Penn-Fallsway, Baltimore

Penn-Fallsway is a neighborhood in southeast Baltimore. The neighborhood formerly included the Maryland Penitentiary before its demolition in 2020.[2] Penn-Fallsway is the site of multiple state- and city-operated facilities and non-profit organizations, as well as some commercial buildings.

Penn-Fallsway
Neighborhood of Baltimore
Weinberg Housing and Resource Center at intersection of East Centre Street and Fallsway in Penn-Fallsway, Baltimore
Weinberg Housing and Resource Center at intersection of East Centre Street and Fallsway in Penn-Fallsway, Baltimore
Penn-Fallsway is located in Baltimore
Penn-Fallsway
Penn-Fallsway
Location within Baltimore
Penn-Fallsway is located in Maryland
Penn-Fallsway
Penn-Fallsway
Location within Maryland
Penn-Fallsway is located in the United States
Penn-Fallsway
Penn-Fallsway
Location within the United States
Coordinates: 39.2970°N 76.6088°W / 39.2970; -76.6088
Country United States
State Maryland
City Baltimore
City CouncilDistrict 12
Area
 • Total0.1332 sq mi (0.345 km2)
Population
 (2020)
 • Total2,250
 • Density16,888/sq mi (6,520/km2)
 [1]
Time zoneUTC−5 (Eastern)
 • Summer (DST)UTC−4 (EDT)
ZIP Codes
21202
Area Codes410, 443, 667

Geography

Penn-Fallsway is bounded by East Eager Street to the north; North Gay Street to the south; Homewood Avenue, McKim Street, Greenmount Avenue, Hillen Street, and North Exeter Street to the east; and the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83) to the west. Adjacent neighborhoods are Johnston Square (north), Old Town (east), Jonestown (southeast), Downtown (southwest), Mount Vernon (west), and Mid-Town Belvedere (northeast).[3]

Fallsway

Fallsway is the street adjacent to the Jones Falls Expressway at the western edge of the Penn-Fallsway area. It carries northbound traffic to Guilford Avenue. The Fallsway was constructed under Mayor James H. Preston from 1911 to 1916 to channel and cover over the Jones Falls watercourse, preventing deadly overflows downtown.[4] The city of Baltimore spent two million dollars on the construction of retaining walls along the Jones Falls, and an equal amount to accommodate railroad lines and subways.[5]

A portion of the Jones Falls Trail runs along Fallsway. The Jones Falls Trail is a 10-mile marked cycling circuit running along a route which has a long history as a transportation corridor for Baltimore City.[6]

  • Signage for the Jones Falls trail near Fallsway and East Chase Street, north of Penn-Fallsway
    Signage for the Jones Falls trail near Fallsway and East Chase Street, north of Penn-Fallsway
  • View of the Jones Falls Expressway entrance ramp near Fallsway during a Justice for George Floyd protest in 2020
    View of the Jones Falls Expressway entrance ramp near Fallsway during a Justice for George Floyd protest in 2020
  • View from MTA bus at the intersection of East Centre Street and Fallsway
    View from MTA bus at the intersection of East Centre Street and Fallsway

Facilities

Homeless services

The Weinberg Housing and Resource Center, a shelter for homeless adults was opened in Penn-Fallsway by the city of Baltimore in 2011.[7][8] The center has been operated by the Catholic Charities organization since 2013.[9]

Health Care for the Homeless, a non-profit organization, operates a facility in Penn-Fallsway as well. The organization has been tasked with providing vaccinations and addressing drug use and addiction.[10][11]

Parking enforcement

The Baltimore City Department of Transportation operates the Fallsway Impound Facility in Penn-Fallsway as a site to which vehicles are towed for parking enforcement.[12]

Utilities

Baltimore Gas & Electric operates its Front Street Complex in Penn-Fallsway, in between Monument Street and Hillen Street.[13]

  • Healthcare for the Homeless building, 421 Fallsway
    Healthcare for the Homeless building, 421 Fallsway
  • BGE Front Street Complex, 1068 North Front Street / 523 East Monument Street / 1050 Hillen Street
    BGE Front Street Complex, 1068 North Front Street / 523 East Monument Street / 1050 Hillen Street

