Linover
Baltimore, MD
Suburb
Description:
In the 1950s, many families- attracted by promises of affordable housing, new and upscale homes, and factors of convenience- moved into suburban homes. Linover, was no different. Just recently, the Linover community celebrated its fiftieth anniversary. It was a process of evaluation, re-discovery, and reflection.
There are two types of houses in Linover. Most are two-story, semi-attached homes connected to another home by one side. All of the rooms are nearly identical in each house. There exist only minor differences, like an extra bathroom in the basement, that home-owners created themselves. There are two-story, single homes scattered throughout the streets of the neighborhood and along both Kenlea and Leslie Avenues. These homes, like the semi-attached, are virtually the of the same structure inside and out.
I hope to gather a some information from a census report to attest to the education level, median income and occupational status of the residents of the community. More importantly, I would like to examine an age/sex pyramid to develop a sense of the high population of older residents (some that have lived in Linover for over 40 years) and the population of new residents (most of which seem to be young families).
There is a deep sense of community in Linover. That fact is very apparent when one accidentally refers to the place as “Overlea”, “Fullerton”, “White Marsh” or, even worse, “Parkville.” All of those names refer to locations surrounding the Linover area. Linover is often link to one of these other locations because of its size. But, no matter which neighborhood the community happens to linked to that week, Linover residents prefer to stress that they are from Linover.
Some of this community pride is a direct result of the community improvement association. While not every neighbor attends the monthly meetings, they most surely have taken advantage of the traditions but on by the organization. There are annual Easter Egg Hunts, Tree Lightings, Halloween Parades, Stream Clean-Ups, Bull Roasts and Scholarship Dances, that keep both the young and old engaged. These events receive very high attendance and participation and according to one resident, “are the things that make this community so special.”
While there is no official welcome committee, new neighbors are quickly encouraged to attend meetings, participate in events and to finish all the cakes the older neighbors have dropped off to say “hello.” Unfortunately, these new neighbors are also welcomed with gossip from the other neighbors and they, in turn, will become part of the cycle that runs through the small neighborhood.
There is an elementary school and a high school within walking distance and buses to pick up students attending area middle and high schools. There are several shopping centers, within walking distance, if you choose to make them so. Linover is a prime location, only minutes away from the beltway, a mall, and forms of entertainment.
Argument:
It was not until the 1960s that many criticisms of the suburbs began to emerge. Critics claimed that the suburbs were too homogeneous (every house was designed in the same style and all of the residents seemed to be of similar economic class and race). The suburbs lacked diversity and therefore, culture. There was nothing to do in the evenings or weekends and a car was necessary to access entertainment elsewhere. Standard suburbs were also criticized for their inefficient use of resources (they took up too much space and spread everything out creating urban sprawl). Linover, however, battles some of the stereotypes of the American suburb while still remaining true to its history and establishes community through tradition and acceptance. Linover has the benefits of a suburb, with the feel of a small town.
*I also thought about arguing something along the lines of the diversity of age, using the age/sex pyramids. Linover is a thriving community because of tradition (upheld by a lot of the older residents) and because of the adaptations created in response to the new families.
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6 comments:
I like the idea of you using your neighborhood as a landscape. Perhaps you could incorporate into you argument what makes your street so unique. How does each family make their house stand out, or different from the others? How does your street go against the suburban stereotype? I think too often critics don't look any deeper than the surface. Talk about how your neighborhood defies those stereotypes.
I think your description is interesting and it reminded me of Dr. Orser's community project from AMST 380.
I think you are in good shape with your argument and I definitely like the idea of using census data. You may want to think about how the community compares to other similar suburbs in the Baltimore area built around the same time.
Katie, I really liked your description, it was very very detailed, it gives the reader an idea of that the neighbor hood is like.
Looking at your other comments I agree with Sammy, maybe you could argue what makes your street unique. But also, maybe you could discuss the 1950s feel of it a little more, i think that comparison with how it feels now would be very interesting to expand on.
I actually agree with the critics in that some suburbs lack creativity; every house looks exactly the same. I'm sure you'll do this in your actual paper, but you should write why Linover defies such criticisms, and maybe compare it to a suburb that doesn't defy those criticisms. I also think that using census statistics will help your argument.
This is an interesting topic, I am waiting to be convinced by your paper. I have always thought suburbs met most of their steryotypes and have not been a fan of them. maybe you can convince me otherwise. perhaps you could also do some comparison analysis to other popular suburbs to see how yours matches up.
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