There’s a good reason why an outpouring of sentiment accompanied the fire at the Castle at Keswick this week. Until 1997, this building was the Northern District police station, a distinguished looking, beloved Victorian-era landmark, the peace keeper of a big part of Baltimore for nearly a century.
A glance through The Sun’s files makes the point that Northern was more than a police station, lockup, neighborhood courthouse and stables. Baltimore’s finest once kept the streets safe on horseback when the Northern’s far-fung neighborhoods needed equestrian power before the gasoline powered squad car arrived.
Why was Northern respected? Consider a Baltimore Sun story of Dec. 15, 1930, 14 months after the 1929 stock market crash that threw the country into a long and dismal Great Depression.
The paper said that Northern had set itself up as a social service headquarters for Hampden, Woodberry, Remington and wherever. By 4 p.m. each afternoon, deserving persons formed a breadline along Keswick Road.
Food went out to 67 families representing 320 hungry mouths. Donated clothing also was distributed, as well as ton after ton of coal, distributed in two-bushel basket allotments.
“Bluecoats serving as a go-between ‘twist the prosperous and the poor have solicited cash, clothing, food supplies and fuel from those who are able to give and collect 127 pairs of shoes from which the poorly-shod have taken their pick,” the story noted.
One “thoughtful shoemaker” turned over 37 pairs of shoes from customers who neglected to retrieve their footwear.
Medical care? The Northern had you covered. Arrangements were made with two Hampden physicians, Dr. Charles F. Coughlin and Dr. John Morrissey for free medical treatment for the destitute and invalids. An unnamed neighborhood pharmacist provided free prescriptions to persons that Northern District officers verified as deserving.
It was the Christmas season. The officers solicited the contents for 200 baskets of food and another 500 stockings filled with small gifts, candy and fruit.
In January 1901, Northern’s officers went door-to-door alerting North Baltimore residents to a crime wave. “All dwellings visited were told to notify the beat cop was going unoccupied by residents or servants for several hours.”
“This move on the part of police threw the entire Northern District into a state of great agitation, and last night the residents were terror-stricken in a city overrun by sneak thieves and housebreakers,” The Sun reported.
Because the district included affluent areas, its jurisdiction “offers an inviting field to the keen-eyed burglar.”
To prove the perils of life in North Baltimore, The Sun reported the house burglaries of the Rev. G.W. Cooper at 2412 Calvert Street and Frank C. McLeeke at 2005 Barclay Street.
“When a house is vacant [if briefly] that is when a skeleton key man gets to work,” the paper said.
That said, there were times when a Northern District sergeant became too vigilant. The hapless cop William L. Howard got wind of illicit doings at St. Paul and 21st Street. Specifically, he heard of games of craps and poker. He approached the residence of a plumber, Francis A. Carey was able to see inside the front parlor because the window shade allowed for a 2-inch visibility gap.
Sergeant Howard noted two women on a bed and a man sitting on a chair. He raided the private home, demanding to be let in to restore moral order.
He landed before a police disciplinary board. The incident brought outraged letters to the editor, including one mocking missive that asked if Northern District officers carried Bibles as part of their equipment.
The Carey family explained the woman was a cousin who lived around the corner on 25th Street.
The Northern District produced two police heroes in 1948.
Officer Joseph D. Benedict was murdered at Alameda and 33rd Street that year as he conducted a taxicab traffic inspection.
Police had a tip that a suspect, a 24-year-old bricklayer, was the cop killer. A newsboy who sold papers from a Greenmount and North Avenue drug store informed authorities after he heard a police radio description and linked it to a man who hung out at that corner and tried to pick up women.
The police had numerous tips, but Northern District officers, Sergeant Theodore Maxwell and patrolman John Lowman traced the gunman to the 1700 block of East 33rd Street. They also found his girlfriend, who agreed to work with the police to make an arrest.
She arranged a meeting with the suspected killer, Roy Arnold Wood. By prearrangement, she would drop her purse when Wood approached. He was then swarmed by plainclothes police, captured, and hauled off to Northern. Sentenced to death, Wood died by suicide one hour before going to the death house. Maxwell and Lowman were honored by the Police Department.
By 1997, the old Northern and its Victorian chambers were considered antiquated and the police department sought new quarters.
Have a news tip? Contact Jacques Kelly at jkelly@baltsun.com.
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