Agriculture and Farming in North Brentwood

It might be difficult to imagine today, but in its early days, North Brentwood was a place filled with entrepreneurial farmers. On two separate instances, one in 1917 and one in 1918, Burnetta Ingram placed advertisements in the Evening Star offering cows for sale. In her oral history published in Minding Our Own Business, Barbara Spriggs recounts that there

was a man we used to call “Doc Schuler” and he had a garden down by the Branch, and he sell watermelons and many other vegetables-mainly greens, string beans, corn, onions. And the strange thing was, he made this little old so-called house down there in the summer and he would live down there, and we would sneak down there to see, you know, how the corn comes up. We just being devilish, we would go down there and get some corn, and we cook it at our little picnics out in the yard. He could tell that you been down there. He was another person that everyone look forward to-mainly on a Saturday, you know, you go down there and get your greens and stuff, 'cause you do your cooking for Sunday on Saturday.

Homesteading was known to be a part of life in the early community of Randalltown. Archaeological evidence from the summer of 2022 at the first Randall residence reveals that the family maintained gardening beds behind the home.

However, apart from Mr. Randall’s garden beds, where might have cows roamed and Doc Schuler tended his large, not-so-secret garden? Three images help identify likely spots. The 1922 Sanborn fire map of Brentwood (so known before its incorporation) shows areas with little infill of housing. Notice especially the large tract of undeveloped land to the left of A.M.E. Zion church, which is in red towards the bottom of the map. Maybe Ms. Ingram kept cows there?

The 1939 Sanborn fire map and aerial photography from 1938 indicate that this area of North Brentwood was somewhat quickly developed, and as well that there were many trees, which might have precluded farming and grazing by livestock. However, these maps also indicate areas along the Northwest Branch that easily could have served as arable land, although subject to the flooding that frequently plagued North Brentwood. Notice that on both sides of Rhode Island Avenue, undeveloped land existed that appears suitable for such use. Are one of the small buildings near the river in the 1939 Sanborn map Doc Schuler’s “little old so-called house?”

Sources:

Burnetta Ingram offers cows for sale, The Evening Star, August 1, 1917, 17

Burnetta Ingram offers cows for sale, The Evening Star, July 30, 1918, 18

Sanborn fire maps for Brentwood and North Brentwood (1922 and 1939)

Aerial photography from PGAtlas