome organ grinder, com- plete with costumed monkey and tin cup, sometimes came out from Baltimore, punctuating the Spring air with little bursts of music. Once, there was a huge, brown, dancing bear, twirling clumsily on its hind legs, and exciting the wide-eyed children and yapping dogs. There were church suppers (the main social events of the day), and traveling carnivals.
Now and then a medicine show turned up, pitching its tat- tered tents and parking its tired trucks at the edge of Tutchton's farm. One such caravan was billed as "Grey Feather's Show," and headed by an imposing mahogany-skinned figure, wearing a leather suit and full-feathered head dress. Grey Feather featured Indian dances, a banjo-plinking individual of African heritage, and an elixir called "Swamp Root Medicine." The properties of the remedy, according to the pitch man, fell little short of today's wonder drugs. The product sold, too, although the price was one dollar per bottle -- no small sum in those days. A local grocer is reputed to have purchased an entire case. It is not known whether he bought the potion for resale or for personal consump- tion; he still had a few bottles left when he closed his business about fifteen years later. Suffice it to say that he is still living at this writing, in good health, and the father of num- erous children.
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Despite steel, the economy was sick through the 1920's. A few more enterprising merchants came to Essex. Paul Mathai built his bakery at 525 Franklin Avenue; his horse and wagon were a familiar sight along the unpaved Essex streets for many years. John Banz, Jacob Fink, and Thomas Juliano opened dry goods and grocery stores on Eastern Avenue. There were others. But "For Sale" signs blossomed each spring as surely as the ancient apple trees at Tutchton's farm. Hardly a home owner expected to get three thousand dollars for his house, and few did. The "Back to the City" movement was still-born. Bill- board signs stared across the Avenue, offering lots to the few passersby until their painted entreaties faded, or until they were pushed over by energetic children.
Old timers remember 1929 not for "Black Friday" but for another reason having more positive implications locally. It was in that year that a newcomer, W. A. Crenning, late of Cleveland, Ohio, was handed a road map by Glenn L. Martin. Pointing to the general Middle River vicinity, Martin instructed his purchasing agent to buy "1,200 acres or so" there. Martin, himself, avoided putting in an appearance in Middle River or Essex. 14
Crenning quietly purchased 1,260 acres of farm and woodland. Martin had been explicit in what he wanted, if not in the precise location. The Cleveland aircraft manufacturer specified that the land must be near Washington and another large city, close to a good labor supply, have ready rail access, and enjoy good all- year flying weather. Middle River offered all of this. The first buildings, with 298,000 square feet of factory space, were completed before the end of 1929.
The Martin Star, April, 1943.
14
ESSEX BAKERY.
ESSEX BAKERY.
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Figure 10 .-- Essex Bakery, on Franklin Avenue, in 1921
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The depression was dealt a sharp blow locally by the Glenn L. Martin Company. Hundreds of men, most of them young enough to earn the sobriquet "boys' town" for the new company, were hired at Middle River. Starting literally at the bottom, some of them worked on the construction of the plant itself. Both Essex and Middle River were to share in this flash of prosperity, thereby beginning a close relationship between the two communi- ties that was to continue into the present. Youngsters fresh out of Baltimore County schools "hired on." They were joined by other young men, gripping suit cases, and inquiring of the Number 23 streetcar conductors, "How far is it to Martin's?" Many came to stay (although most of these probably did not realize it), making their homes in the community, and becoming accustomed to walking across the Middle River bridge, at the end of the car line, the half mile to the company's main gate.
Glenn L. Martin had planned well. The Middle River plant was to be a turning point in his fortunes. The BM-2 dive bomber, built for the Army Air Corps, and the PM-1 Navy patrol flying boat were the first planes to roll out of the plant. Middle River was proud of its new plant, a fact visibly attested to by a sign at the west end of the bridge proclaiming it to be the "Aircraft Center of the East." The community, without the aid of a Chamber of Commerce, was soon pointing pridefully to Middle River "firsts." Among them were the B-10 bomber, all- metal and faster by one hundred miles per hour than any plane in the world. A beaming Franklin D. Roosevelt presented the "Collier Trophy," the "Oscar" of the aviation world, to the inventor and his mother in 1933, and Middle River joined in taking a bow.
