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The Mid-Govans area described here extends from Woodbourne Avenue to Belvedere Avenue. Because of its multistage development over a period of two hundred years(see Govens neighborhood), Mid-Govans contains today an unusually diverse building stock. Residential structures range from simple nineteenth-century frame houses built along the area's oldest roads, to post World War I wood-and-shingle bungalow developments, to mid-twentieth century brick row houses with varying stylistic detail. Similar variety exists in buildings lining both sides of York Road, the community's commercial area. Disjointed and irregular street patterns reflect the growth and development of adjacent areas during different time periods. Gently rolling hills and mature vegetation provide a pleasant, unifying backdrop for these varied structures and Street patterns.
Despite considerable resistance Mid-Govans was annexed to Baltimore City. along with numerous other communities, in 1918. The area grew rapidly until the 1930s, when the housing market was severely affected by the Depression. By this time most of the area between York Road and Bellona Avenue had already been developed. Although York Road was already lined with homes and businesses, the 1920s brought a new wave of development and construction for new businesses. Changes along York Road since the 1920s have occurred through the remodeling or replacement of existing buildings. By 1930 residents were already complaining that the York Road had become a "gasoline alley," as the automobile and the commuter changed he character of the community.
The housing developed in the triangle of York Road and Bellona Avenue along York Road, and just east of the old turnpike, included a mixture of frame and shingle detached and semi-detached structures, as well as later two-story brick rows. With the exception of a dozen or so square blocks at the very eastern edge of Mid-Govans, all the vacant land in the area was bought and sold, subdivided, and built on during the ten-year period from 1945 through 1955.
The Senator Theatre is probably the best known landmark in Mid-Govans. It is one of the finest Art Deco buildings in Baltimore, which has a relatively small number so designed because the style arrived here late.
Other commercial developments in the Mid-Govans area include the Homeland Shopping Center opened in 1940. In 1948 the Belvedere Shopping Center at York Road opened, replacing, among other establishments, the "Nibble and Clinks" drive-in restaurant. Hochschild's new Belvedere store advertised the novelty of ample evening hours, allowing the entire family to shop together.
Between 1950 and 1980, as suburban Baltimore expanded into Baltimore County, many of the former economic activities of Mid-Govans closed or moved into the county. Undaunted by these failures, the Greater Govans Committee is planning in the 1990s for a rejuvenation of the York Road corridor with new shopping malls and other activities to return business to this once thriving community. The York Road Planning Area Committee, Inc. (YRPAC) has been instrumental in this revitalization. In 1986 a new mall opened on the former site of Hochschilds and adjacent properties.
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