Upper Fells Point (Baltimore, Maryland)

"It's no Federal Hill or Hampden or Charles Village, this East Baltimore neighborhood. Indeed, it's nothing like its immediate neighbor to the south, Fells Point, nor is it anything like its adjacent sister Canton. It's got but one eclectic tavern within its bounds, and its main business thoroughfare, Broadway between Eastern Avenue and Lombard Street, lacks the kitschy storefronts and boutique shopping that draw people to other areas of the city.

But that's why we love Upper Fells Point: It's got a hardscrabble exterior, a booming Latino community, a dash of the old-school Baltimore that's being edged out in most of the city's up-and-coming environments. You don't come here, necessarily, to shop, nor do you come here to hang out (though we must say, it is kind of nice to sit on the park benches along the median strip on Broadway and watch the world go by) and stroll. Chances are, if you're hanging out here, you live here. Or you want to live here because you don't need sushi or a gourmet grocery or a strip of trendy bars to make you fall in love with your neighborhood.

All you need is what Upper Fells Point has got -- a diverse population, a bunch of good taquerias at which you can get your good, cheap food fix, some mom-and-pop corner stores, and some solid neighbors who keep an eye out for trouble on their streets after dark. That's what Upper Fells Point is about."

Dating back to the mid 1800's, Upper Fells Point provided a higher ground on which Baltimore's dock workers resided. By 1860, one quarter of the population of Baltimore was German. By the 1880s East Baltimore canneries and clothing sweatshops were providing employment to hordes of newcomers. Czechs from Bohemia, Scandinavians, Italians, and Poles found work and lodging in Upper Fells Point. These groups were joined by the Lithuanians and Greeks in the early 1900s.


www.upperfellspoint.org