Famous visitors came to the little town. Charles A. Lindbergh came in 1935. Orville Wright, a legendary figure even then, visited the shops in 1937. Douglas "Wrong Way" Corrigan, who had flown non-stop from New York to Ireland (by error, he said), addressed the entire work force from a make-shift platform
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behind 'A' Building in 1938." 15 Amelia Earhart landed her little plane at Martin Field. Legend has it that she requested gaso- line and a pair of silk hose and that the company supplied both. The Kansas aviatrix was lost in the Pacific in an attempted around-the-world flight in 1937.
The need for improved medical services in Essex was met in 1933 with the establishment of the Essex Health Center under the jurisdiction of the Baltimore County Health Department. Mrs. Elizabeth Jenkins was the first president of the health group. She was assisted by Mabel Pailert, secretary, and Ida Bartel, treasurer. The Health Center volunteers, with the aid of other Essex organizations, served the growing community for twenty- nine years from the big, wooden former school building at Wood- ward Drive and Dorsey Avenue. In 1962, the volunteers were obliged to move to temporary quarters to make room for the grow- ing Essex Community College.
The worse calamity from a natural source ever to strike Essex and Middle River came on August 23, 1933. A hurricane, boiling up the east coast, lashed the towns with sheets of rain and winds up to 80 miles per hour. Huge tides caused tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage to waterfront properties. The two thousand miles of Maryland shoreline was estimated to have lost a land area of 1,200 acres as a result of the storm. Baltimore's Light Street was waist-deep in muddy water. When it was over, Maryland counted 22 dead as a direct result of the storm. 16
Small boats were left stranded on Back River Bridge. The street car trestle was so badly damaged that it was abandoned. On August 24, the street cars stopped uncertainly at the west end of the bridge. From there a bus picked up passengers, de- positing them at Mace Avenue, where another car carried them
15. The Martin Star, April, 1943.
16, The Sun, September 4, 1933.
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Figure 11. -- Glenn L. Martin and New York-to-Ireland flyer, Douglas Corrigan address Martin workers.
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as far as Middle River. Four days later this arrangement gave way to bus service from the west end of the bridge to the end of the route; rail transportation through Essex was over. In less than a decade, the transit company was to abandon the cars entirely in favor of buses.
Throughout the 1930's the growth of Essex and Middle River was nurtured by steel to the west and southwest, aircraft to the east. Expansion was almost monthly. A 440,000 square foot addition to the Martin plant was built in a record seventy-seven days to turn out bombers for France. The communities saw the winged shadow of war in 1939 in the form of "Baltimore" attack bombers rising from Martin Field. By night the dull roar of twin-engined planes, long rows of them, their engines being "run in" behind the plant, reached to the center of Essex.
Nearly every neighborhood child old enough to read could tell that the markings on the short, yellow-brown wings of the aircraft identified them as bound for French and British fields in a war that was then far away. Their camouflage blended with the desert sands of North Africa; they were to carry the names "Baltimore" and "Maryland," and the handiwork of local men and women to such exotic places as El Alamein, Mersa Matruh, Derna, and Bengazi. The names "Essex" and "Middle River" were to reach the dark continent in the persons of men who joined the company's field service to help keep the war birds flying.
Franklin D. Roosevelt, driven through Essex and Middle River in an open car, visited the Martin Company in September, 1940. He was met at the main gate by Glenn L. Martin, and the two drove through the cavernous plant, Martin pointing out de- tails of the Navy P5M flying boat under construction in 'B' Building to the president and former Secretary of the Navy. Local lore has it that F.D.R.was impressed by the aircraft plant, and by the narrow, spine-jarring Eastern Avenue access to it; he is said to have dropped a few descriptive remarks concerning the road. True or not, major repairs were begun on the avenue shortly thereafter.
