Rodgers Forge, Maryland facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Rodgers Forge Historic District
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Brick rowhouses in Rodgers Forge
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 Location in Maryland
Location in the United States
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| Location | Roughly bounded by Stanmore Road, Stevenson Lane, York Road (Md. Route 45), Overbrook Road, and Bellona Avenue, north of Baltimore, Maryland |
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| Area | 150 acres (61 ha) |
| Built | 1925 |
| Architect | Beall, Frederick; James Keelty & Sons |
| Architectural style | Tudor Revival, Colonial Revival, Modern movement |
| NRHP reference No. | 09000783 |
| Added to NRHP | September 24, 2009 |
Rodgers Forge is a national historic district southwest of the unincorporated Towson area and county seat of Baltimore County, Maryland, United States, just north of the Baltimore City/County line. It is mostly a residential area, with rowhouses, apartments, single-family dwellings, and a new complex of luxury townhomes. The area also has a small amount of commercial development. It is just south of Towson University. 21212 is the postal code for Rodgers Forge.
In 2004, Rodgers Forge gained international attention as the home of Olympic swimming champion Michael Phelps. In 2013, Rodgers Forge was ranked by Baltimore Magazine as one of the top neighborhoods in Baltimore County. The magazine also named Rodgers Forge as one of the 10 "best-kept secret neighborhoods" in Baltimore metropolitan area for its "strong public schools, thriving community organizations, and easy access to shopping and entertainment in Baltimore and Towson." Rodgers Forge has also been consistently ranked as one of the safest Baltimore neighborhoods, according to the website and online database NeighborhoodScout. In 2019, Rodgers Forge became the first neighborhood group in Maryland to file to remove racist language from historic deeds.
History
Rodgers Forge was built on what was known as the Dumbarton Farm, which, in the 19th century, was owned by Johns Hopkins, founder of Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital.
Rodgers Forge takes its name from the blacksmith shop of George Rodgers, built in 1800, that was once located on the southeast corner of York Road and Stevenson Lane. In 1934, builder James Keelty (Sr.) began work on the Rodgers Forge neighborhood, and constructed over 600 red brick rowhouses until World War II stopped development. After the war, work resumed under the direction of Keelty's two son's James Keelty Jr. and Joseph Keelty. 1,777 homes were completed by 1956.
In 2009, the entire neighborhood of Rodgers Forge was listed in National Register of Historic Places due to "its unique status as a well-preserved example of early to mid-20th Century community design and architecture." According to the official citation:
The Rodgers Forge Historic District is architecturally significant as a prototypical example of a type of suburban rowhouse development which characterized the region during the late 1920s through the mid-1950s, and is especially noteworthy for the quality of its planning, architecture, and construction... Rodgers Forge stands as the most architecturally accomplished of all of the Early American-style rowhouse neighborhoods built in the greater Baltimore area during these years.
Today, about 4,000 people live in Rodgers Forge, which is now considered among the Baltimore area’s "most sought after locations for families."
Notable people
- Charles Adam Fecher, author and editor who is best known for his works about Jacques Maritain and H.L. Mencken; longtime Rodgers Forge resident
- Charles Eberhart, Director of Neuropathology and Ophthalmic Pathology at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
- F. Scott Fitzgerald and Zelda Fitzgerald, American novelist couple who resided in Rodgers Forge during 1932-1933
- William J. Frank, member of the Maryland House of Delegates
- Mary Claire Helldorfer (Elizabeth Chandler), author of New York Times Best Seller Kissed by an Angel
- Ralph H. Hruban, professor of pathology and oncology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine; a world-renowned expert in the field of pancreatic cancer pathology
- David H. Hubel, winner of 1981 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for discoveries on information processing in the visual system; resident of Rodgers Forge in 1950s
- Kevin O'Malley, children's book writer
- Eric D. Goodman, fiction writer and long-term Rodgers Forge resident who actually set scenes from some of his books in the Forge.
- Michael Phelps, American competition swimmer and the most decorated Olympian of all time
- Bayard Turnbull, architect - who lived at La Paix, a Rodgers Forge estate
- Johnny Unitas, football player; owner of former Golden Arm restaurant in Rodgers Forge
- Henry N. Wagner, one of the pioneering researchers in nuclear medicine
