Roland Park, Baltimore, Maryland
Encyclopedia
Streetcar suburb
A streetcar suburb is a residential community whose growth and development was strongly shaped by the use of streetcar lines as a primary means of transportation. Early suburbs were served by horsecars, but by the late 19th century cable cars and electric streetcars, or trams, were used, allowing...
. The early phases of the neighborhood were designed by Edward Bouton and Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr.
Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. was an American landscape architect best known for his wildlife conservation efforts. He had a lifetime commitment to national parks, and worked on projects in Acadia, the Everglades and Yosemite National Park. Olmsted Point in Yosemite and Olmsted Island at Great Falls...
Roland Park Elementary/Middle School, a K-8 school , earned the Blue Ribbon for Academic Excellence from the state department of education. The neighborhood is home to several excellent private schools: Friends School of Baltimore
Friends School of Baltimore
Friends School of Baltimore is a private Quaker school in Baltimore, serving students in pre-kindergarten through 12th grade.-History:It is the oldest private school in Baltimore, founded in 1784 by members of the Religious Society of Friends . Classes were first held in the Aisquith Street...
, Gilman School
Gilman School
Gilman School is a private preparatory school for boys located in the Roland Park neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1897 as the Country School for Boys, it was the first country day school in the United States. Gilman enrolls approximately 978 students, ranging from kindergarten to...
, Roland Park Country School
Roland Park Country School
Roland Park Country School is an independent all-girls college preparatory school in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. It serves girls from Kindergarten through Grade 12...
, the Bryn Mawr School
Bryn Mawr School
The Bryn Mawr School is an independent, nonsectarian, college-preparatory school for girls from preschool through grade twelve. Founded in 1885, BMS is located in the Roland Park community of Baltimore, Maryland, USA at 109 W. Melrose Avenue, Baltimore MD 21210.-The Bryn Mawr School Community:In...
, Cathedral School
Cathedral School
Cathedral School is a school established and administered by the Catholic Diocese of Lucknow, India, a religious and charitable society engaged in educational, medical and social work in eight districts of Lucknow. It is registered under the Registration of Societies Act No. XXI of 1860. The school...
, and Boys' Latin School of Maryland
Boys' Latin School of Maryland
Boys' Latin School of Maryland is an all-boys, college-preparatory school located in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1844, it is the oldest independent, non-sectarian secondary school in the state of Maryland. The school is divided into Lower, Middle and Upper Schools...
.
St. Mary's Seminary and University
St. Mary's Seminary and University
St. Mary's Seminary and University is a Roman Catholic seminary in Baltimore, Maryland; it was the first seminary founded in the United States of America.-History:...
is located in Roland Park. The Baltimore Light Rail
Baltimore Light Rail
The Maryland Transit Administration Light Rail is a light rail system serving Baltimore, Maryland, United States, and the surrounding suburbs.In downtown Baltimore it uses city streets...
's Cold Spring Lane station is within walking distance of much of the neighborhood, just across the Jones Falls Expressway to the west.
Roland Park Shopping Center
Roland Park Shopping Center is a single building strip of stores which opened in 1907 to serve the community, located at the corner of Upland Road and Roland Avenue. It has been credited by Guinness World RecordsGuinness World Records
Guinness World Records, known until 2000 as The Guinness Book of Records , is a reference book published annually, containing a collection of world records, both human achievements and the extremes of the natural world...
as the world's first shopping center (though some editions of Guinness incorrectly date it to 1896). Since it had only six stores, despite it being an important milestone, larger shopping centers such as the Country Club Plaza
Country Club Plaza
The Country Club Plaza is an upscale shopping district and residential neighborhood in Kansas City, Missouri, USA. It was the first shopping center in the world designed to accommodate shoppers arriving by automobile...
(1923) in Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
have received more attention as being "first," depending on what definition is used.
The strip of shops shown in the photograph is not the shopping center. The shopping center is half a mile south on Roland Avenue, and is a two-story building with office space above its stores.