Guide to Indigenous Baltimore

Use this site to learn about places and spaces important to American Indian history and continued presence in the city, with a specific focus on East Baltimore’s Historic American Indian “reservation.”

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Guide to Indigenous Baltimore

Baltimore, Maryland 21218, United States

Created By: Dr. Elizabeth Rule and The Guide to Indigenous Lands Project in Partnership with Dr. Ashley Minner

Tour Information

The place now known as Baltimore, like the rest of what is now known as the United States of America, has always been home to Native peoples. Baltimore is part of the ancestral homelands of the Piscataway and the Susquehannock, and a diverse host of American Indian folks from other nations have passed through or lived here at different times — and still do!

In the mid-twentieth century, thousands of Lumbee Indians and members of other tribal nations migrated to Baltimore City, seeking jobs and a better quality of life. They settled on the east side of town, in an area that bridges the neighborhoods of Upper Fells Point and Washington Hill. Here, they created a vibrant, intertribal American Indian community, which they affectionately referred to as “the reservation,” in its heyday.

In the decades since, due to a complex set of factors ranging from upward mobility, to Urban Renewal, to gentrification, the community has gradually moved away from the area, and the area is continually transformed. Recent generations never experienced “the reservation” as such. Today, most Baltimoreans are surprised to learn that it ever existed.

Use this map to learn about places and spaces important to American Indian history and continued presence in the city, with a specific focus on East Baltimore’s Historic American Indian “reservation.”

We encourage you to use this map to complete walking, driving, or virtual tours to visit these sites of Indigenous importance in Baltimore. For those interested in a walking tour, we encourage you to visit the historic "reservation," which includes points 9 (New Jazz City) through 28 (Fairmount Avenue Missionary Baptist Church) and is a one-mile neighborhood walk. If you would like to visit all of the sites on the map in person, we encourage you to drive or ride, as the points in some cases can be miles apart. For users geographically located outside of Baltimore, you can still view these sites through the use of the "virtual tour" mode, accessible through the settings bar on the left side of the app homepage.

Please note that the information presented here is incomplete and subject to change because the community is always changing and this research is ongoing. Dates reflect occupation of sites, not lifespans of businesses or organizations. Individual homes of Indian people and families — perhaps the most important part of “the reservation” — have not been included. Mapping these would be a complex and massive undertaking and we haven’t quite figured out how to do it, but we may yet.

