Greenbook: A Local Guide to Chesapeake Living - Issue 9 | Page 38

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NEIGHBORHOOD
SPOTLIGHT

Murray Hill
Photos by Diana Love

P

rized as a haven and a respite
from the crowded streets of historic downtown Annapolis, Murray Hill has been considered a
premium neighborhood for centuries.
From the 1700’s to the early 1900’s, when
development began in force, the hill provided a respite from the smells of land,
sea, and commerce that drifted from
Market Space up to West Street. "While
waterfront is a major lure these days, being on the water was not always a priority,"
the late Richard Israel, a former president
of the Murray Hill residents association
noted in a 2005 article for the Washington Post. "One of the curious things about
life in Annapolis was until about 50 years
ago, people didn't want to be near the
water. It was smelly," he said. “The prized
location for those with money was up on
the hill, not down on the water."
The Murray Hill community traces its
origins to 1651, when Richard Acton, a
carpenter, purchased 100 acres on the
north side of what was then Todd’s or Acton’s Creek, now Spa Creek. In 1668, Governor Charles Calvert designated Acton’s
parcel a legal point of entry for the province, marking Acton as a man of some importance in the burgeoning community.
Spa Creek marks the southern border of Murray Hill. It affords waterfront
homes not only a beautiful view across the water to East- ber of the House of Delegates, Anne Arundel County (1842port but also a gentle inland breeze. Air conditioning was 1846) and Commissioner of the Land Office, (1866), Murray
not common in homes even in the first half of the twentieth was a successful resident and politician, according to the
century, so that breeze must have been one of the very few Maryland State Archives.
sources of relief from notoriously oppressive Chesapeake
After his death in the early 1900s, Murray’s heirs worked
heat and humidity.
with George T. Melvin to parcel out lots for sale. Noted as
Acton’s acreage was deeded to Col. Phillip Hammond, the city’s first modern real estate developer, Melvin planted
who in 1745 built Acton Hall, a stunning Georgian-style trees to make the land more attractive and advertised heavestate. The house, which is situated on nearly once acre of ily in local papers. The land was subdivided into .10 acre
waterfront, remains one of the most stunning homes in the plots, and streets were named after members of the Murray
neighborhood today, where it sits on a shoreline perch on family and other citizens of Annapolis, including the recnearly one acre of land. It is the only original 18th-century tor of St. Anne’s Church, William S. Southgate. Murray Hill
waterfront home in the City of Annapolis. Acton Hall re- was officially annexed by the City of Annapolis in 1921.
mained in the Hammond family as a plantation, small subBounded by West Street on the north, Spa Creek on the
urban farm and landmark until 1891.
south, Shaw Street on the east and Amos Garrett Boulevard
Murray Hill in Annapolis (Maryland) Centennial 1890- on the west, Murray Hill has a rich history well defined by
1990 (Murray Hill Residents Association, 1990), notes that the mix of residential, business and government buildings
Murray Hill is named for James Murray, a Scottish immi- that surround it.
grant who left Great Britain in the early 18th century. NomiThe neighborhood was the scene of several historical
nated by the legislature for governor (1801 and 1802), (but Pre-World War I events, including a massive fire in 1904
defeated both times), Secretary of State (1840-1841), Mem- that required three fire companies, the entire second class

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GREENBOOK | FALL/WINTER 2016