The Village of Franklintown

The Franklintown area was included in a colonial land grant called "Mornings Choice," patented by John Scutts in 1695. Little is known of the Franklintown area up until the early 19th century. (If the Factory Road - today’s Forest Park Avenue - existed pre 1825, connecting the Old Frederick Road with Wetheredville and Garrison Road/Liberty Road it is reasonable to suppose that a small community might have existed at Franklintown where this road crossed Dead Run). In 1827 the Franklin Turnpike was chartered, to connect Franklin Street extended, at the existing city boundary, with landholdings to the northwest of today’s Franklintown. The turnpike was completed in 1831, and was described at the time as being "macadamized and…decidedly the best turnpike out of Baltimore…"(Benjamin Latrobe, noted architect). Among the organizers of the turnpike Company was William H. Freeman, a prominent Baltimore Republican, and large property owner along the Turnpike’s route. Freeman lived on the estate called "Arlington" in today’s Baltimore County, about ½ mile northwest of the Franklintown area. In 1830, the Maryland Racetrack Associations merged with the Maryland Jockey Club, and the new organization soon thereafter built a racetrack on Freeman’s land; this track was known as the Central Racecourse, and was located at approximately the site of today’s Westgate Shopping Center at the intersection of Johnnycake Road and Ingleside Avenue in Baltimore County. The Central Racecourse was on the National Circuit, and attracted such notable spectators as Andrew Jackson. The track’s first races were held in 1831, and it continued to operate for about 30 years.

The success and popularity of the racetrack and the recent completion of the new Franklin Turnpike encouraged Freeman in 1832 to attempt the first large scale "suburban" residential real estate development - probably Baltimore’s First such venture. Freeman’s scheme "Franklin Towne," was comprehensively planned but only partially constructed before the before financial disaster struck, in 1834. Before the bottom fell out of the project, Freeman succeeded in completing the several buildings, including a mill on the Dead Run. Known as the Franklintown Mills, it continued to grind grain for 100 years until 1934, when it was converted to a private home. Freeman also built the Franklin House, a hotel located on the north side of the Franklintown Road. Both the mill and the hotel, today known as the Franklintown Inn still stand. The area was also extensively landscaped, and improvements included an artificial lake complete with an island and summer house. A stone market house was built along the Dead Run, on the branch road west to the race course. Initially, a stage ran twice a day between Franklintown and the Franklin Coffee house, located behind the Franklin house. While no cottages were ever build some streets were laid out and appear in today’s Franklintown street pattern, including Crescent and Hill Streets of the original oval. Where Forest Park Avenue joins the Franklintown Road completes the southwest arc of the original oval.

Unfortunately for Freeman, the economy did not cooperate with his grandiose plans. Freeman obtained financing for Franklintown from the Maryland State Bank, through two directors on the Bank’s board. One of these directors was Reverdy Johnson, later a US Attorney General under President Tyler, and later still an ambassador to England. Reverdy Johnson’s "Lyndhurst" Estate was located south of the Franklintown Turnpike about a mile east of Franklin Towne. In the economic panic of 1834, depositors made a run on the Maryland State Bank, but the bank could not meet all of its obligations and closed down. Many depositors suffered great personal losses, and blamed the bank’s directors, and Freeman, the bank’s main borrower for their troubles. By 1835, the bank had not reopened, and amid rumors of embezzlement, a week of riots ensued, in which Reverdy Johnson’s town house was looted and sacked, and a mob started out to Franklintown and Freeman’s estate with a similar intent. Ardor waned, however, before their goal was reached, and the mob turned back to town. Freeman’s development activities in Franklintown, however, were finished, and the little community grew no further for many years.

Adjacent to Franklintown on the east is the former "Crimea" Estate of Thomas deK. Winans, (now part of Leakin Park). He was the son of the great engineer Ross Winans, whose inventions would lead to the success of the B&O Railroad. Thomas and his brother made their fortune by contacting with Czar Nicholas I of Russia, to build a railway between St. Petersburg (Leningrad) and Moscow. When Thomas returned, he brought land and built two mansions, Alexandroffsky, his city residence on Hollins Street, and the Crimea Estate, just South of Dead Run. All buildings, including a chapel and a honeymoon cottage, still stand, and were built around 1860 in a wood frame gothic style that echoes Russian architectural motifs.

The Crimea estate was embellished with several curious additions, the ruins of which still remain. During the Civil War Thomas’ father Ross, a southern sympathizer, built a rock fort with six fake cannon trained down on the Franklintown Road to "protect" the estate from the depredations of Union troops nearby. Apparently the Union Soldiers weren’t intimidated, but nonetheless left the property largely untouched. Also the remains exist of a large old waterwheel that was used to lift water from the Dead Run up to the main house.

The Crimea estate continued in the Winans family through his descendent Reginald Hutton up until the 1940’s. In 1942, the city purchased the lower portion of the estate, thanks to a sizable gift bequeathed by J. Wilson Leakin for the purpose of purchasing park land. In 1948, the city purchased the remaining portions of the property, including all of the buildings, which are now used as office space for the city Department of Recreations and Parks.

Reprinted with permission from Baltimore City website.