Preserving Places In Hollins Market

Ahhh yes, the 1950's. Who could help but wonder what life was like in such an affluent time in American society. After World War II, the United States as a whole became much more prosperous and was recognized as the only world power. As the only nation to come out in a positive manner from the war, rather than decimated from conflict, Americans sure had some things they wanted to do with their money.

However, segregation was still rampant throughout the United States and became more of an increasing problem much overlooked in cities across the country as whites moved to suburbia and distanced themselves from minority groups. For example, "after World War II, millions of whites fled American city neighborhoods because they feared blacks. Victims of their own histeria, they sold their homes below the market value to panic-peddling blockbusters" who then flipped the houses and sold them to unsuspecting blacks at a substantially higher price.

                

Regardless of the circumstances, I found it very interesting that whites saw these "blockbusters" as people who were promoting the invasion of blacks into their neighborhoods, but blacks saw  them "not just as profiteers, but as agents of liberating desegregation.

                              

The setting for most of this narrative takes place in West Baltimore where the "trendsetting early cycles of ethnic and racial succession occurred and future real estate patterns were established.” This post-World War II "white flight" as it soon came to be called was a reaction to the blacks moving into their neighborhoods and the whites abandoning the changing city.

                           

                            

As time progressed through the Golden Fifties, these negative predispositions of blacks lived on in "a different form, through the power of negative association with the places that suffered and the people identified with them.”

In modern times and in times of the past alike, we see "Baltimore as the prototypical American city: a scrappy factory and commercial center that had reached its productive height in the 1950's." During this time as stated previously, American was in a heightened state of prosperity after World War II and production simply shifted from bombs, tanks, and planes, to cars, steel, and energy. Along with these simple shifts in factory production, Baltimore's proximity to the nation's capital made it an outstanding testing ground for many Great Society programs that would come later in the 1960's.

It is often difficult to distinguish between memory and history when researching topics like this. The information presented above represents a start to a narrative when the United States found itself as the only global power on the world stage. But as we rose to power in foreign affairs, domestic problems began to surface their ugly faces. Civil unrest would reach its height in the 1960's. Since the war, the seed has been planted for all Americans to pursue a better life for themselves and their families, especially those black citizens who fought and died in the pursuit of freedom during World War II. I believe the time came in the 1950's where suppression of the black people under Eisenhower brought about drastic mindsets in many American voters as they began to vote for the betterment of the people and their Civil Rights. The next few paragraphs represent a more general background of the United States in the 1950's and serves to set the stage for a more detailed discussion of Baltimore and other cities alike in this time period.

President Eisenhower, elected in the 1950’s, institutionalized the New Deal policies made by the Roosevelt Administration. Ike started to take to steps to bureaucratize various economic programs, and aimed at keeping the power of the Federal Government where it was. Through the development of the Department of Education, maintaining a balanced budget, keeping military spending in check, and having no expansion of other social programs, Ike kept us in a stagnant position of comfortability, and conservatism, “restoring calm to the nation.” Consumer credit urged Americans to buy goods and services, while the labor movement enabled traditional blue collar workers that had poor living standards to now move the the suburbs and establish their own sense of affluence. Interstate highways started to form, which allowed overall convenience of traveling to increase and improved defense of the nation. These presidential policies allowed the United States to have a better living environment, even for the poorer individuals and families of the country.

                            

The Cold War just began to emerge during the 1950’s; the Soviet Union was becoming more of a threat to our way of life, and tensions were rising between each superpower. By shifting the nations focus to this threat, while taking away government spending on domestic programs, the United States prospered in the fields of science and technology in a desperate race to get past our Russian counterparts. During this time period, “the military inflated the threats when both government and military were seen to work together.” However, the American people trusted their president and allowed our sense of affluence to rise in the short-run. However, in the long-run, the state of calm President Eisenhower wanted to maintain in the nation soon diminished because of the American people’s rising concern with the threat of the Soviet Union. Domestic conflicts such as the Red Scare only increased our sense of urgency to stop the spread of communism. In the end, Cold War spending allowed the nation to maintain affluence for some Americans, while leaving other American such as Black families and those still in poverty, behind to fend for themselves which would prove to mount tensions domestically in the coming years. I believe it is Cold War policies and procedures that shifted American politics and social programs to reflect the overall needs of the United States to stop the spread of Communism. All this lead to social unrest at home that would continue to pose problems for many lawmakers.

