The waterfront community of Canton wakes each morning to the thunder of jackhammers, as men in blue jeans and hard hats create a dust storm swirling around brick and mortar.
The construction crews are working at a frantic pace, remodeling many of the historic neighborhood's Formstone-covered rowhouses and carving a retail complex out of a former canning factory. Even Boston Street, which hugs the harbor basin, is being renovated.
For decades, the gentrification of older city neighborhoods has provoked angst among old-timers who fear being displaced. Yet in Canton, where developers are putting a fresh face on the 19th-century community of brick rowhouses, churches and light industry, the transition is being lauded.
Longtime residents who once worried that Canton would deteriorate as the elderly moved to nursing homes or passed away are thrilled with all the commotion. Armed with assurances that Canton's history will be preserved, people who have lived in the same house for decades are welcoming newcomers with cookies and cakes.
"I think it's exciting. There's a sense of hope in the air," said Margie Policastri, 46, who has lived in Canton all her life. She and her husband chose to stay in their modest two-story rowhouse on Dillon Street long after their childhood friends had moved out of the city.
"It used to be that Fells Point and Federal Hill were the hot spots, especially after the real estate bust," Policastri said, referring to the national recession that defeated developers' dreams of turning Canton into a "Gold Coast" in the 1980s.
"Then all of a sudden there was a boom, like somebody turned on a light switch or something. Canton became the place to be," Policastri said. "We've got people from Harford and Montgomery counties buying homes here."
Young professionals and empty-nesters started settling in Canton about 15 years ago, drawn to the waterfront by luxury condominiums and upscale apartment complexes like Tindeco Wharf. By 1990, 12,803 people were living in Canton -- up 26 percent from 1980. The arrival of artists, authors, doctors and dentists has spurred development deep in the land of Formstone facades.
In the past five years, the newcomers have been moving steadily north, away from the waterfront and toward Patterson Park. They've been stripping Southeast Baltimore's rowhouses of their traditional Formstone in favor of exposed red brick fronts and removing many of the screen paintings that adorned homes in Canton for generations. They've even begun adding wood decks to their roofs, allowing them to enjoy private harbor views.
