CARLTON STREET STABLE
112 S Carlton Street
Horses and Arabbers from Carlton Street Stables. They are loading up their wagons on the 100 block of S Arlington.
Photo from University of Baltimore's Flickr. Visit page HERE.
Built around 1899 by Charles Boyle, Carlton Street stable originally housed horses and mules that pulled city dump carts. In 1928, the stable was bought by Walter “Buck” Kratz, and turned into an Arabbing stable. “He also hired out teams for use in junking, for selling ice, wood, and coal, and for hauling bananas from boats to the wholesalers.”[1] Carlton Street, is around the corner from another pillar of Baltimore’s food history, Hollins Market, the oldest existing public market building in Baltimore. While there is no known contention between these two specific locations, there exist earlier records of the competition between Baltimore’s public markets and street peddlers, who had yet to acquire the name “Arabbers.” [2] It seems though that the Hollins public markets had little influence on the success of this Arabber stable, as it now boasts the oldest existing Arabber stable in Baltimore. Carlton Street Stable was also well known within the Arabbing community. Arabbers would come from all over the city to be helped by Carlton Street’s own wagon maker and repair man, Walter “Teeth” Kelly. [3] Surrounded by several other Arabbing stables and just down the street from the Arabber’s farrier, with easy access to resources, the Carlton Street Stable could easily thrive.
[1] Freeman, The Arabbers of Baltimore, 48.
[2] Farley, “A Questionnaire on Markets.” 148.
[3] Freeman, Arabbers of Baltimore, 50.