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 Photos by Adam Paul |
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| Is it the remains of a
once primary corridor that filtered off the travelers from York into
East Baltimore, Fells Point, and Jonestown, or just a sleepy little
road that time forgot? Was it a primary feeder to the original
York Road or little more than a country estate road? One thing is for sure, the remnants of Lamont Street are not telling. Just where is Lamont Street? It is able to be located by Mapquest.com, which shows a 1700 block of it extant in the right place. Still, no traditional green street signs exist to tell of it in person, and it is only navigable by foot, even though an unoffical remnant can still be driven in a supermarket parking lot. In the mid-1800s, however, the street (one does not know where the name comes from) was just about the only way to get anywhere in this area, as it was one of the very few in existence. Central Avenue and Aisquith Street existed in large part, but other streets in the area such as Federal Street, and even the mighty North Avenue were still years in the future.  Birds Eye View of Baltimore in 1869 shows Lamont Street running diagonally from Northwest to Southeast at Biddle Street, alongside a large ropewalk. Interesting to note on this map is the dead ending of a broad street at Lamont Street, shown radiating Northeast from the center of the map. Though one would assume this to be Harford Road, Harford is likely the crooked street approaching Central digonally from the lower left before taking a more northerly course.  Baltimore map from the 1870's shows the intended grid pattern for Northeast Baltimore, but still indicates the skewed path of the old roadway, highlighted in green. While the map above shows the trail ending about Biddle Street, this map shows the road panning out into the present intersection of Broadway and Eager Streets. Note that Lamont here forms much of the northern boundary of the Greenmount Cemetery. Broad "mystery road" above can be seen as the orange line rising outward from the center. Like many of the old roadways in the area, particularly those following along crooked pathways that did not neatly fit into the proposed efficient grid, Lamont would not be planned into the future of Baltimore. Once the grid expanded outward, the street was gradually shut off. In addition, the portion of the road that connected to the Old York Road would be walled in as a cemetery road. As a result, by the turn of the 20th Century, only a short fragment of the original road survived, which, somehow held on for decades.  By the time of 1897, when this survey was recorded, only a fragment of the original roadway survived, spanning Ensor and Oliver Streets. The rest had either been absorbed by the Cemetery, or lost in the building of the city grid. This remnant section would largely remain intact until the 1960's, when a redevelopment of a then-blighted area sought to alter the landscape of the area. Oddly enough though, most of the street's path would wind up being respected in these rebuildings. The residential development along the western end of Lamont would be laid out as a pedestrian court whose path followed the path of the old roadway. On the Eastern end, where there was commercial development. building lines followed interesting diagonal paths that left open area where the old lane once followed. Only a recent buidling of a Rite Aid on the East side of Harford Avenue has disrespected the path of the fragment street. Even though the Lamont name appears to have vanished, the fragments of this unusual street persist centuries after its original use!  This pedestrian court of new housing trails Southeast from Ensor Street, right along the path of the centuries old artery that was known for a time as Lamont Street.  From the other side, looking Northwest from South of Federal on Harford Avenue. Note how all of the building lines follow the diagonal course once taken by the crooked little lane.  Aerial view bears out the interesting use of the land in the residential section of what was once Lamont Street. Note the row of trees following its course through Greenmount Cemetery.
LAMONT INFO? CONTACT ME!!!
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