Hillendale

John Hillen (-1727) of Baltimore County patented a 150-acre tract which he styled 'Shoemaker's Hall' on modern-day Hillen Road in 1725. He bequeathed the property to his only child, Solomon Hillen (ca. 1708-ca. 1747), who actually settled there, having married Elizabeth Raven (1704-) a member of the family for whom Baltimore County's Loch Raven is named, in 1729. The Hillens had a number of children, but the only surviving male was a second Solomon Hillen (1737-1801), who was bequeathed the 'Shoemaker's Hall' property. Although up to that time the Hillens had been a Quaker family, Solomon, Jr. was raised a Catholic, due to his mother having taken a member of that faith, Thomas Wheeler (1708-1769) as he second husband in 1748. From that time forward this branch of the Hillen family were Catholics, a fact that had some bearing on the fate of their properties. At some point during Solomon, Jr.'s tenancy, the original house on the property burned and had to be replaced. To further complicate matters, Solomon Jr. his estate, with 'Shoemaker's Hall' being divided between his sons by his first wife, i.e. Thomas (1759-1847) and John (1761-1840) Hillen. John got the acreage west of modern-day Hillen Road, where - just south of the modern-day city/county line - he built a house called 'Palmyra' [q.v.] Thomas got the house and land east of Hillen Road where, in the words of an early-20th century commentator, he "lived a life of a country gentleman of ample means, and his hospitality was unbounded. His house was the mecca for all the younger generation of the family, as well as for their elders, as can be attested by persons still living, who have heard many accounts of these gay and happy days." At his death, Mr. Hillen bequeathed the estate he had referred to as 'Mount Healthy' to his only surviving son, Solomon Hillen III (1810-1873), a college graduate (Georgetown, '27) at a time when this was none too common in Baltimore, even for lawyers like him. The same commentator quoted above describes him as 'handsome, accomplished and popular: a man who soon became an important part of the social and political life of Maryland.' At the age of 30, he was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the city's fashionable 5th Militia Regiment; at the age of 32 he was chosen the city's mayor, being at the time the youngest man ever to hold the office. In 1846 he married, and at the end of a long and useful life was able to hand the Shoemaker's Hall/Mount Healthy/Hillendale property along to his only son, Thomas Hillen (1849-1888), with a life interest to his (Solomon's) widow, Mrs. Emily O'Donnell Hillen (1878-1919) who, on reaching his majority, promptly sold the land and the buildings on it. The new owner - the first non-Hillen in the estate's history - was Harrison Rider (1865-1953), a member of another old Baltimore County family and a man who long was a power in Baltimore County politics. He farmed the property until the end of World War I, when he sold it, by way of a couple of intermediates, to John M. Potter (1869- ), a native of Westminster, MD. Mr. Potter farmed the property until 1923, when he sold it to a consortium headed by former Baltimore mayor Harry Preston, which turned it into the 'Hillendale Country Club', a private gold course which had the reputation of being one of the most difficult courses in Maryland. The Hillens' mansion became the clubhouse, while what had been other estate buildings serviced the tennis courts and swimming pool which the Proprietors installed. The course served Baltimoreans until 1953, when the offers for the property from developers of Baltimore's inner suburbs became too attractive for the owners to ignore and over vociferous objections from neighboring landowners, the course, which had been bounded by modern-day Hillen Road/Loch Raven Boulevard, Taylor Avenue, Hillendale Road and the northern edge of the municipally-owned Mount Pleasant Golf Course, was sold and subdivided. Today's Ashear Hill and Parkside Heights neighborhoods in Baltimore County cover its former acreage [2022]. "In suburbs and county" [in] Baltimore Sun, April 1, 1920, page 4, column [Vague chain of title for Hillendale from Harrison Rider to John M. Potter] Enright's "I remember...when Hillendale was a farm" [in] Baltimore Sun, March 14, 1954, page SM 2 Ill. [Memories of a daughter of John M. Potter] WPA's Maryland: a guide to the Old Line State (1940) page 313 [Passing mention of Hillendale Country Club] Fisher's Some old houses of Maryland (1979) page 41 Ills. [Exterior views of both Hillendale and Palmyra; useful descriptions] "Hillendale Club is sold" [in] Baltimore Sun, March 21, 1950, page 20, column [Roland Park Company sells Hillendale property for development] Lantz's' Maryland heraldry: history of distinguished families and personages...[in] Baltimore Sun, August 6 and 13, 1905 (both page 12) columns [Genealogical profile of Hillen family of Hillendale, etc.]