Your Guide to Buying a Home in Catonsville, MD

Buying a Home in Catonsville, Maryland

Catonsville is located in Baltimore County

Because of Catonsville's location along the turnpike, the geography of the land, and the difficulty involved in making the journey by horses and wagons, the town became a very popular rest stop for travelers along the Frederick Turnpike by the 1830's to 1840's. This natural and convenient resting-place for the turnpike's travelers then naturally started attracting businessmen to the area. Over the next twenty to thirty years, wise-minded businessmen had developed a small area of the community along the turnpike, into a strip of various types of stores that could help serve the needs of the Frederick Turnpike's travelers. By developing this area, these businessmen also provided many types of products and services that the residents of the community needed. At the same time that the businessman were contributing to changes in the community German and English Protestants; Irish, German, and French Catholics; and African Methodist were establishing new churches in Catonsville, adding to the diversity of the community. By the 1880's a Presbyterian congregation had also been formed.

During this same period, Catonsville's beautiful rural landscape combined with the conveniences of a developed area helped to attract one of the other major components of this growing community's population, wealthy Baltimoreans. Wealthy Baltimorean families came to Catonsville to escape the summer heat of the city by building large estates in the community for use as summer homes. One of the more well-known mansions that was built in Catonsville was 'The Summit'. 'The Summit' is still standing today as an apartment house, south of Frederick Road. Because of the presence of these seasonal residents, new employment opportunities were generated for both white and black working-class residents, further ensuring community stability and growth.

Slowly but surely over the years, many of the wealthy Baltimore families seeking a summer retreat in Catonsville, turned into permanent residents as the town continued to grow and new innovations in transportation were making Catonsville an even more attractive and convenient location to live. Ultimately the businessmen, the wealthy families, and the working class of the community combined to create the unusual dynamic of Catonsville's population.

By 1862 a horse-car line was established on Frederick Road. As time and technology would progress many facets of society would continue to populate Catonsville. In 1884 the Catonsville Short Line Railroad, with a steam engine pulling passenger and freight cars through residential land to a terminus on Frederick Road, made Catonsville more accessible to and from Baltimore, further contributing to the village's growth. In the 1890's an electric trolley line replaced the horse-car, and another streetcar line was established on the new Edmondson Avenue, taking passengers to Ellicott City.

Another new school was built in 1910 to provide for the increased significant population. A number of residents attempted several times to make Catonsville into a legally incorporated town, but the majority of Catonsville's residents would not support it when it was put to a vote. The majority of the town also survived attempts by Baltimore City to annex the community, but in 1918 the last annexation near North Bend did take place. Catonsville continued to expand with the building of new houses, including both large houses and small cottages, with the vast majority of the homeowners permanently residing in their homes instead of using them merely as summer homes.

Catonsville's population had reached a zenith of diversity, existing as a combination of laborers, craftsmen, salesmen, managers, and professionals. Two world wars would come to pass, and Catonsville continued to be developed, with more new schools. New highways would come to take over as primary routes for travel by automobile, the new transportation of choice, and the ultimate eliminator of the once bustling streetcars, making them distant memories. With the completion of US Route 40 (and later I-70), Frederick Road would lose its title as the major western route out of Baltimore. Finally, Catonsville evolved into the distinct modern suburb that we recognize today; a diverse, beautiful, and peaceful suburb rich in traditions and life, full of countless things to offer its residents and its visitors.