Hawkins Point, Baltimore

Hawkins Point is a neighborhood in the South District of Baltimore, located at the southern tip of the city between Curtis Bay (north) and the Anne Arundel County line (south) and Thoms Cove (east). Its land area covers 2.6 square miles (6.7 km2), and it had a population of 24 people according to the 2020 U.S. Census.[3] The neighborhood is predominantly industrial.[2]

Hawkins Point, Baltimore
Neighborhood
View from Arundel Cove Avenue at Hawkins Point Road
View from Arundel Cove Avenue at Hawkins Point Road
Hawkins Point, Baltimore is located in Baltimore
Hawkins Point, Baltimore
Hawkins Point, Baltimore
Coordinates: 39.2089°N 76.5495°W / 39.2089; -76.5495[1]
CountryUnited States
StateMaryland
CityBaltimore
Area
[2]
 • Total2.618 sq mi (6.78 km2)
 • Land2.618 sq mi (6.78 km2)
Elevation
[1]
20 ft (6 m)
Population
 (2020)[3]
 • Total24
 • Density9.2/sq mi (3.5/km2)
Time zoneUTC-5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code
21226
Area code410, 443, and 667

Industrial residents of Hawkins Point include the Quarantine Road Sanitary Landfill, owned by Baltimore City,[4] a 67-acre hazardous waste landfill at 5501 Quarantine Road, owned by the Maryland Port Administration (MPA)[5] and now a Superfund site and a foundry at 4000 Hawkins Point Road owned by Eastalco Aluminum Company.[6]

Geography

Hawkins Point is separated from the rest of Baltimore City by the Baltimore Harbor, located on a peninsula bounded to the south by the Marley Neck area of Anne Arundel County. Marley Neck is a low to medium density area of mixed residential and industrial use which is considered to be part of the greater Pasadena area.[7]

History

Quarantine station

Quarantine Road, which runs perpendicular to the Baltimore Beltway and Hawkins Point Road, takes its name from the quarantine stations that operated there throughout the history of the neighborhood. The first quarantine hospital was built there following the yellow fever epidemic of 1794, and another was built in the late 1800s, operating through the mid-20th century. Patients sent to the station arrived by boat rather than the rough overland roads. The Hawkins Point quarantine site went on to be taken over by the federal government as part of a national system for disease prevention. The federal government closed the station in 1960, city officials attempted to acquire the land to turn it into a park. The park proposal was met with opposition from the Maryland Port Authority on the grounds that it would inhibit their port and industrial development program. Today, Quarantine Road is the site of a city landfill and a United States Gypsum wallboard manufacturing facility.[8]

Smoke clouds from industrial plants visible from the Baltimore Beltway at Quarantine Road in 2019

Residential settlement

Permanent residents first moved into Hawkins Point in the late 19th century. The descendants of the original residents continued to live there for multiple subsequent generations. The neighborhood was an integrated community, and one of the first in Baltimore City in which black residents were homeowners.[9]

Hawkins Point had a few manufacturers and a quarantine for new immigrants in the early 20th century; the Coast Guard Yard was the dominant employer in the area. When the area became a hub for a larger scale of industrial activity during and after World War II, inhabitants of the small residential community remained. Hawkins Point residents faced health hazards, infrastructural decay, dangerous road conditions, and a sporadic relationship with municipal services due to the city's neglect in favor of industry. In 1982, the neighborhood had a population of 45 residents making up 22 families; by 1996 only four households remained.[10][11][9] There were 2 people living in Hawkins Point according to the 2010 U.S. Census,[12] however, the 2020 Census recorded a population increase to 24 people, concentrated on two blocks in the Arundel Cove area on Bungalow Avenue.[3]

Demographics
Historical population
YearPop.±%
198245—    
20102−95.6%
202024+1100.0%
[10][12][3]

