Patterson Park (Baltimore, Maryland)

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Patterson Park was originally developed between the mid 19th century and early 20th. In the latter half of the 19th century, immigrant European laborers as well as free blacks flocked to Baltimore seeking jobs in the waterfront factories, rail yards and wharves. Profit-seeking, speculative builders met the housing needs by building block upon block of narrow rowhouses on inexpensive land, such as that found around Patterson Park. Many of the immigrants were from Bohemia.

Affectionately known as "marble houses," the typical Patterson Park rowhouse was built in Renaissance Revival, or Italianate, style. Three-story Victorians built circa 1900 to 1910 line the park's border. Two-story rowhomes dating from the 1920s line quaint and narrow side streets, some still paved with brick. Many houses still have original marble steps.

The fabric of Southeast Baltimore's working class communities was woven from the availability of good blue-collar jobs in the manufacturing industries surrounding the waterfront. Plant closures, layoffs, and the general decline of the manufacturing sector began to weaken that fabric in the 1960s. The mid 1990s were a particularly difficult time for Patterson Park, as nearby public housing estates were shut down abruptly, leaving nearby residents looking for housing options.

Approximately 300 rowhomes have been renovated by the Patterson Park Community Development Corporation (PPCDC) between 1996 and 2009, many of which were formerly vacant. Since the inception of PPCDC the vacancy rate in Patterson Park has declined from nearly twice that of the rest of Baltimore City to less than the average, the crime rate has dropped to less than half for violent offenses, and the average housing value has nearly tripled. In 2012 Patterson Park was cited in the Baltimore Sun as being one of the fastest growing areas in Baltimore according to the 2010 census, with a 19% increase in population since 2000.