For more information visit baltimorereservation.com


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What You'll See on the Tour

Norman J. Emanuel (Lumbee) came to Baltimore in 1956 and first entered the tire business in 1957.[1] He ran his company from this Booth Street location until approximately 1974.   1. Personal communication with Norman J. Emanuel, July 21, ... Read more
The oldest congregation in Baltimore City founded by Lumbee Indians (presently known as South Broadway Baptist Church) was known as West Cross Street Baptist Church when it occupied the building at 1117 W. Cross Street, from 1967–1978. Th... Read more
Native American LifeLines was established in 2000 to meet the somatic and behavioral health needs of Urban Indians residing in the Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area.[1]   1. See http://www.nativeamericanlifelines.org
Native American LifeLines was established in 2000 to meet the somatic and behavioral health needs of Urban Indians residing in the Baltimore, Maryland metropolitan area. LifeLines relocated from 106 West Clay to 1 E. Franklin Street in 2019... Read more
The McKim Center was first established as the McKim Free School by sons of Quaker merchant, John McKim. [1] Construction of the iconic Greek-revival style building at 1120 E. Baltimore Street was completed in the 1830s.[2]   In the mid-195... Read more
In the 1960s, Junior Sampson (Lumbee) left his job at General Motors to open a tire shop with Ray Locklear (Lumbee) in a garage space at 1000 S. Caroline Street. They kept their shop open until sometime in the 1970s.[1]   1. Personal commu... Read more
In 1991, The Baltimore Harbor Endowment, a citizen's group that had launched a "Buy-A-Brick" campaign to help raise funds for a brick promenade from Canton to South Baltimore, started to sell engraved bricks for a section of the promenade o... Read more
George Vasiliades worked in the Moonlight Diner (1 N. Broadway) as a teenager. In 1965, when he was in his early 20s, he set out on his own. He purchased the original Sip & Bite, which had opened on the west side of Van Lill Street in 1... Read more
The bar that once stood at 1829 E. Pratt Street had a very musical past. It was known as “Moe’s Musical Bar” in the early 1950s,[1] and “Lee’s Musical Bar” in 1955. [2] Ads for “New Jazz City” began to appear in 1958.[3] Thi... Read more
This church is the oldest in the Upper Fells Point Historic District, completed in 1848.[1] Originally dedicated as a “mariner’s church,”[2] it has been home to several community institutions over the past 170+ years.    South Broad... Read more
In 1975, Earl Brooks (Lumbee) purchased a storefront building at 207 S. Broadway[1] and opened Hokahey Indian Trading Post with his friend, Solomon Maynor (Coharie). The store primarily sold silver and turquoise Indian jewelry purchased in ... Read more
The original portion of this building was constructed in Greek revival style,[1] in 1843, for a sea captain[2] and his family. The captain and his wife placed it into trust for their daughter, who willed it to the Baltimore Humane Impartial... Read more
The Baltimore American Indian Center purchased the building at 118 S. Broadway in 1983, with assistance from the Religious Society of Friends.[1] The front part of the first floor was a museum and gift shop, and the back room was used for d... Read more
The oldest congregation in Baltimore City founded by Lumbee Indians (presently known as South Broadway Baptist Church) rented this storefront for approximately one year, just prior to moving to 1117 W. Cross Street. 
Claudie and Mabel Hunt (Lumbee) purchased the Sinclair service station at 100 S. Broadway, ca. 1967. It had a three-bay garage and six gas pumps. After about a year, the station was converted to BP. The Hunts sold the station when they move... Read more
The commercial property at this location actually spans 1623–1633 E. Lombard where there were once 6 individual houses.[1] The current structure was built in the late 1960s[2] and served as a blood bank, ca. 1979–1988.[3] The Baltimore... Read more
The Baltimore American Indian Center opened the Inter-Tribal Restaurant at 17 S. Broadway, during the tenure of Director Barry Richardson (Haliwa Saponi), ca. 1989. Board members of the Indian Center wanted to try another restaurant venture... Read more
The Rainbow Restaurant was Greek-owned, and open ca. 1952-1962. Located in the heart of “the reservation,” it was frequented by American Indian community members.   
The Moonlight Restaurant was Greek-owned. It was one of the first restaurants in which many Lumbee Indians arriving from the Jim Crow South could sit down and eat. Much of the planning for what would become South Broadway Baptist Church and... Read more
1727 E. Baltimore Street housed a series of ethnic food establishments from the turn of the century through the early 1960s, reflecting greater migration patterns in the neighborhood. In 1917, it was the Shub Bros. Bakery;[1] in 1947, it wa... Read more
East Baltimore Church of God began in 1955, under the leadership of a Lumbee woman, Rev. Lounita Hammonds. It was originally known as the “Upper Room” Church because services were held above Gordon Cleaners, located at the corner of Bal... Read more
Sid’s Ranch House Tavern occupied a building that had been converted into a movie theater during the first part of the twentieth century. It had been the Teddy Bear Parlor ca. 1908 - 1919, and the Mickey until 1920 or ‘21.[1] Sidney Sil... Read more
It is likely that the property at 1801 E. Baltimore Street was a corner store / Jewish deli at least since the 1920s, and it was certainly known as “Belman’s” since the 1940s.[1] Located in the very heart of what came to be known as ... Read more
Jesse B. Revels Jr. (Lumbee) and his wife, Lucy May Revels, bought the property at 1819 E. Baltimore Street in 1962 and opened a grocery store. They and their children ran the store until 1968, when they moved to Baltimore County.[1] They s... Read more