Based on data from the 2020 United States Census, the population of Hawkins Point was 24, a change of 22 (1100.0%) from the 2 counted in 2010.[3][12] Covering an area of 2.618 square miles (6.78 square kilometers), the neighborhood had a population density of 9.2 inhabitants per square mile (3.6 inhabitants/km2).[2][3] The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 29.2% (7) White alone, 29.2% (7) White and African American, 8.3% (2) White and some other race, and 33.3% (8) from other races alone. None of the population identified as African American alone, Native American, Asian, or Pacific Islander.[3]

Industrial activity

Hazardous waste landfill

In January 2011, the Maryland Department of the Environment approved use of the MPA landfill by Millennium Inorganic Chemicals (a subsidiary of Cristal Global) to dispose of coal ash from three coal-fired power plants operating in the Baltimore area.[13] The site of the hazardous waste landfill was purchased by the MPA in 1958 to dispose of chrome ore processing residue from a former manufacturing site in Baltimore of AlliedSignal, now used by the Port of Baltimore.[5]

Millennium Inorganic plant ceases manufacturing

Cristal Global announced that it has permanently ceased manufacturing at its Hawkins Point plant on August 10, 2010. Located on a 318-acre site at 3901 Fort Armistead Road, the plant was used by the former Millennium Inorganic Chemicals since 1954 to manufacture titanium dioxide. The plant was idled by Cristal Global during March 2009 in response to a severe downturn in market conditions.[14][15]

Other industrial residents

Other industrial residents of Hawkins Point include: Reichold Chemicals, Inc. at 6401 Chemical Road; Grace Division, Curtis Bay Works at 5500 Chemical Road; USG Corporation at 5500 Quarantine Road; and BOC Gases at 3901 Fort Armistead Road.[16]

Fort Armistead Park
Main article: Fort Armistead

Fort Armistead Park is the site of a United States Army coastal defense fort which was built from 1897 to 1901, and was active from 1901 to 1920.[17] The park is on the far southeastern coast of Hawkins Point, on the boundary with Anne Arundel County, and features a network of underground tunnels beneath the concrete fort remains. The park is utilized by visitors for recreation, but has developed a reputation for disrepair due to its relative seclusion.[18] The park was the site of a music festival called Starscape from 1999 to 2012.[19]

Transportation

Public transportation

The Maryland Transit Administration runs the LocalLink 67 bus route daily from Baltimore City Hall to Marley Neck, which passes through Hawkins Point at three stops along Hawkins Point Road and one on Fort Smallwood Road before it enters Anne Arundel County.[20][21] The route has lower ridership than much of the system,[22] with most passengers who board or alight in Hawkins Point doing so at the Fort Smallwood Road & Fort Armistead Road stop.[23]

Prior to the service changes brought on by the BaltimoreLink development in 2017, Hawkins Point was served by Route 64, which connected Downtown Baltimore to Curtis Bay and made selected branch trips as far as Davison Chemical and the Coast Guard Yard throughout its history starting in 1977.[24] The first bus service to Hawkins Point was Route X, a shuttle from the end of the No. 6 Curtis Bay Streetcar Line established in 1946, which was re-designated in 1948 as Route 63 as it became a connector for the Route 6 bus which replaced the street car, and then absorbed into the Route 6 line in 1951.[25] Route 63 was reinstated as a line connecting Downtown Baltimore to Riviera Beach in 1977, was cut to a shuttle from Patapsco in 1993 and discontinued in 1996, leaving Route 64 as the sole service through Hawkins Point and further localions.[26]

The Express BusLink 164, a commuter service offered by the MTA twice in the morning and twice in the evening from Riviera Beach to Downtown Baltimore, operated until summer 2021 on weekdays and stopped in Hawkins Point.[27][28] The route was discontinued as part of a series of service changes taking effect on August 29, 2021, due to low ridership.[29]

