| Present day Irvington and the surrounding
area was originally called "the Hunting Ridge" by European immigrants. In
the last quarter of the 17th century, the Lord Proprietor made numerous land
grants on "the Hunting Ridge." Land records indicate that the first settler
of the area was a Quaker from Anne Arundel County -Thomas Coale- whose 450
acres was surveyed on August 17, 1673. His land was called "Maiden's Choice"
and occupied the present -day site of Loudon Park Cemetery. During the next
50 years land grants continued to be made for huge acreage in the area, but
by the early 18th century these farms were subdivided and the population of
the area began to grow.
Modern-day Irvington actually began with "the road." "The
road," built sometime before 1765, led from Baltimore to Frederick Town.
Originally a Native American trail, it was later used by trappers as they
brought their packhorses laden with pelts and salt to the markets of
Baltimore Town. "Wheelbarrow men," convicts who built and maintained roads
under the watchful eye of armed overseers, set up log cabins occupied
several miles apart along "the road." Today "the road" is Frederick Avenue.
The community of Irvington is surrounded by cemeteries,
one of which is explained by Baltimore's unique location as the northernmost
southern town and the southernmost northern town. In 1861, the government
bought a plot of land for the burial of 2300 Union and 275 Confederate
soldiers. Today the cemeteries are a reminder of the neighborhood's, and the
region's, history, in addition to a factor that has allowed the neighborhood
to maintain the seclusion of its rural origins as the city has grown in all
directions around it.
The name Irvington is far newer than the first inhabitants
of the area. In 1874, C. Irving Ditty, an attorney and Collector of the Port
of Baltimore bought a large section of land in the area that would later
take his name. Ditty laid out and named the local streets, both of which,
streets and names, are still used today.
|
