As the dust settled after the deadly collapse of Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge, as the initial shock wore off and the breaking news coverage subsided, residents of the tiny peninsula of Turner Station, Maryland, found themselves facing an uncertain future. Many had spent decades living in the shadow of the Key Bridge, an iconic landmark that placed the community of Turner Station firmly on the map. For their working-class, historically Black neighborhood, it was a lifeline to the outside world, a source of both pride and convenience. Within seconds, it was gone in the overnight darkness of March 26, reports the AP.
Turner Station was already struggling with population loss and economic decline long before the bridge collapse—and its newest chapter promises even more challenges. Plans are underway to rebuild the Key Bridge by 2028. But in the meantime, its absence will be felt acutely by people like Loreasa Minor and her neighbors, who routinely hopped over the bridge to run errands, visit family, attend church, and get to work. Minor has lived in Turner Station nearly all her life. Some of her earliest memories are of the bridge being built, a feat of modern engineering taking shape right in her family's backyard. When it opened to cars in 1977, the 1.6-mile span bypassed downtown traffic and provided a direct connection between industrial communities on either side of Baltimore's harbor.
"Do I relocate? Do I get a new job?" asks Minor, who works at a state-run veterans' cemetery south of Baltimore. "I don't want to do either of those. I love my job. Who wants to start from scratch?" As the story explains, Turner Station was originally built to house Black steelworkers at a time when segregation laws limited where they could settle. During WWI, military leaders tapped Baltimore's robust shipbuilding industry, including a sprawling steel mill northeast of the city. The federal government provided nearby housing only for white workers, so Black families started their own community in nearby Turner Station. Federal housing projects came later during WWII.
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The piece explains the ups and downs of the community from then to the present day, including a modern fight over industrial pollution that has made the surrounding water dangerous for swimming and fishing, as well as concerns about real-estate investors coming in to jack up prices. With the bridge collapse, "we're at a crossroads again," says longtime resident Linwood Jackson. (Read the full story.)
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