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Maryland's National Register Properties



Photo credit: Peter E. Kurtze, 02/1994
Granite Historic District
Inventory No.: BA-2582
Date Listed: 9/22/1994
Location: Old Court Road & St. Paul Avenue, Woodstock, Baltimore County
Category: District
Period/Date of Construction: 1750-1941
Architect/Builder: Architect, 1879 school building: Thomas C. Kennedy
Resources: 58 (47 contributing, 7 non-contributing)
Description: The Granite Historic District comprises the focus of a rural quarrying community located in the Patapsco Valley of western Baltimore County, Maryland. The district includes properties along Old Court Road and several side streets, between Granite Road on the east and Hernwood Road on the west. Contributing resources include two churches, a school, a social hall, former commercial buildings, and houses and outbuildings, representing the period from the initial settlement of the area c. 1750 through the early 20th century, when the village achieved its present form. The district also includes the former Waltersville quarry, one of two major granite operations in the region during the period. Primarily dating from the late 19th and early 20th century, the resources within the district reflect a variety of building forms which characterized rural communities of the period in the region. Most of the houses are Late Victorian, of frame construction, two stories high, with a central cross gable; this type appears in various sizes and degrees of elaboration, from the small three-bay-wide houses of quarry workers to the expansive five-bay-wide residence of the mine owner. Also present are examples of workers' duplexes, and representatives of turn-of-the-century Queen Anne and Foursquare house types. The district retains a high level of integrity, with few significant alterations or modern intrusions. Significance: The Granite Historic District is significant for its association with the granite quarrying industry in western Baltimore County in the 19th and early 20th century. Originally known as Waltersville and renamed Granite in recognition of its principal product, the village was the center of this industry, which during its peak in the late 19th century provided building materials for major projects throughout the eastern seaboard. Granite from the Waltersville and Fox Rock quarries was utilized in construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in the 1830s, and later in such projects as the Library of Congress, old Treasury Building, and parts of the inner walls of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.; the old Post Office, Courthouse, Custom House, Polytechnic Institute, and monument to the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution in Baltimore; numerous other projects in Baltimore city and county; and local buildings including the Odd Fellows' Hall, two churches, and the public school building which still stand within the district. The district comprises a cohesive collection of resources representing the development of the rural quarrying community from the mid-18th century through the late 1930s. Most of the resources are residential in character and date primarily from the peak of the quarry industry in the last quarter of the 19th through the early 20th century; these houses typically conform to the two-story cross-gabled type which characterized rural communities throughout the region during the period.

District Resources (58) (47 contributing, 7 non-contributing)

From associated listing in National Register nomination form. C = Contributing, NC = non-contributing, blank = not evaluated.

AddressStatusResource Name and MIHP (if any)
10615 St. Paul AvenueC 
St. Paul's LaneCBA-1574 -- St. Paul's Methodist Church & Cemetery
10611 St. Paul AvenueC 
10610 St. Paul AvenueC 
10609 St. Paul AvenueC 
10608 St. Paul AvenueC 
10600 St. Paul AvenueC 
10626 St. Paul AvenueC 
10628 St. Paul AvenueC 
10623 St. Paul AvenueC 
10622-24 St. Paul AvenueC 
10621 St. Paul AvenueC 
10529 Old Court RoadC 
10528 Old Court RoadC 
10530 Old Court RoadC 
2760 Melrose AvenueC 
10504 Old Court RoadC 
10506-10508 Old Court RoadC 
10510 Old Court RoadC 
10322 Old Court Road (MD 125)CBA-8 -- Blunt Farm & Granite Quarries (Mount Welcome, Hall Property)
10225 Old Court RoadCWoodside
10212 Old Court RoadC 
10428 Sylvan Dell LaneC 
east side of Sylvan Dell LaneCWaltersville Quarry
10426 Sylvan Dell LaneC 
10615 Old Court RoadC 
10621 Old Court RoadC 
Old Court Road (MD 125)CBA-151 -- Granite Public School
10613 Old Court RoadCI. O. O. F. Shiloh Lodge No. 3
2619 Bunker Hill RoadC 
2616 Bunker Hill RoadC 
2609, 2611 Bunker Hill RoadC 
2600, 2606, 2608 Bunker Hill RoadC 
10637 Old Court RoadCBA-2288 -- Granite Presbyterian Church
10635 Old Court RoadCGranite Presbyterian Church Parish House
10630 Old Court RoadC 
10636 Old Court RoadC 
10639 Old Court RoadC 
10701 Old Court RoadC 
10700 Old Court RoadC 
2701 Hernwood RoadC 
2703 Hernwood RoadC 
2704 Hernwood RoadCBA-2582-1 -- House
2707 Hernwood RoadC 
2803 Hernwood RoadCBA-2290 -- Hernwood School House
10527 Old Court RoadC 
10500 Old Court RoadC 
2711 Hernvood RoadNC 
2803 Hernwood RoadNC 
10625 St. Paul AvenueNC 
2615 Bunker Hill RoadNC 
10220 Old Court RoadNC 
10522 Old Court RoadNC 
10617 St. Paul AvenueNC 
10618 St. Paul AvenueC/NC 
10521 Old Court RoadC/NC 
10601 St. Paul AvenueC/NC 
10501 Old Court RoadC/NC 

 

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