Hampden, Baltimore

Many of its residents migrated to the area from the Appalachian hill country of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Western Pennsylvania, due to the abundance of jobs the mills provided.

This family atmosphere lasted into the late 80s, ultimately giving way to gentrification and a real estate surge that allowed its long-time residents to relocate.

Beginning in the early 1990s, the neighborhood (conveniently located vis-a-vis Johns Hopkins and downtown) was discovered by artists and others, who began reclaiming the neighborhood.[who?]

The area's commercial center on a four-block stretch of West 36th Street, known as The Avenue, has seen trendy boutiques, restaurants, art galleries, a yoga studio, an upscale winebar, and assorted specialty shops occupy storefronts that had been either vacant or in a state of disrepair.

The Woodberry station on the Baltimore Light Rail system is just on the other side of the Jones Falls Expressway and is within walking distance of much of the neighborhood.

A new, high-end mixed-use development at Clipper Mill, directly in front of the Woodberry Light Rail station, has spurred additional economic activity in the area.

In March 2011, the Special English service of Voice of America broadcast "Hey, Hon, Ready to Learn How They Talk in Baltimore?

Hampden received perhaps its most prominent nationwide exposure in 1998, when Baltimore native John Waters filmed his movie Pecker there.

[10] Starring Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci, Martha Plimpton, and Lili Taylor, the film depicted an elaborate and fictional view of Hampden and its young residents.

Small two-story row houses, made out of brick or stone, were built to hold families of mill workers.

However, a large mixed-use development began construction in late 2013 in North Hampden,[12] at the site of the Rotunda Shopping Center.

The size and scale of this development has created some controversy in this neighborhood, mostly concerning congestion in car traffic and parking as nearly 400 new apartments and numerous businesses, including a high-end movie theatre, opened in 2015.

Hampden first came into being in 1802 as a cluster of houses built for workers who manned the newly erected flour and cotton mills along the Jones Falls Stream Valley.

The mills were built along the Jones Falls waterway, much of which is now underneath Interstate 83, running ultimately to downtown Baltimore and the Inner Harbor.

[citation needed] The strikes turned out to be unsuccessful and mill owners began to move operations to the rural South—in search of lower labor costs.

Commercial buildings along the Avenue have also been receiving facelifts in recent years, reflecting a range of historical architecture styles.

The Maryland Transit Administration serves Hampden via Baltimore Light Rail at Woodberry Station on Union Avenue and bus routes 21, 22, and 94.