How in the world could someone have thought of Homestead as a place for country living? If one drives through the neighborhood today, it is hard to imagine that it was considered a respite from city life at any time. Of course, that depends on whether you are coming or going.
The Burgan family had their own 500 acres or so in Baltimore County for around 150 years, but lands that were farmed by one generation were sold by another. The Irish Matriarch and her family had moved into Baltimore City by 1870, but returned to a form of country living when Homestead was ready for them. Houses close to Harford Road were more traditional brick row houses, but a few blocks further northwest were wood frame homes with a little grass around them. The picture above shows the Irish Matriarch and her daughter Annie Jane on the front porch of 426 Madison Street. The back of the picture has 1892 and 1900 written on it. I wonder who the photographer was?
New construction of houses in Baltimore City was not allowed to be wood-framed, but above North Avenue was a different story. The Burgan duplex was thought of as a step up from the nearby rowhouses, and a good place for the lace curtain Irish side of my family to be proud of. The Irish Matriarch paid a mere $400.00 for the place, and it had running water but no indoor plumbing or central heat, but rather three wooden stoves and an oil heater. Four generations of Burgans would live here before the flight further north in 1952. Their next door neighbors were the Bambergers, a family whose men were employed as wheelwrights, coach painters and a marble cutter, of all things.
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