Windsor Hills
Maybe we’re taking ourselves too seriously, thinking that you’ll so read your way into the depths of this blog that you’ll actually end up here. But, just in case somebody on the internet gets lost and accidentally arrives here, searching for Rubik’s Cube instructions or the definition of gelid (which, coincidentally, means icy cold), we wrote an (approximate) history of the neighborhood.
Windsor Hills is in the very Western and somewhat Northern part of Baltimore, nuzzling up to Leakin Park and the Gwynns Falls Trail to the South and West. The neighborhood is so named because of the Windsor Mill, an 18th century grist mill (one of dozens) on the Gwynns Falls. Ruins of these mills can still be found in Leakin Park. In addition to the overpopulation of mills, Windsor Hills has another legacy – a 120 foot tall tulip poplar tree with lanterns hung in its upmost branches that was used as a lighthouse for sailing vessels in the 18th century. Unfortunately, the tree, like the mills, has since ceased to exist.
In the 19th century, several country estates were built in the area, including the Crimea estate, the Oakfield estate, and the Mount Alto estate. The estates were owned by the same moneyed families until early into the 20th century, when they were sold and carved up for the communities we see today. Edwin Tunis, the first pioneer of Windsor Hills, was one of modern Windsor Hills’ first residents and contributed to the development of the rest of the community, founding the development companies Windsor Park Company and North Avenue Land Company. The first house to be built in Windsor Hills is The Cliffs (I wish houses still had such names today). It’s a giant brown shingled Victorian home sitting on the cliff of Gwynns Fall valley.
More homes came in the early 20th century with the development of modern public transportation lines in the area. Imagine such newfangled constructions as horse-drawn street cars. Tunis, our great pioneer, was also involved in the creation of the Gwynns Falls railways – a monorail of all things. I digress. The majority of the homes in Windsor Hills were built between 1900 and 1920 and most are shingled, wood frame bungalows and cottages. All were detached single-family homes. A 1916 newspaper ad heralded Windsor Hills as being “restricted against rows of brick buildings, saloons, and all nuisances.”
With such strict regulations against nuisances and saloons necessarily came Ridgewood Park, a small amusement park, complete with swings, merry-go-round and other small rides. It closed after only a few years. It was not amusing enough. Or, perhaps, it too was a nuisance.
Since the birth of the community, the Windsor Hills Improvement Association played an active role in community life, serving mostly a social purpose in an isolated area of Baltimore. However, in the 1950s and 60s, the association became a strong force in protecting the neighborhood from blockbusting and ensuring a successful and peaceful ethnic integration of the neighborhood. Windsor Hills remains today a completely diverse and very active community with a strong neighborhood association.
For more information on Windsor Hills and its fascinating residents, read these feature articles in the Urbanite and the City Paper.