View a map from a 1877 atlas showing major land holders around Towson, Lutherville and north (courtesy of the Baltimore County Office of Planning).
View a map from a 1915 atlas showing Towson and the land to the west that would eventually become Southland Hills (courtesy of the Baltimore County Office of Planning).
View the survey from 1926 showing the land, the original housing plots and roads for Southland Hills (courtesy of the Baltimore County Office of Planning).
View an advertisement from The Jeffersonian Newspaper, May 2,1925, about Southland Hills (courtesy of the Baltimore County Office of Planning).
View the article, "Building Brisk at Southland Hills" from The Jeffersonian Newspaper, September 4,1926 (courtesy of the Baltimore County Office of Planning).
The Southland Hills community is located on land originally owned by Doctor Grafton Bosley. His home is still standing as part of the Presbyterian Home complex. Doctor Bosley relocated to Towson in 1848 to form a medical partnership with his uncle, Doctor Josiah Marsh and later inherited his estate. Upon Dr. Bosley’s death his property passed through his trustees to Emily Offutt who then conveyed it to Baltimore lawyer J. Elmer Weisheit and his wife Ingreet on May 20, 1922 (Baltimore County Deeds WPC 555:252).
J. Elmer Weisheit conveyed the property to the Southland Hills Company on April 15, 1925. (Baltimore County Deeds WPC 612:77) and filed the initial plat for Southland Hills on the same day (Baltimore County Plats WPC 7:187). A revised plat was filed on August 9, 1926 (Baltimore County Plats WPC 8:56).
Houses were offered for sale using plans made by the Roland Park Company’s engineer (Sun, April 24, 1924). A community covenant from an early deed detailed the requirements of the Southland Hills Company for design approval, setbacks and building materials that were to be used for the new homes. They also stipulated who the lots could and could not be sold to based on race.
For more history about Southland Hills and West Towson:
www.bcplonline.org/info/history/hist_west_towson.html