Education

Eager Street Academy, a public alternative middle-high school which serves incarcerated youth charged as adults operates within the Baltimore Juvenile Justice Center, a detention center built in 2017 on Greenmount Avenue as a separate facility for youth who were formerly held at the Baltimore City Detention Center with adults.[14] The detention facility has had many public critics and opponents; protests were held upon its opening and critics advocated for state funds to be spent on youth services such as recreation centers instead.[15][16]

Commercial buildings

Club Atlantis was a burlesque house and gay strip club located on Fallsway which closed in 2004. The club was featured in John Waters's 1998 film Pecker as a gay bar called the Fudge Palace.[17] A strip club opened at the site in 2006 which was called Scores until 2018, when its name was changed to The Penthouse Club.[18] The Penthouse Club was the subject of media attention during the COVID-19 pandemic when it filed a lawsuit in March 2021 against the Mayor Brandon Scott and Baltimore City Council, contending that a ban on adult entertainment implemented by the city was an infringement on the right to free speech.[19]

A Public Storage facility operates in a building on Hillen Street just beyond the Orleans Street Viaduct which is the one surviving structure from the former Western Maryland Railway's Hillen Terminal.[20]

  • Penthouse Club, 615 Fallsway
    Penthouse Club, 615 Fallsway
  • Public Storage Building, 842 Hillen Street
    Public Storage Building, 842 Hillen Street

References
  1. "Census - Table Results - Total in Block Group 1, Census Tract 1003; Block Group 2, Census Tract 2805, Baltimore city, Maryland in 2020". United States Census Bureau. September 16, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  2. Prudente, Tim (September 25, 2020). "With regret and satisfaction, Baltimore watches the infamous Maryland Penitentiary tumble down". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  3. Baltimore's Neighborhood Statistical Areas (PDF) (Map). City of Baltimore Department of Planning. December 20, 2016. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  4. Kelly, Jacqueline (February 7, 2009). "JFX is a long stretch of history". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  5. Christiane Crasemann Collins (2005). Werner Hegemann and the search for universal urbanism. W. W. Norton & Company, New York. p. 94. ISBN 0-393-73156-1. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  6. Murphy, John (April 25, 2021). "Warm spring days are your sign to cycle Baltimore's Jones Falls Trail". The Johns Hopkins Newsletter. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  7. Reutter, Mark (November 16, 2011). "Inside City Hall: expanded Beans and Bread backed by BOE". Baltimore Brew. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  8. Wenger, Yvonne (January 2, 2018). "Baltimore urges homeless indoors during extreme cold". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  9. Pinkney, Vanessa (July 30, 2019). "Weinberg Housing and Resource Center". SOURCE - Johns Hopkins University. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  10. Shen, Fern (February 21, 2021). "Homeless people in Baltimore helped with state ID cards and vaccinations". Baltimore Brew. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  11. Davis, Phil (October 29, 2021). "Federal officials and Baltimore leaders tout broader approach to reducing opioid overdose deaths". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  12. Campbell, Colin (August 17, 2021). "Watch where you park: Baltimore City resumes parking enforcement after suspending it due to COVID-19". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  13. Hiaasen, Rob (December 4, 1995). "Where delicacies fall from trees The ginkgo: This most ancient of trees gives up a nut that is scorned by Americans. More ancient cultures know better". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  14. Jackson, Phillip (May 24, 2021). "Baltimore man had recently turned 18 and hoped education and family could steer him away from crime. He died last week, a month after being shot". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  15. Anderson, Jessica (September 8, 2017). "State opens $35 million youth detention facility in Baltimore". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  16. Broadwater, Luke (September 1, 2015). "Key lawmaker questions need for new youth jail in city". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 24, 2021.
  17. Garcia, Stephania; Williams IV, John-John; de Freitas, Clara Longo (September 30, 2021). "Black Pride Week starts Sunday. Here are 20 key Baltimore-area locations marking LGBTQ history". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  18. Cohn, Meredith (September 28, 2018). "Scores passes the mantle, and pole, and becomes a Penthouse Club". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  19. Opilo, Emily (March 1, 2021). "Baltimore strip club sues mayor, City Council over ban on adult entertainment during COVID". The Baltimore Sun. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
  20. Ramos, David (November 26, 2018). "Hillen Terminal, Baltimore, Maryland". Imaginary Terrain. Retrieved November 25, 2021.
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