Historically, Mount Washington was a small area. However, residents and businesses of many other nearby neighborhoods in the 21209 ZIP code and a small portion of the 21215 ZIP code around the neighborhood refer to their location as Mount Washington. Though mostly within the Baltimore city limits, but mixed with some of these areas within Baltimore County as Pikesville. The Mount Washington neighborhood is served by the Mount Washington Improvement Association, which, though not speaking on behalf of all the neighborhood's residents, wields significant political clout in Baltimore. Mount Washington is mostly residential, though it has two small commercial areas:
Mount Washington Mill, a refurbished textile mill now housing a Whole Foods, Starbucks, and other stores and offices, off the east side of the Jones Falls Expressway near the Kelly Avenue bridge, commonly referred to as Historic Mount Washington.
These two areas were at one time viewed as a single area, but since the construction of Interstate 83 these areas have been separated, and travel over a longer distance is required between them.
History
In 1854, George Gelbach and Elias Heiner purchased 314 acres near Washingtonville, a mill village. Though the original homes were designed as summer houses, Gelbach envisioned that Mount Washington would become eventually become a suburb of Baltimore. Building picked up after the Civil War, with developers, such as John Graham developing small groups of houses around the South Road section. The northern section of the area, what became Dixon's Hill, was the result of Thomas Dixon purchasing 20 acres from Gelbach in 1855 and developed in the 1860s. Mount Washington is considered by some to be Baltimore's first suburb. It was part of Baltimore County until it was annexed in 1914.
Major roads in Mount Washington
Some of the main roads that run through the Mount Washington area are: Immediate:
Interstate 83, also known as the Jones Falls Expressway
The zoned local public schools are Mount Washington Elementary and Northwestern High School, although most of the children in the community who pursue their education in the Baltimore Citypublic school system do so at either of the magnet schools, City or Poly. Most of the upper-middle-class families send their children to some of the many private schools in the area.
Athletics
The neighborhood has been the home of the Mount Washington Lacrosse Club since its establishment in 1904. Mount Washington dominated the sport at the club and collegiate level for much of the 20th century. Since 1999, Mount Washington has shared its home field, Norris Field on Kelly Avenue, with the all-girls Bryn Mawr School. Mount Washington is also home of Meadowbrook Swim Club, established in 1930, which has hosted many famous swimmers in the 1930s and 1940s and is now a venue rented by of the most prestigious swimming clubs in the world, the North Baltimore Aquatic Club or NBAC for short. The NBAC is a team of many Olympic swimmers including Michael Phelps, Chase Kalisz, Katie Hoff, Patrick Kennedy, Theresa Andrews, Anita Nall, Beth Botsford, Whitney Metzler, and Allison Schmitt. NBAC is also home to Paralympians Ian Silverman, Jessica Long and Becca Meyers.
