Reviving Hampden's historic Main Street

Something Old, Something New...Reviving Hampden's historic Main Street

Before World War II, Main Street was a community's primary commercial hub. Buildings usually had several tenants--enough to provide sufficient rent for property owners to keep their buildings in good condition. The presence of the post office, library and banks added to the steady flow of people to Main Street. Not only was Main Street the center of the community's commercial life, it was also an important part of its social life; people thronged through the streets on Saturday nights to meet friends, see a movie and shop.

In the past forty years, America's downtowns have changed drastically. The creation of the interstate highway system and the subsequent growth of suburban communities tarnsformed the ways in which Americans lived, worked and spent their leisure time. Roads which at one time connected neighborhoods to downtown now carried residents to outlying shopping strips and regional malls. Downtown businesses closed or moved out, shoppers dwindled, and property value and tax revenues dropped. Neglected buildings, boarded-up storefronts and empty, trash-strewn streets reinforced the perception that there was nothing worth saving on Main Street.

Baltimore's Main Streets are not immune to this trend.

In a number of neighborhoods the traditional commercial areas were allowed to decay as people moved to the suburbs. The Hampden community has seen its once vital Main Street, W. 36th St., also known as "The Avenue", suffer similar neglect. Hampden's economy fueled by the industrial mills along the Jones Falls stream began to falter in the 1970's when the industrial mills began to close. Hampden saw declines in population, prosperity and stability. The Avenue that was once thriving, was now pockmarked by an ever-increasing number of vacant buildings. Businesses which had served the needs of the community for generations were replaced with "here today, gone tomorrow" enterprises.

By the 1990's, however, a new breed of business owners was attracted to The Avenue by its location and available, low cost rentals. The tiny storefronts proved to be the perfect incubators for fledging businesses. It was these intrepid merchants, and those that followed, that have given Hampden its reputation as a shopping and dining destination, in the spirit of the Main Streets of the past, and have brought a new life and vitality to the area.

Hampden's success is fragile.

This is where the Hampden Village Main Street organization comes into play. HVMS provides the expertise and access to funds that encourage businesses to invest in the future of The Avenue. Our program is designed to improve all aspects of the commercial district through:

Strengthening economic management;
Encouraging public participation;
Enhancing the appearance of the commercial district; and
Promoting the district as a whole.

Our approach is based on the nationally recognized Main Street program developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation over twenty years ago. The Main Street Center has been working with communitites across the country to revitalize their historic or traditional commercial areas. While the Main Street approach was originally developed to save historic commercial architecture and the fabric of American communities-built environments, it has also become a powerful economic tool. It is a practical strategy to economic revitalization that can be scaled to a the amount of a community's local resources and conditions. And, because it is a locally driven program, all initiative stems from local issues and concerns. Revitalization efforts are directed toward a defined zone, which makes projects more manageable, thus increasing the success rate.

How we help the revitalization of Hampden.

Since HVMS came into existence in 2000, we have made the following achievements:

Provided matching funds to merchnats to complete twelve different facade improvements--totaling an investment in excess of $50,000;
Sponsored and coordinated promotional activities, like Flower Mart Hon Fest, Big Hair Bash, Fall Fest and Halloween events, in order to bring potential customers to the area; and
Increased the skills and business knowledge of the merchants by providing demographic and survey data, and training sessions.

Back to ABOUT HVMS