Harlem Park, Baltimore

Harlem Park is a predominately African-American neighborhood in West Baltimore, Maryland. It is located directly south of the Sandtown-Winchester neighborhood, and east of Edmondson Avenue Historic District. It is bounded by West Lafayette Street to the north; North Fulton Ave. to the west (including about 1 block west of Fulton); Route 40 to the south; North Fremont Ave. to the east.

History
The name Harlem comes from Dutch merchant Adrian Valeck who moved to Baltimore after the end of the Revolutionary War. He established outside the city, in the late 1700s, Haarlem estate, which had gardens and fruit orchards. In the early 19th century Thomas Edmondson (1808-1856), the son of a prosperous local merchant, took over the property. In 1857, nearby property-owners donated land to the city to establish Lafayette Square, a new public park a few blocks northwest of Edmondson's home. In 1867, Edmondson's heirs donated a portion of his estate to Baltimore to form Harlem Square. During the American Civil War, Lafayette Square became Lafayette Barracks, a Union encampment. After major battles at Antietam and Gettysburg, Union soldiers from New York and Pennsylvania spent weeks recovering at Lafayette Barracks. In the 1870s and 1880s, the developer Joseph Cone erected hundreds of rowhouses in the blocks around Harlem Park that included modern amenities like gas lighting, hot water, and door bells.

In the early 1900s, white residents in Harlem Park fought to exclude African-Americans. By the 1920s, many black residents were able to acquire properties, and white residents moved away to newer nearby suburban communities like Rognel Heights and Walbrook. By the early 1930s, the neighborhood had largely transitioned to African-American residents. Middle class black doctors and lawyers lived alongside working-class blacks in boarding and alley houses.

Car ownership is very low. According to census data, as of 2024, over half of the households do not own a car. This compares with nearby Roland Park where only 7% of households are carless.