History of St. Mary’s Park
The park sits on the grounds of America’s first Catholic seminary, founded in 1791 by French Sulpician priests who’d fled the French Revolution. Two of the neighborhood’s architectural landmarks still stand from that era: the 1806 Chapel, the oldest Neo-Gothic church building in the country, and the Mother Seton House. The chapel’s basement is also where the Oblate Sisters of Providence, the first Catholic sisterhood founded by women of African descent, formed in 1829. When the seminary relocated in the late 1960s, the site became the 3.4-acre public park that anchors the neighborhood today.
[Read the full history →]
Past initiatives
State Center
For over a decade, the SHA was part of planning a 28-acre redevelopment that would have connected 12 West Baltimore communities with new housing, retail, and transit. The SHA helped form the State Center Neighborhood Alliance (SCNA), which signed a Community Benefits Agreement with developers in 2016. Governor Hogan ended the project in December 2017, rescinding the state’s approval. It’s kept here because it was a real, years-long effort by this neighborhood, not because it’s ongoing.
– SCNA events →
– SCNA mission statement →
– Community action & advocacy materials →
– News coverage →
Jasper Street Beautification
A public-art initiative reimagining the Jasper Street corridor, run in partnership with Market Center and funded through the city’s Community Safety Works program.
[Read more →]
Looking for what’s happening now? See [Neighborhood Programs] or [Events & Initiatives].