The Decline and Current State of Turner Station

Key Insight

Originally named 'Good Luck,' Turner Station flourished in the 1940s when Henrietta arrived. However, after World War II, cutbacks at Sparrows Point led to Baltimore Gas and Electric demolishing 300 homes for a new power plant, displacing over 1300 predominantly black residents. Increased industrial zoning resulted in further home demolitions, prompting many to leave for East Baltimore or rural areas. The town's population halved by the late 1950s.

By 1999, Turner Station's population had dwindled to about 1000 and continued to fall due to a scarcity of jobs. The once safe community, where doors were never locked, now featured a housing project surrounded by a 13000-foot brick-and-cement security wall on what used to be Henrietta's children's playground. The town experienced the closure of stores, nightclubs, cafes, and schools, alongside a rise in drug dealing, gangs, and violence, though it still maintained over 10 churches.

The narrator's arrival in Turner Station revealed a hidden community, obscured on maps and requiring navigation past a cement wall, fence, tracks, old storefront churches, rows of boarded-up houses, and a large electrical generator. The town, less than a mile across, was characterized by skyscraper-sized shipping cranes and smokestacks from Sparrows Point. The community's residents, including children and mothers, often smiled and waved at the narrator, observing her as she drove in circles searching for specific locations.