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Carl Sandburg, poet and biographer of Abraham Lincoln, came in 1942, his white hair brushed by the wind as he watched Martin's B-26 bombers climb into Middle River's sky.
Middle River was now the site of the largest aircraft company in the country, a sprawling complex of olive drab camou- flaged buildings with thirteen thousand employees. To the east, along the railroad tracks, Martin broke ground for Plant No. 2, completing it in the summer of 1941.
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Figure 12 -- President Franklin D. Roosevelt with Governor Herbert R. O'Conor and Glenn L. Martin at Middle River in 1940.
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CHAPTER IV
THE WAR AND AFTER: BOOM WITHOUT BUST
America's entry into the war had an instantaneous effect on Essex and Middle River. Steel and planes expanded, hired thousands, and expanded again. More famous visitors traveled Eastern Avenue to Middle River. Among them was Harry S. Truman (than a senator), who toured the Martin Plant on April 1, 1942. By 1942, the two communities had a combined population of one hundred thousand. Now the peninsula was Maryland's second largest "city." They came by the hundreds: soft-voiced men from Tennessee and the Carolinas, mountain men from West Virginia's ridges (including Hatfields and McCoys), men with the black dust of Pennsylvania's mining towns ground into their gnarled hands. Rooming and boarding houses were opened, basements became dormi- tories. In some beds, men took turns sleeping, a situation made possible by around-the-clock working hours.
Housing was badly needed. Developments sprouted at Middle River as though from seed dropped from the bomb bays of the B-26 and 187 bombers that swooped low over the open fields and wood- lands. Aero Acres, Victory Villa, Stansbury Estates, Victory Villa Gardens, Mars Estates, and smaller developments added thousands of living units. On the east bank of Back River, "Eastern Terrace," the first sizable cottage development since the beginning of Essex, was started in 1941; the last of its approximately two hundred and fifty homes were finished in 1943.
In 1942 a trailer village was begun in a wooded area at Middle River adjacent to Plant Number 2, and four hundred more houses were added to Aero Acres. 17 Keeping pace with the tempo,
The Martin Star, June, 1942.
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the Pennsylvania Railroad put up temporary housing at Bengies Station to shelter the Mexican workers whom they had brought in to ease their labor shortage.
The end of the war did not bring the depression that many had direfully predicted for the two communities. Nor did it bring a crash in property values -- which also had been expected. Pent-up and controlled consumer demand, now loosed, fed the furnaces of the steel makers. True, aircraft was hard hit; the commercial market was there, but the carriers did not have funds to purchase new planes. Martin terminated thousands of workers.
Public library service in Middle River began in a small room in the Federal Housing Authority's recreation building, Martin Boulevard and Compass Road, in December, 1944; it pre- dated the establishment of a Baltimore County library system by four years. The first librarian was Mrs. Fred Merritt, who served at Middle River until November, 1945; she was succeeded by Mrs. Walter Gross. Mrs. Gross is credited with much of the early progress made by the library; she served until her death in 1960.
The Middle River library was the first public library in Baltimore County to offer a phonograph record collection for loan to its patrons. This service was made possible, initially by a gift from the Martin Company in 1947.
When the Federal Housing Authority disposed of its houses in Middle River, their former administration building was turned over to Baltimore County to house the growing library and the Health Center. The former moved into its new quarters in March, 1958.
On November 28, 1961, a fire badly damaged the library, causing a loss in furnishings, equipment, and books estimated at $20,000. Operations were temporarily set up in the recrea- tion building until June, 1962, when the institution returned to its restored home.
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Middle River also claims the distinction of being the first public library in Baltimore County to offer sponsored programs such as the "Woman's Book Review Club." Mrs. Samuel D. Morrone, the present Branch Librarian, has officiated there since Septem- ber, 1962, when she succeeded Mr. Frederic W. Binns, who was transferred to the Essex Library.
