Perry Hall in the 1960's and 1970's
by David Marks
Historian, Perry Hall Improvement Association
In the early 1970's, when the Baltimore Sun wanted to profile the typical
Maryland suburb, they came to Perry Hall, "a great place for growing up: or
old." In a January 1973 article in their Sunday magazine, the newspaper claimed that
"Perry Hall has a lot to offer: plenty of open space, grass and trees, fresh air, a
real small-town sense of living, and few crowds, drugs, noise and pollution to
fight." One resident even called his quiet home town "perfect."
Back then, the community's biggest problem was a crowd of teenagers who loitered around
Perry Hall Shopping Center at night. This was one of two shopping centers in the
community, with a Pantry Pride, bowling alley, Woolworth's, and later a Rustler
Steakhouse. The teenagers complained they had nothing to do, since their conservative
parents didn't allow "groove sessions" for kids with long hair. Sometimes, when
the police chased the teenagers away from the shopping center, they converged at Berg's
dairy or Gino's restaurant. Gino's, a popular drive-in eatery, burned down in the early
1980's, then became a Roy Rogers, a Hardees, and finally a Popeye's restaurant.
Other teenagers used the old quarries and fields by Silver Spring Road for motorcycle
and bike racing. Where expressways, town houses, and White Marsh Mall now populate the
landscape, abandoned mines and endless dirt trails created a natural place for intrepid
teenage explorers to use for games or races. This area was so desolate and quiet that
Governor William Preston Lane had a summer cottage in White Marsh, escaping the excitement
of Annapolis during the years immediately after World War Two.
Many teenagers might have considered their hometown boring, but their younger brothers
and sisters couldn't keep up with the community's activities. Perry Hall offered one of
the best recreation programs in Baltimore County, with more than 3,500 youngsters
participating in softball, soccer, roller skating, and other activities. That was quite a
turnout, considering Perry Hall's tiny population of 7,000 residents.
Perry Hall had less than a fifth of its current population in the late 1960's and early
1970's. Even then, though, the community was having growing pains. Residents complained
loudly about Perry Hall's new water tower, built at the intersection of Joppa and Belair
Roads. On a foggy day, they claimed it looked like a mushroom cloud or flying saucer
hovering over the new junior high school. Other controversial businesses included a
topless bar, now demolished, at the Joppa Belair Road intersection, as well as the new car
dealership being built across from Perry Hall Presbyterian Church.
![[ Photograph of intersection of Belair and Joppa Roads, Winter 1966-67 ]](hist_pe_belair66.jpg)
Photograph of intersection of
Belair and Joppa Roads, Winter 1966-67.
(Courtesy William Dunn, Perry Hall, Maryland)
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For all of these growing pains, though, Perry Hall was still relatively
undeveloped beyond the Joppa/Belair/Ebenezer Road intersection. Seven Courts Drive was a
landing strip for small airplanes, with cow pastures and Berg's dairy farm stretching
northward to the Gunpowder River. Ebenezer Road was still a country path, with the new
Perry Hall High School, built in 1968, hidden among a dense grove of trees. White Marsh
was still a collection of farms and mining quarries. For residents of Parkville and
Carney, Perry Hall was almost a rural backwater, a country village at the corner of
suburbia.
![[ Photograph of intersection of Belair and Joppa Roads in 1969 ]](hist_pe_belair69.jpg)
Photograph of intersection of
Belair and Joppa Roads in 1969.
(Courtesy William Dunn, Perry Hall, Maryland)
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When the Perry Hall Improvement Association celebrated its twenty-fifth
anniversary in 1970, it could still claim itself as the social nucleus for the community.
The PHIA organized an annual Halloween parade for Perry Hall, with spectators lining the
path from Belair Road down Ebenezer Road. It frequently organized welcome parties, where
new residents were greeted with a smile and an apple pie. In 1976, the Perry Hall
Improvement Association helped organize a Bicentennial carnival at Lassahn Field, with a
huge ferris wheel, games, and rides positioned right next to Belair Road. This site is now
the Cedarside Farms housing development.
PHIA leaders Matilda Lacey, Genevieve Buettner, and Wade Cresswell were all long-time
residents, highly visible and well-known throughout the community. As the 1970's ended,
they would turn over the organization to younger activists, most notably Al Redmer, who
served seven years as president of the Perry Hall Improvement Association.
Commenting on Perry Hall for the 1970 Baltimore Sun article, Matilda Lacey noted
that ''people here are separate and apart, but there's a togetherness, too." That
simple expression accurately describes the Perry Hall of two decades past: a place of
scattered developments, vast empty spaces, yet a spirit of family and togetherness since
diminished in a more urban, complex environment.
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