Other streetcar service was also available by the this time on Garrison Boulevard. The Tunis family was involved with the creation of the Gwynns Falls Railway, which was originally planned as a monorail, along the innovative designs of Howard Hansel Tunis, an engineer and nephew to Ed Tunis. An experimental circular-tracked monorail was eventually built about the turn of the century on Tunis property, near the intersection of today's Prince George and Lawina Roads. Howard Tunis and a son of Edwin each designed plats for Windsor Hills. Innovative for the time, there plans created lot lines that took advantage of the natural contours of the land.

As with Howard Park and Gwynn Oak Park to the northwest, Windsor Hills had in the 1890's the contemporary establishment of an amusement park and electric trolley service to the area. Ridgewood Park was a small park offering swings, a merry-go-round, and other amusement, and existed for a short time on the Windsor Mill Road in Windsor Hills. So short was its existence that its precise location is unknown today.

Development increased in Windsor Hills, especially north of Loudon Avenue and Alto Road, during the teens and 1920's, with almost all houses built in the single family detached, wood frame and shingle cottage style. A 1916 newspaper advertisement described cottage lots for sale in Windsor Hills as being "restricted against rows of brick buildings, saloons, and all nuisances." A few rowhouses were built in Windsor Hills, with a group of Daylight houses in the 4000 block of Clifton Avenue advertised for sale by James A. Bealmear and Son, in 1929.

The Windsor Hills Improvement Association was formed during the early days of the community, and served primarily a social function for the somewhat isolated early suburban pioneers. After a dormant period, the association revived in the 1950's to fight undesirable zoning changes, to protect property owners from unscrupulous block busting real estate salesmen, and to promote orderly integration of the community.



CREDITS:City of Baltimore