The population of the communities, it was apparent, was still headed in an upward direction. The war workers who were making their way homeward were balanced by those who now called Essex and Middle River their homes and by the establishment of new family groups. More services, especially for the young, were seen as a necessity. Among these was the need for more library facilities.
In the early 1940's, a group of Essex citizens had met with the Baltimore County Board of Education in an effort to provide recreational facilities for the community. As a result, the then vacant grade school building at Dorsey Avenue was provided as a meeting place for young people. Among these services was a "lending library," consisting largely of books donated by in- terested people. This was the first step taken in the community toward building a library.
In April, 1947, a group known as the "Friends of the Essex Public Library" was formed. Through their efforts, and those of the Essex School P. T. A., a small lending library was opened in a classroom of the school. The first book collection was placed on desks, around the walls, there being no shelving available. The following September, the use of an apartment at 42 Warren Road (near the school) was secured, and shelving was installed by volunteer workers. Essex had its first library.
A grant of $3,000 was made to the Friends of the Public Library in January, 1948, by the County Commissioners, making it possible to install a library system and to acquire more books. Mrs. Frances Bourn, who had volunteered her services, was asked to accept the position of librarian.
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The Essex Public library also pre-dated the Baltimore County Public Library. In January, 1949, under the Maryland State Li- brary Law, the Baltimore County Public Library was established. Dr. Richard D. Minnich was acquired as County Librarian and given the task of consolidating the twelve libraries in the county at the time and of planning for the necessary growth of the system.
The Essex library made its next move to a room on South Taylor Avenue on February 1, 1950, and Mrs. Bourn became its first full-time librarian. A new building was leased at 437 Maryland Avenue in 1954, and on December 1 the library made its most recent move. A Bookmobile was acquired in 1955 to provide service to out-lying districts. Today, the Essex library houses a collection of more than 35,000 books and recordings, and is staffed by sixteen people under the direction of Frederic W. Binns, Head Librarian.
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CHAPTER V
THE FIFTIES AND THE FUTURE
Essex and Middle River grew slowly in the '50's. Fewer homes were built, but their quality was a far cry from the war- time "temporary" housing. Two new churches were established: Our Lady Queen of Peace, on Bird River Road in 1953, and St. Clare's, the first Catholic church in Essex, in 1956.
On a sultry evening in August, 1957, Essex was dealt a blow from which its business district has never fully recovered. Almost directly across from the fire department, a blaze was discovered in the basement of a store in the 500 block of Eastern Avenue. Before it was brought under control, the conflagration had roared through seven business houses (the entire block) and caused damage estimated as in excess of a half million dollars. The buildings involved, the first unitized business construction in the town, were seventeen years old and had not been built in conformity with the present building codes, which were adopted in 1956. Most important, there were no firewalls.
Since the fire was discovered late in the evening (9:30 p.m.) the stores were empty of personnel and customers. No one was in- jured with the exception of several firemen, who sustained dis- tress due to smoke inhalation. The ten-alarm blaze moved rapidly through the false ceilings of the buildings, creating an inferno which could not be easily fought. A local merchant, in the early stages of the fire, deposited a money bag in the bank's night de- pository, thinking matters were under control. The cash was saved. Contents of the bank vault, and stores safes, were undamaged. 18
18
The Eastern Enterprise, August 8, 1957.
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The "Million Dollar Fire," as it was quickly named, left Essex with an ugly row of gutted, boarded up shells of build- ings and piles of rubble for more than a year and the dubious distinction of having experienced the worse fire in the history of Baltimore County.
The business block was not destined to rise phoenix-like and better than ever from the commercial graveyard along the avenue. By the time the physical damage has been repaired in the guise of new buildings, huge new shopping centers had sprung up nearby, and much of the buying habits of the popu- lace had turned to them. Despite the efforts of business leaders, the retail situation in Essex is still unhealthy from both the consumer and seller's standpoint.
