Hollins Market, Baltimore

Hollins Market
neighborhood statistical area
Hollins Market, the oldest public market building still in use in Baltimore
Hollins Market
Coordinates:
Country	United States
State	Maryland
City	Baltimore
Time zone	Eastern (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	21223
Area code	410, 443, and 667

"Hollins Market" is a neighborhood municipal/public market (and also applied to the surrounding neighborhood blocks) in the southwestern area of the City of Baltimore, adjacent to the neighborhoods of Union Square, Poppleton, and Mount Clare, (adjacent to the Mount Clare Shops of the old Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and its current B. & O. Railroad Museum. It takes its name from the Hollins Market, the oldest public market building still in use in Baltimore City. There are presently seven total municipal public markets operated by the Baltimore City Public Markets Corporation within the office of the Comptroller of Baltimore: Lexington, Broadway (Fells Point), Hollins, The Avenue (formerly Lafayette), Northeast, Cross Street (Federal Hill/South Baltimore). Other recently closed markets in the last few decades were: Belair (Old Town/Jonestown/Gay Street), Centre ("Marsh Market", Market Place, between East Baltimore and Pratt Streets, downtown), North Avenue (between Maryland and North Charles Streets), Richmond (North Howard and West Read Streets), and Hanover Markets (South Hanover Street, near Conway and Camden Streets). The neighborhood's boundaries are marked on the west by - Baltimore Street, to the north by West Pratt Street, to the south by South Carey Street and to the east by the Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard.

The western portion of the neighborhood, from South Carey Street to South Schroeder Street, is part of the Union Square-Hollins Market Historic District. This area is also referred to as ""Sowebo" or "SOWEBO"", (or "South West Baltimore"), which is known for its annual "SoWeBo Arts and Music Festival" held on the Memorial Day weekend.

The neighborhood of Hollins Market, as well as the market building, were named for the Hollins Family, who previously extensively owned the property west of downtown Baltimore during the early 19th Century where the neighborhood is now located. Hollins market is predominantly residential, with a commercial district surrounding the market building and along West Baltimore Street.

Landmarks

Five small community parks are located within the Hollins Market neighborhood: Carlton Street Park, Little Lithuania Park, Schroeder and Lombard Streets Park, Boyd Street Garden and the B.& O. Park. The B&O Railroad Museum, with its distinctive landmark main structure of the 1884 "Round House", is located along the south side of West Pratt Street. To the east of the neighborhood, the University of Maryland Medical Center (formerly the University of Maryland Hospital) is located on the opposite (east) side of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, (which was recently constructed in the 1980's as a by-pass around the west side of downtown).

The neighborhood's most significant landmark is the Hollins Market, two blocks long, (with a two-story brick stricture on the west end with arches on the ground level for market stalls inside and a civic auditorium and class/meeting rooms upstairs) and additional wooden sheds extending to the east. Located at 26 South Arlington Avenue and also the nearby H.L. Mencken House on Hollins Street, facing Union Square, longtime home of the famous reporter, editor, columnist, author and raconteur, Henry Louis Mencken, (1880-1956), of the daily newspapers: "Baltimore Morning Herald" (defunct) and the current "The Sun" and "The Evening Sun" from the turn of the century to 1948. His books were published widely, especial on the linguistics and history of the American usage of the English language and also his memoirs of growing up and editing in Baltimore. He has also been the frequent subject of several biographies.

See also

• List of Baltimore neighborhoods