Edward J. Gallagher Realty Company ( EJG)
Size: 61 BoxesInclusive Dates: 1886-1964
History: The E. J. Gallagher Realty Company, a real estate business located in Baltimore City, was incorporated in June 1909 and became active in January 1915. Its founder, Edward Joseph Gallagher (d. 1933), was a builder who had been constructing houses in Baltimore since the 1880's. Among other activities, the company built and sold houses between 1915 and 1950, and in particular developed the residential area of northeast Baltimore known as Ednor Gardens. (See map). Gallagher also founded in 1917 the Acreage Land Company and in 1924 the Montebello Land Company. These. two firms, subsidiaries of the realty company, served to acquire and hold land, and to create ground rents. Originally located in an office leased within the Munsey Building located in downtown Baltimore, the realty company and its subsidiary firms moved in 1929 to the company's own building at 3501 Ednor Road in Ednor Gardens.
By then the realty company and its subsidiaries were managed by Gallagher's two sons', Edward Joseph, Jr. and A. (Albert) Norman Gallagher. Edward J. Gallagher, Jr. was president of the realty company, the Montebello Land Company as well as the Eastern Supply Company, a supplier of coal and building materials that was located in east Baltimore. He also served as director of two insurance companies, the Fidelity and Guarantee Fire Corporation and the United States Fidelity and Guarantee Company. A supporter of the arts, he established the Edward Joseph Gallagher III Memorial Collection, an art collection housed at the University of Arizona. His brother Norman was president of the Acreage Land Company, and vice-president of the realty company, the Montebello Land Company as well as the Eastern Supply Company.
The realty company seemed to conduct little business after 1950 except to manage remaining assets. The Acreage Land Company had already been dissolved in 1938, and the Montebello Land Company was dissolved in 1952. By then, Norman Gallagher's sons had established their own firm, the Gallagher Construction Company. The Special Collections Department of the University of Baltimore Library acquired this collection in July 1981 from Norman Gallagher, Jr. when the Ednor Road office was sold.
Scope Note: Nearly all of the records within the collection pertain to the activities of the E. J. Gallagher Realty Company from the mid-1920's and 1930's to the early 1950's, especially in its development of Ednor Gardens. Except for some deeds and leases, none of the records document the early days of Edward J. Gallagher as a builder. The ledgers provide a notably detailed account of the company's activities. The cost records, for example, have meticulous information on costs, types and quantities of materials used in the construction of particular houses, whereas the inventory records provide an overall account of specific materials used. EJC-1 box 49 provides brief inventories of the realty company's activities--on ground rent created, on land acquired and on houses built and sold. Lastly, the house cards are a rich source of materials on each house sold between 1915 and 1950 by the company. The cards have information on the buyer's name, the sale price, lot size, mortgage plan, and mortgaging bank.
Gaps: None
Relationships to Other Collections: These records comprise the second real estate collection housed in the Special Collections Department of the University of Baltimore Library, the other being the Pierre C. Dugan collection. Also, the Gallagher collection is one of a cluster of housing and neighborhood collections.
Restrictions: None