Roland Park Civic League       ( RPCL)

Table of Contents

Creator:Roland Park Civic League, Roland Park Roads and Maintenance Corporation

Volume: 15 Linear feet; plus 590 sets of blueprints and maps

Inclusive Dates: 1903- 1978

Nature and Type of Records: minutes, ledgers, blueprints, correspondence, membership cards, audit reports, payroll books.

Condition of Records: Generally good. Some of the blueprints require mending and should be handled with care.

Administrative History: Roland Park, which was laid out in-the 1890s, is a residential area located in northwestern Baltimore City. First developed by the Roland Park Company, is is one of the nation's first planned suburban communities. While the term Roland Park is loosely applied to a broad residential area, the neighborhood properly consists of a concise area enclosing seven even plats (-see map)--plats 1, 2, 3, 4A, 5 CITY, 5 COUNTY, and 6. Originally, all of these plats except plat 5 CITY lay within Baltimore County. In 1918, Baltimore City extended its boundaries to their current location and thereby annexed the remainder of Roland Park. Through the Roland Park Civic League, a neighborhood association, Roland Park has long had organized community representation. Furthermore, through the Roland Park Roads and Maintenance Corporation, a neighborhood entity, Roland Park has shared with the city the responsibility, for local maintenance.

William Edwards, president of a Baltimore trade publication, the 'Manufacturer's Record, initiated the plan to found Roland Park with his interest to develop the one hundred acres of land that became plat one. He, together with Edward H. Bouton, a planner; Charles Grasty, a Baltimore newspaper publisher; and some midwestern bankers, founded in 1891 the Roland Park Company. The area to be developed was named for Roland Thornberry, an English landholder in Baltimore County. Indeed, the company acquired additional tracts of land and expanded Roland Park primarily with capital raised from an English syndicate.

The Roland Park Company built Roland Park section by section, building streets; laying water, sewer and electric lines; and selling property lots. Bouton directed most of this development. Employing landscape architects, the company initially hired George Edward Kessler of Kansas City, who planned the streets of plat one curvilinearly to conform to the contours of the land. Later, the company employed the the services of the 'Massachusetts firm, Olmsted, Olmsted and Eliot, and its nationally reknown architect, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. Most notably, Olmsted designed the lots of plat two to conform to the contours of the land.

In providing homes for the affluent of Baltimore, the company had built a variety of detached houses, rowhouses, elevator apartments and duplexes. To further attract new residents, the company established in 1898 the Baltimore Country Club. Each section as it was developed became an additional plat of Roland Park, plat six being the last. By 1911, the Roland Park Company had nearly completed its development of Roland Park. It moved on to develop the neighboring residential areas of Guilford, Homeland and Northwood, before dissolving in the 1940s or early 1950s.

In the planning of Roland Park, Bouton conceived the idea of incorporating land-use restrictions on each property deed. Roland Park was, one of the first places in the United States to use such forms of property covenants. Under these, architects must design any house or garage to be built on convenanted lots, and any such proposal to build or alter either a house or garage must meet with the prior approval of a committee of architects. Earlier, the Roland Park Company had to approve any construction or dwelling alteration in Roland Park; today the committee of architects is under the aegis of the Roland Park Roads and Maintenance Corporation. Originally, no outbuildings including stables were allowed on any lot, and horses were to be quartered in community stables. Soon after, with the coming of the automobile, garages became permissible. Presently, most properties in Roland Park are still regulated by these covenants, though restrictions have lapsed on some lots, where they were not voluntarily renewed by the property holders.


The Roland Park Civic League, whose membership consists of most of the residents of Roland Park, was, established and incorporated on January 26, 1907. It developed from a voluntary fire company that residents had formed, being then outside of city protection. The League quickly became concerned with property values and neighborhood interests. The League is administered by the Board of Directors, with its various committees. The Board consists of the five officials of the League (president, two vice- presidents, treasurer and secretary) and has twelve plat representatives, one or two from each plat. These officials and representatives are elected at the annual membership meetings.

The Roland Park Roads and Maintenance Corporation, a subsidiary of the Roland Park Civic League, was incorporated on July 15, 1909. To it the Roland Park Company assigned nearly all its rights--to collect maintenance taxes; to enforce or waive building restrictions; to own roads and lanes; and to buy, lease sell or improve property. The Roland Park Company continued to select three of the twelve directors of Roads and Maintenance; the League selecting the other nine. The League now appoints all the directors, and owns all twenty shares in Roads and Maintenance: The maintenance tax, or stipend, has funded much of the work of Roads and Maintenance. These stipends, which owners of covenanted property pay annually, were stipulated at a fixed rate in the original property deeds. Originally, the main purposes of the Roads and Maintenance were the lighting and repair of streets, the maintenance and operation of the sewerage system and the collection of garbage and ash. Water was supplied by a separate company, the Roland Park Water Company. After annexation, the city assumed all of these responsibilities. Currently Roads and Maintenance repairs lanes and sidewalks, removes leaves and debris, clears snow from sidewalks, trims sidewalk lawns, and plants roadside shrubbery. Under contract, it has done the same in Homeland.


Scope Note: Notably, it contains the minutes of the Roland Park Civic League spanning the years 1955 and 1972, and of the Roland Park Roads and Maintenance Corporation dating between 1911 and 1973, with large gaps between 1953 , and 1959. The blueprints document a significant number of houses and garages built or altered after 1920 and before roughly 1950. Unfortunately, the collection does not span the original years of Roland Park, nor does it contain records of the Roland Park Company. These records can be found at the Cornell University Library, Ithica, New York.

Architectural Plans: The RPCL collection also contains a large (though not complete) holding of architectural plans for Guilford, Homeland, Original Northwood and the Orchards. The bulk of houseplans for Roland Park, as well as the other RP company communities are also located at the Cornell University Libary in Ithica, New York.