Glen Burnie residents are more than ready for construction to begin on a 30-foot arch on the corner of Ritchie Highway and Baltimore-Annapolis Boulevard.
For three years they have been raising money, planning and soliciting designs for a monumental structure they hope will grab the attention of the drivers flying through and make them take notice of a town that has spent more than 40 years trying to re-create itself.
The years invested in the arch are a flash compared with the four decades that have gone into rebuilding the town center, a long-promised renewal that never seemed to get top priority for funding in Anne Arundel County until the past year.
Residents expect building to begin in May on an arch designed by Anne Arundel Community College student Lance Edwards two years ago. Ambitious plans for new stores in the center, a possible ice rink and amphitheater are expected to start panning out in July.
For many, the arch symbolizes the respectability -- distinction even -- they envision for their hometown, once a suburban mecca of quaint stores and small-town neighborhoods that drew people in droves from the city. As the 1950s came to a close, though, Harundale Mall, the first enclosed mall on the East Coast, opened on Ritchie Highway. The mall killed many of the small shops and the town center began its struggle for relevance in an otherwise booming county.
"I think the arch is something so that the public will see that there is a town here," said Joe Corcoran, on the board of directors of the Glen Burnie Improvement Association. "That it's not just another spot to the left and right of the road. It's something the citizens can be proud of."
That Glen Burnie hasn't been completely forgotten is more a testament to the tenacity of residents than to the county. Former County Executive John G. Gary broke ground to fanfare and publicity last summer, but it took 30 years to get to that point and since the groundbreaking little has been done, save fencing in the area.
Still, the residents have always protected the area. In the 1970s they ran out the strip bars and nightclubs that had overtaken the old downtown. Last year, residents fought a plan to bring light rail down Georgia Avenue, through the heart of one of the oldest neighborhoods in the county.
"It has been a really long time," said lifelong resident Muriel Carter, who got involved in Glen Burnie revitalization efforts in the early 1970s. "I had begun to think I might not see it to the end, but maybe I still will yet.
"There is something about Glen Burnie," she said. "The people stay here, and the kids settle here. There is a lot of nostalgia here, and to see it go downhill, you feel like you need to do something about it."
Town officials are looking for groups to donate $1,500 in exchange for being identified on nameplates attached to the arch. The money will help pay for the $12,500 cost of building and maintaining the arch. Almost a dozen groups, including the GBIA, Kiwanis, Elks, Lions, American Legion and Knights of Columbus, have contributed.
Corcoran said residents hope some of the money will pay for four more signs saying "Welcome to Glen Burnie" on the north, south, east and west edges of Glen Burnie.
Most people, though, said they will be happy just to see things beginning to return to the old Glen Burnie former first lady Pat Nixon once described as "a true bit of Americana."
Pub Date: 3/05/99