While 1957 was noteworthy for the big fire, the year will be remembered for a more far-reaching event. The Governor's Commission to Study the Needs of Higher Education in Maryland completed its report in 1955. The proposal to establish com- munity colleges in the State was its most important recommenda- tion. In 1957, the Baltimore County Board of Education founded the Essex Community College, holding classes in the Kenwood High School buildings. The total enrollment that year was fifty-nine students, fifty being part-time and nine full-time. Community acceptance was demonstrated by the rapid growth in enrollment in the two-year college, with the number of students more than doubling by 1958, and reaching four hundred by 1963. By 1961 the Essex Community College had expanded to a full-time program, now housed in the old grammar school building on Dorsey Avenue (formerly the Health Center). County voters approved a $214,000 bond issue to pay for one-half of the costs of a permanent site for the college in the election that year.
A study, conducted with the assistance of local citizens, to determine a site for the school has been completed; the new campus is expected to be ready by 1966. The rise in local land
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values was dramatically in evidence during the long drawn-out site study when it was found that "asking prices" ranged from $1,500 to $15,000 per acre. 19
The Essex Community College looks toward a long period of growth. Authorities expect an enrollment of seven hundred full- time students by 1970. The ultimate outlook is for 1,800 stu- dents, participating in five or six transfer curriculums in addition to additional terminal programs.
The future of Essex and Middle River will most certainly involve the rivers bordering the two communities. The people who live in these towns have found that Back and Middle Rivers are facts of life with which they must come to terms. Essex has had the more difficult problem. Pollution of Back River was an odoriferous reality almost from the beginnings of Essex. While part of the contamination was of industrial origin, by far the most serious source of offensive and toxic materials entering the river originated with the city-owned sewage disposal plant. No organized effort was successful in combating this blight until 1948. In that year the Back River Civic Improvement Association, Incorporated, was formed. No group in either community has to date captured the imagination and support of the public to the extent that the association did.
Within a year of the incorporation of the civic group, a decision handed down by Judge Sherbow in the Baltimore City court demanded that the city take steps to improve conditions at the disposal plant, eliminate all pollution going into the river, and make periodic reports to both the court and the association concerning progress in that direction. 20 The Back River Civic Improvement Association, Incorporated, continues to keep a watch- ful eye on pollution problems in both rivers; their interest also
19Office of Planning and Zoning and Board of Education, A Community College in Search of a Campus, Baltimore County : March, 1963, p. 7. 20 Pollution Control and the Development of Port-Served
Industry with Particular Reference to the Back River Area, Office of Planning and Zoning, Baltimore County: 1961, pp. 1,2.
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extends to industrial zoning proposals along the river banks. Middle River's contamination problem, a considerably lesser one, may be traced largely to septic tank and outdoor toilet facili- ties along the shoreline.
The organization of the Essex Improvement Association, In- corporated, in June, 1961, is a recent effort toward self-help by the progressive people of Essex. Its early successes included the successful campaign toward the control of the illegal open dump operations on Northeast Creek, the support of home owners who opposed the re-zoning of their residential property for a metered parking lot in Essex, and the curtailment of heavy truck traffic on Mace Avenue.
Both Baltimore County and the city maintain a keen interest in the Back and Middle River areas. Certain re-zoning proposals were aired by the Baltimore County Office of Planning and Zoning in 1959, and, in 1960, a lengthy technical report was prepared by that office, outlining factors in pollution control and the industrial development of the Back River Neck areas. The plan- ning and zoning authorities point out that the development of port-industrial facilities is vital to the county, and that avail- able land for this purpose is, inevitably, fast disappearing. The report suggested that lands on Back River's shoreline from Muddy Gut to Cedar Point should be earmarked for port-service manufact- uring industry at the earliest possible date. It was noted that seven hundred acres on the west shores of the river were zoned for heavy manufacturing in 1945, with adjacent strips of land allocated for light manufacturing. 21
Although many people have become alarmed at the prospect of approaching heavy industrial inroads, it appears inevitable that they will have to make their peace with the situation with- in the next decade. The geography of Baltimore County's "lower end" lends itself too well to such usages for the probabilities
Ibid., p. 2
21,
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to be ignored. Baltimore County cannot play the role of a bash- ful suitor, wooing industry with an eye to taxation and job op- portunities for our people, but still permitting the voters to hold off those segments of commerce and industry which find conditions here to their advantage.