See also

References
  1. "Hawkins Point Marine Terminal, MD". Lat-Long.com. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  2. "Hawkins Point neighborhood in Curtis Bay". City-Data.com. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  3. "Census - Map Results - Total in Block Group 1, Census Tract 2505, Baltimore city, Maryland in 2020". United States Census Bureau. September 16, 2021. Retrieved September 21, 2021.
  4. James Whitt (May 23, 2001). "What a Dump". City Paper. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  5. "MES Hawkins Point Hazardous Waste Landfill". US Environmental Protection Agency. October 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  6. "Eastalco Aluminum Company". Manta. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  7. "Pasadena/Marley Neck Small Area Plan" (PDF). Anne Arundel County, Maryland. August 16, 2004. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  8. Tkacik, Christina (March 11, 2020). "If coronavirus hit Baltimore in the 1800s, early 1900s, patients would've been sent down Quarantine Road". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  9. Implementation of Federal Hazardous Waste Legislation in Maryland (Hearing Before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation, and Tourism of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, House of Representatives, Ninety-seventh Congress, Second Session) (PDF) (Report). United States House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Subcommittee on Commerce, Transportation, and Tourism. May 15, 1982. Retrieved June 17, 2021.
  10. Matthews, Joe (September 12, 1996). "Neglected tip of the city repaving: Baltimore is finally fixing Hawkins Point Road, but the handful of people who live along it still feel largely forgotten". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  11. Shabecoff, Phillip (January 2, 1982). "Health fears grow as debate continues on toxic wastes". The New York Times. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  12. "Census - Table Results - Total Population - Block Group 1, Census Tract 2505, Baltimore". United States Census Bureau. June 16, 2011. Retrieved July 20, 2021.
  13. Timothy B. Wheeler (January 4, 2011). "State approves coal ash landfill in South Baltimore". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved January 3, 2012.
  14. "Hawkins Point Plant" (PDF). Cristal Global. June 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on April 26, 2012. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  15. "Cristal Global Announces Changes at its Baltimore, Maryland production facility". Cristal Global press release. August 10, 2010. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  16. "Eastalco Aluminum Co Pier". Special Report: The Smokestack Effect. USA Today. Retrieved January 4, 2012.
  17. Berhow, Mark A., ed. (2015). American Seacoast Defenses, A Reference Guide, Third Edition. McLean, Virginia: CDSG Press. p. 211. ISBN 978-0-9748167-3-9.
  18. Cadiz, Laura (May 10, 2001). "Not an inviting place for a walk in the park". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 4, 2021.
  19. Rector, Kevin (July 25, 2012). "After 14 years, officials pull the plug on Baltimore's Starscape festival". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 4, 2021.
  20. "Information: LocalLink 67 - City Hall to Marley Neck" (PDF). Maryland Transit Administration. June 20, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  21. "Route 67 - DOWNTOWN - MARLEY NECK". Maryland Transit Administration. June 20, 2021. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  22. Campbell, Colin (September 1, 2020). "MTA plans significant reductions to bus, MARC service next year amid coronavirus losses". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  23. "Maryland Transit - MTA Bus Stops". MD iMAP Data Catalog (DOIT). June 29, 2019. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  24. Paul, Adam (March 2005). "Baltimore MTA Bus Anomalies". Baltimore Transit Archives. Archived from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  25. Paul, Adam (June 2002). "Some of Baltimore's more obscure transit operations". Baltimore Transit Archive. Archived from the original on February 6, 2012. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  26. Paul, Adam (September 2002). "The routes of Baltimore transit: 1990 to today - Routes 50-68". Archived from the original on July 17, 2011. Retrieved July 17, 2021.
  27. "Anne Arundel County Transportation Center Feasibility Study" (PDF). Anne Arundel County, Maryland. January 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  28. "Information: Express Bus Link 164 - City Hall to Riviera Beach" (PDF). Maryland Transit Administration. February 2, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2021.
  29. "MDOT MTA launches enhanced bus routes to job centers, eliminates express bus surcharge" (Press release). Baltimore, MD: Maryland Department of Transportation. Maryland Transit Administration. July 23, 2021. Retrieved July 25, 2021.
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