Greektown, Baltimore

Greek immigrants began arriving in Baltimore in the eighteen nineties, drawn by factory work and the promise of a community they could build themselves. Greek institutions were taking root in Baltimore by the nineteen twenties, and by the nineteen thirties a Greek neighborhood had taken hold in East Baltimore, centered on the Greek Orthodox Church, family-owned restaurants, and small businesses. The population kept growing through the thirties and forties as more arrivals from Greece followed relatives who had come before.

For decades the neighborhood was simply called The Hill. It was not until the nineteen eighties that residents petitioned the city and won the official designation of Greektown, cementing an identity that the community had been living for decades. Today it remains one of the most intact Greek American enclaves on the East Coast.