The Little Red Hen

Easily $850K today!

When $1,750 Bought a Brand-New Highlandtown Home. Equivalent to approximately 53k today
There was a time when the dream of owning a brand-new brick home in Highlandtown was being advertised right in the newspaper. This old-style ad captures that moment perfectly — when East Baltimore was still growing, families were putting down roots, and a rowhouse meant security, pride, and a future.
For $1,750, buyers were promised a modern 6-room brick home with features like bath and gas, the kind of conveniences that mattered to working families trying to move up in the world. These were the homes that helped build Highlandtown — practical, sturdy, respectable houses for people who worked hard and wanted something of their own. The line “easy terms like rent” says everything. The pitch was simple: instead of paying a landlord, why not own your own place?
That is how Highlandtown grew. Block by block, porch by porch, these houses became the backbone of a neighborhood filled with families, traditions, churches, corner stores, and the rhythms of everyday Baltimore life. They were not grand homes for the wealthy. They were homes for real people — and that is exactly what made them important.
Looking at an ad like this now, it feels almost unreal. But back then, this was the American dream in brick form, sitting just off the street behind a short marble step and a front door full of hope.

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