East Baltimore Church of God, the second oldest congregation established by Lumbee Indians in the City of Baltimore, was in 1955 known as the “Upper Room” Church because services were held above Gordon Cleaners at the corner of Baltimor... Read more
The Volcano Bar is easily the most infamous Indian bar of Baltimore’s “reservation” era, but it was in existence long before the clientele was mostly Indian.[50] It first appears in a Sun ad as the “Volcano Restaurant” in 1944.[1]... Read more
Vince’s Bar was owned by Vincent Staico. His wife, Matilda, “Ms. Til,” often ran the bar. Former patrons describe it as a quiet neighborhood bar, where there was seldom, if ever, fighting. Vince’s had pool tables and American Indian... Read more
In 1956, the oldest congregation in Baltimore City founded by Lumbee Indians (presently known as South Broadway Baptist Church) rented the storefront at 1918 E. Fairmount Avenue and adopted the name “Fairmount Avenue Missionary Baptist Ch... Read more
The rowhome at 1921 E. Baltimore Street was owned and occupied by American Indian people for approximately 37 years, ca. 1970-2007. It was owned and sublet by The Baltimore American Indian Center 1988-2000.[1]   1. See Deed, 1921 E. Balti... Read more
In 1972, East Baltimore Church of God, the second oldest congregation established by Lumbee Indians in the City of Baltimore, sold its first home at 1714–16 E. Baltimore Street to the City and purchased the church at 2043 E. Baltimore Str... Read more
Donald Gibson purchased this property in 1979[1] and it became the Ken Ten Tavern, or just “the corner bar.” The corner bar became a hangout for area American Indian workers. By the time it opened, the community had largely moved “up ... Read more
Gerald Butler (Lumbee) ran his tire service in a garage at 2109 Lamley ca. 1963 until he retired in 2005.  
An American Indian family purchased the house at 2107 Lamley Street in 1989.[1] In 1993, the family experienced financial hardship. The Baltimore American Indian Center was able to assist by purchasing the home and allowing the family to co... Read more
In 1986, The Baltimore American Indian Center purchased the rowhomes at 2205 and 2207 E. Baltimore Street to be rental properties. Eleven years later, the Center sold both properties to Donald Gibson (owner of Ken Ten Tavern, aka “the Cor... Read more
In 1986, The Baltimore American Indian Center purchased the rowhomes at 2205 and 2207 E. Baltimore Street to be rental properties. Eleven years later, the Center sold both properties to Donald Gibson (owner of Ken Ten Tavern, aka “the Cor... Read more
DC “Slim” Hunt (Lumbee) (1942 - 2016) and other American Indian community members had been hanging out on this corner, near Slim’s house, for decades prior to the addition of this bench. In the 1990s, Johnny Thompson (Lumbee) (1945–... Read more
In 1978, James Bowen (Lumbee) and his wife, Rosalie Bowen nee Machlinski (Polish), opened a bakery in Baltimore’s Northeast Market (2101 E. Monument Street, Chester Street door).[1] Widely known throughout the Lumbee community and well be... Read more
The Baltimore American Indian Center purchased this property in 1989. The Center sold the property in 1990.[1]   1. See Deed of Assignment, 12 N. Clinton Street, April 14, 1988, Baltimore American Indian Center Archives. Baltimore, Maryla... Read more
In the 1990s, George Thompson and his wife, Myrtle Thompson, both Lumbee, rented the store at 165 N. Potomac Street and opened George’s Grocery & Grill. They sold groceries as well as prepared foods—especially George’s famous BBQ.... Read more
In 1988, the Baltimore American Indian Center purchased the property at 12 N. Clinton Street. The Center sold the property in 1997.[1]   1. See Baltimore City Circuit Court (Land Records) PMB 6707, p. 0165, MSA_CE164_6707. Date available ... Read more
The original Patterson High School was located at 101 S. Ellwood Avenue.[1] The building later became home to Hampstead Hill Junior High, and later still, Highlandtown Middle. Now it’s luxury apartments.   Hampstead Hill Junior High (#43... Read more
309 S. Ellwood Avenue was the second home of Mohawk Bridge & Iron, a concrete reinforcing construction company founded by Allen Thomas Satekoronhes Snow (Mohawk), a third generation master ironworker from Kahnawake.[1]   1. Personal c... Read more
Burnetha “Pat” Locklear (Lumbee) purchased the property at 105 S. Conkling Street in 1991.[1] She registered the Mt. Pleasant Inn as a business in 1994 [2] and sold this property in 2015.[3]   1. Baltimore City Circuit Court (Land Rec... Read more
In 1994, Allen Thomas Satekoronhes Snow (Mohawk), a third generation master ironworker from Kahnawake, founded Mohawk Bridge & Iron, a concrete reinforcing construction company specializing in reinforcing steel placement and post tensio... Read more
East Baltimore Church of God, the second oldest congregation established by Lumbee Indians in the City of Baltimore, relocated from 2043 E. Baltimore Street to 800 Oldham Street, in Greektown, in 2003.[1] The church is still active and many... Read more
3901 Curtis Avenue is the present-day home of Mohawk Bridge & Iron, a concrete reinforcing construction company founded by Allen Thomas Satekoronhes Snow (Mohawk), a third generation master ironworker from Kahnawake. Mohawk Bridge &... Read more
Beginning in the 1940s, a small contingent of American Indian people who moved from North Carolina to Baltimore settled in Brooklyn and made Brooklyn Church of God their church home. As Baltimore’s greater American Indian community formed... Read more
Beginning in the 1940s, a small contingent of American Indian people who moved from North Carolina to Baltimore settled in Brooklyn and made Brooklyn Church of God their church home. The church’s original location was here at 901 Pontiac ... Read more

 

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