                 

Ultimately, America in the 1950’s was a prosperous time for the nation as a whole. The generation of the Baby Boomers would soon take over and bring about ideals of a “class society.” It was through Americans moving to the suburbs, the policies Ike bestowed upon the country, and the various spending of the Cold War that allowed the United States of America to become as prosperous as it was during this time period. Families could retreat into affluence and consumerism, “as strong citizens could become warriors of the Cold War who would build a strong country and defeat the global enemy in the future.” However, Ike understood, and the nation would soon come to realize that the “Military Industrial Complex will overstep its bounds in the future.” He knew the military was extremely skillful in getting politicians to pay for unneccesary weapon systems by exaggerating the threat. The 1950’s was indeed a time of great gratification for the nation, but would soon come to a halt as threats from the Soviet Union rise and domestic problems remained unsolved.  

                 

Sense of Place:

Places are often seen as "the personality of a location.” People often only realize their sense of place when they lose it or it somehow becomes nonexistent. In urban cities like Baltimore, "place-bound inhabitants can concentrate more fully on going about their business because they need not think more about where they are while going about" (Prologue, Baltimore: A Political History). Often it is such sense of place that forms idea for future generations to build upon and maintain the culture of their surrounding environment. "Past events and decisions foreclose some avenues of development and send cities down progressively narrower channels toward their current circumstances.” History develops places with personalities, plain and simple. The sense of place is essential to understanding urban life, but represents a distraction for generalizations of cities at large.

      

Baltimore has long been known as a city of neighborhoods, boasting about 300 in total, which is more than the biggest cities in the United States including Chicago and New York. This aspect of many neighborhoods has lead people to describe Baltimore as "quirky" which in turn "prevents residents from living together in anything less than 300 neighborhoods.” This suggests that Baltimore is a highly unusual city compared to others. Following the city's essential personality traits of a "municipal inferiority complex," these quirks that Baltimore is known for are likely symptoms of urban development. Baltimoreans are proud of their inferiority complex and have developed their own distinctive personalities that become embedded in their places.

Politics in Baltimore during 1950's:

"The particularity of local politics is all but dismissed. Restrictions imposed by state and federal governments constrain cities from above.” Often it has been seen that local politics in Baltimore is expressive of the particularity of the place. "Political institutions provide and arena of engagement for the entire population of a town where virtually every aspect of that town" is subject to the local political agenda. Therefore, most importantly, "while politics helps to define place, place is also essential to politics.”

History of Hollins Market in Baltimore:

The Hollins Market is one of many places in Baltimore that brings about memories of affluence, free commerce, and the ideas of multiple neighborhoods being able to come together and shop among each other, from all different backgrounds. As something that started out from a single house market in the Italian-style, it is now "the oldest currently operating market in the city.” Not only as a central place to shop for Baltimore residents since its inception, the market held two distinct functions: "the first floor was the public market where people could buy and sell meat and produce, and the second floor served as a multipurpose meeting hall.” Every type of meeting was held on the second floor and was central to the market itself. Today it serves much the same functions since its creation.

                           

                           

I thought the tour we had of Hollins Market on Wednesday 14FEB2018 was absolutely amazing. I got to see parts of West Baltimore that I never even knew existed. There is so much history that Hollins Market has to offer that I was awestruck by the amount of information that I was able to learn. There were many different things that I saw that I would like to know more about. Specifically the ghost writing on the buildings in the area was very intriguing. I would love to get to know the history behind these buildings and what businesses were contained within them. I learned a lot about the horse stable and the history behind it, including the history of the Black Cherry Puppet Theater which is what my narrative will be on. I learned what the market was used for and that most of the people still in the market have been there for over 20 years! The market has since shrunk from its original size and it was interesting to see what was still inside and around the surrounding area of the market as well. I thought it was also very interesting to see the book container right outside of the Lions Brothers Building that people can just stop by and grab books from and return books when they want to read another one. I also thought it was interesting to see the African shop right across the street that sells authentic African tribal artifacts and souvenirs to the public. THe man who owns the shop seemed a little eccentric at first, but I believe if the shop has been there for a long time, he must be doing something right. I would like to learn more about the Puppet Theater, its timeline, why it came to be, and what aspects have allowed it to be successful. I would like to know the history of the building, why the unique and raw place is so powerful, and what effect the puppet shows have on the community as a whole.

My initial thought on the Black Cherry Puppet Theater were that this theater is weird and there really isn’t anything exciting about scary puppets. But if you begin to dive a little deeper into the history and why the owners believe they should carry out these puppet shows, their influence produces lasting effects on the community for the better. A small building for string puppet shows brings the community together. The raw aspects of the building and the the small size make this venue seem extremely exclusive and important to the residents in the area. The fact that they hold multiple puppet shows outside for the community makes the events and puppet shows seem even more important.