Balto Girl

Janet Vanik Divel’s connection to Baltimore started when the Vanik and the Koerner families descended on America’s shores as immigrants migrating from Germany and Czechoslovakia in the late 1800s. They and many other families shaped America and the little city of Baltimore, Maryland.


In Balto Girl, Janet shares her and her family’s story beginning in the late 1880s and continuing to the early 1970s. She looks back at events, places, and people in Baltimore’s past, telling how the early ancestors faced many struggles, overcame some, and failed others.


With a host of photos included, Balto Girl journeys through time and the neighborhood, chronicling the history of clothing style, food, entertainment, hot rods, education, art, and much more.