Presbyterian Eye, Ear & Throat Charity Hospital

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Today, the entire south side of the block between Exeter and Lloyd is occupied by the Helping Up Mission, a transitional housing and recovery center which has recently completed renovation of the several historic buildings that it occupies. Their building at 1017-1021 E. Baltimore Street has long history of providing care to the residents of East Baltimore since it first opened in 1877 as the Presbyterian Eye, Ear & Throat Charity Hospital.

The hospital’s mission was “to serve the suffering poor of East Baltimore.” By the early 1900s, when tuberculosis was rampant in the neighborhood, its patients included many Russian Jewish families.

Across Baltimore Street from the hospital stood the Brith Sholom Hall at 1012 E. Baltimore Street (demolished in the fall of 1998. A self-help institution for Russian Jewish immigrants, the Independent Order of Brith Sholom formed in 1902. Under the leadership of Cabman Cohen, it helped newly arriving “greenhorns,” raised money for Jewish causes at home and abroad, and served as headquarters for men’s lodges and women’s auxiliaries. It moved to this location in 1914.