West-Side Seton Hill Melds Religious and Racial Skeins

Abstract

Seton Hill might befuddle the most devoted Baltimore history bu . It is named after Mother Seton, but was she an Oblate Sister? Was Johns Hopkins University origi- nally located there? Is the park at its center public or private? When was all the modern housing built? Is it possible to drive into the neighborhood from the north? Why do all of its streets direct drivers back onto Martin Luther King Boulevard? Was “Hill” de ned di erently in the 19th century? The curious will be rewarded; a little digging reveals that the neighborhood tucked around St. Mary’s Seminary and Orchard Street Church is a mi- crocosm of 200 years of Baltimore’s history of religious tolerance, institutional innovation, racial upheaval, and urban renewal.