around the dramatic presence of baseball in their community. In 1937 a new scoreboard, as tall as a -story building and as wide as four houses, was erected and billed as the largest scoreboard in the world, its ability to display all the important operations of the game using electricity was a marvel of the time. When a six-alarm nighttime fire destroyed the wooden stands and buildings in 1944, 1,500 people had to flee the neighborhood. The intense heat melted asphalt on 29th Street and tar on nearby roofs. The Orioles moved to the twenty-year-old Baltimore Municipal Stadium, and Barclay Street was cut through the old Oriole Park site. For years the land stood vacant and was used as a playground. During the mid-1950s, commercial and warehouse structures were built along the eastern portion, and the Barclay (originally Barclay Elementary, then Middle) School, #54, was built to the west in 1959. Huntington Baptist Church An important local landmark originally part of the early Waverly community still exists in Abell. The Huntington Baptist Church, at the northeast corner of 31st Street and Barclay Street, was founded in 1836 as a small Sabbath school for convalescent soldiers. Throughout the early 19th century men from Ft. McHenry were moved to the higher and healthier atmosphere of the Abell area, near the intersection of Old and New York Roads, to escape the threat of malaria. Occasionally, convalescing soldiers from the barracks would attend Baptist services in private homes of the neighborhood. A Sabbath school was established nearby in an old barracks building in 1836. Alternate visiting ministers preached weekly sermons for soldiers and a few civilians. In 1846 James Wilson, a large landowner in the area, erected a small chapel which he called the Huntington Baptist Church. The congregation grew steadily until it required a new building in 1873. Modeled after Talmage's Tabernacle in Brooklyn, it was covered with corrugated iron plates. In service for fifty years, the old tabernacle landmark was replaced in 1922 with the present church. As of 2017 the building is home to Saint Moses Church, a non-denominational congregation. See also List of Baltimore neighborhoods References External links Abell Improvement Association LiveBaltimore.com Neighborhood Profile Baltimore, Maryland, a National Park Service Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary North District Maps Neighborhoods in Baltimore Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Northern Baltimore