The vanishing open spaces on the peninsula have caused some anxiety among the thoughtful people of the two communities. The Department of Recreation and Parks has recognized the problem and attempts have been made to retain at least a semblance of the vista that greeted turn-of-the-century pioneers of Essex and Middle River. One of the most recent of these conservation de- velopments was the acquisition of a twenty-seven acre tract of land at Cox's Point, between Back River and Duck Creek, for a waterfront park. Purchased at a cost of $76,200, Cox's Point is a nominal link with the colonial past; it bears the last sur- viving name of a land grant in Essex. The point was part of a patent granted to James Cox in 1776, and called "Cox's Privilege." "Hazard," "Littleworth," "Long Thought," and other picturesque names once common to the area are now encountered only in musty land office records. Cox's Point was once neighbor to "Paradise." One could hope that its future usage will be worthy of its illustrious association.
The quiet, pastoral Essex and Middle River which many of our hardly more than middle-aged citizens can remember is gone. In its place there is a sense of bustle and well-being, punctu- ated by brief periods of economic recession as the fortunes of the communities' industrial neighbors ebb and flow. Fortunately, a lower percentage of this area's wage earners are employed on the local scene than was the case prior to, during, and after World War II. Like many suburbanites, the people of lower Baltimore County have participated in the phenomena of moving further away from their place of employment as they prospered. Essex and Middle River has had its share of upward mobility. The fact that many of these people did not choose to stay is unfortunate.
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The communities, faced by so many problems whose solutions must come from within, can ill afford the loss of ingenious and ag- gressive citizens.
Yet, with these economic ebbs and flows, Eastern Boulevard, Essex's "main street," now carries up to 45,000 vehicles through Essex in a twenty-four hour period -- a figure, tallied in August, 1962, matched by no other State artery in Maryland. This figure is almost double the 23,000 cars which traversed the boulevard in 1949, in a similar period, when it was the fourth heaviest traffic channel in Maryland. 22
Essex, especially, faces many problems. Its blight is largely commercial rather than industrial or residential. Hap- hazard and belated zoning and callous and calculating exploita- tion by commercial interests have been contributing factors. The people of Essex must decide what can be done to remedy a cancerous situation, and then muster the will to do something about it. Urban renewal approaches hold some promise, but, with their aura of letting someone else hand the problem, they are obviously not a panacea; Essex must help itself. The years ahead will tell whether or not the community has the pride, energy, and singleness of purpose to do the job.
22 Baltimore County Police Bureau, Central Traffic Unit, Vehicular Volume of State Arteries in Baltimore County Surveys, August, 1962.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Andrews, Matthew Page. The Founding of Maryland. Baltimore: 1933.
Atkinson, Walter B. (ed.). The 300th Anniversary Book. Baltimore County: 1959.
Crewe, Amy C. No Backward Step Was Taken. Baltimore: 1949.
Eastern Enterprise. Baltimore County: August 8, 1957.
Martin Star. Baltimore: The Glenn L. Martin Company.
Matthews, Edward B. The Counties of Maryland. Baltimore: 1907.
Maryland, Its Resources, Industries, and Institutions. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1893.
Office of Planning and Zoning and Board of Education. A Community College in Search of a Campus. Baltimore County: 1963.
Office of Planning and Zoning. Pollution Control and the Development of Port-Served Industry. Baltimore County: 1961.
Public Works Department. Progress and Accomplishments. Baltimore County: 1959.
Scharf, J Thomas. History of Baltimore City and County. Philadelphia: 1881.
Sun. Baltimore: September 4, 1933.
REF
JUN 2 4 1989,
MD 975.271
Martinak, George J Short history of Essex and Middle River.
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