Baltimore is the largest city in Maryland and one of the principal port cities of the United States. About half the people of Maryland live in the Baltimore metropolitan area. The city long has been Maryland’s chief center of commerce, education, and industry.
Baltimore lies on the Patapsco River, about two-thirds of the way up the Chesapeake Bay. It has one of the largest natural harbors in the world. Baltimore’s harbor is the only U.S. port with two links to the Atlantic Ocean—the Chesapeake-Delaware Canal to the north and Chesapeake Bay to the south.
The Maryland colonial government founded Baltimore in 1729 as a trading center for the tobacco farmers of southern Maryland. These farmers had been attracted to the area by the natural harbor. The settlement was named Baltimore Town in honor of the Lords Baltimore, the family of British noblemen who founded the colony of Maryland. Soon, Baltimore became a major site for shipbuilding and grain milling.
While on a ship in the Baltimore harbor, the American lawyer Francis Scott Key wrote the words to “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the national anthem of the United States. Key was inspired by the flag flying over Fort McHenry after a British attack during the War of 1812.
In the period before the American Civil War (1861-1865), Baltimore was an important center for African Americans, both enslaved and free. The famous African American author and orator Frederick Douglass lived in Baltimore for part of his childhood.
The coming of the railroad beginning in the 1830’s sped Baltimore’s development because the city served as a major trading partner to newly developing communities west of the Appalachian Mountains. The railroad also encouraged industrial growth. By the late 1800’s, Baltimore had become an important manufacturer of such products as steel and clothing.
Baltimore grew steadily as a commercial and industrial center from the late 1800’s to the mid-1900’s. In the 1950’s, the loss of industrial jobs, together with the lure of nearby suburbs, caused the city to lose population. Since that time, the city has faced such problems as inadequate housing and a lack of funds to provide various services. The city has used a mix of public and private aid to try to overcome these challenges. Since the late 1900’s, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties near Washington, D.C., have grown to rival Baltimore as Maryland’s leading center of commerce and industry.
The city
The Inner Harbor, a development project that covers about 240 acres (97 hectares), lies at the northwest end of the Baltimore harbor. This famous example of urban planning includes the National Aquarium; the Maryland Science Center; and the 30-story World Trade Center and other office buildings. The Inner Harbor also includes hotels, a community college, sports stadiums, houses, and apartments. Fort McHenry National Monument is on a peninsula in Baltimore’s harbor.
The central business district lies in the south-central part of Baltimore, just north of the harbor. This district includes City Hall, stores, and office buildings. Also in the area is Charles Center, which includes apartment and office buildings, a hotel, parks, and shops. To the west of the Charles Center is the CFG Bank Arena, an arena used for sports events, circuses, and musical performances. The Hippodrome, part of the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, is a restored historic theater that features Broadway plays and other performances. Historic structures, including a monument to George Washington, stand in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, just north of the business district. Mount Vernon is also the home of many cultural and educational institutions, including the Walters Art Museum; Peabody Institute, a music school; and Baltimore Center Stage, a theater.
Baltimore is a city of varied neighborhoods. Until the 1990’s, areas of low-income public housing projects stood near the central business district. Baltimore was the first American city to demolish all of its high-rise public housing. In its place are mixed-income row house developments. Outside the inner core, there are long stretches of row houses. Baltimore is famous for these single-family homes, many of which are brick and have front steps made of marble. At least one common wall connects each row house with the houses next to it. The northern section of the city and the area closest to the Inner Harbor both feature apartment buildings and expensive houses.
The Baltimore-Columbia-Towson metropolitan area takes in all of Anne Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford, Howard, and Queen Anne’s counties. It extends north to the Pennsylvania border and south to the metropolitan area of Washington, D.C. Large Baltimore suburbs include Columbia, Dundalk, Ellicott City, Glen Burnie, and Towson.
The people
In the early 1900’s, Baltimore had many restrictive covenants (rules) that limited where people of certain races and religions could live. As a result, many neighborhoods had a uniform ethnic makeup. There were Polish and Greek neighborhoods in the eastern sections. Many Jewish people lived in the northwest. A large number of Italian families lived in an area near the harbor called “Little Italy.” Today people in Baltimore are free to choose where they live, limited only by what they can afford.
During the mid-1900’s, many Black people from the South and poor white people from Appalachia moved to Baltimore for jobs in the mills and factories. Many white Baltimoreans moved to the suburbs in the 1960’s. Large Black neighborhoods developed northwest and east of the central business district. In the 1970’s, such government programs as “Dollar Houses” attracted some people back to the city, where they restored old, rundown houses. Today, Black people make up about 60 percent of Baltimore’s population, and white people account for about 25 percent. Recent immigrants include Africans, Latinos, and Russians.
Roman Catholics make up the largest religious group in Baltimore. Other large groups include Baptists, Jews, Lutherans, and Methodists. The first Roman Catholic archdiocese in the United States was established in Baltimore in 1789. The nation’s first major Catholic cathedral, the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, was dedicated there in 1821. Old Otterbein United Methodist Church, built in 1785, is the oldest church in the city. Lloyd Street Synagogue, the third oldest synagogue in the United States, was built in 1845.
Economy
Shipping.
Baltimore has one of the world’s largest natural harbors. The port has 45 miles (72 kilometers) of waterfront, with 1,589 acres (643 hectares) of water where ships can anchor. The Maryland Port Administration supervises the area. Imports include automobiles, iron ore, salt, sugar, and wood pulp. Exports include automobiles, agricultural machinery, and coal.
Industry.
The Baltimore area has thousands of factories. It ranks as one of the largest industrial employers on the East Coast. Leading industries include the production of radar and other electronic equipment, and of processed foods, steel, transportation equipment, and chemicals. McCormick & Company, one of the world’s largest producers of spices and seasonings, is based in the Baltimore area. Other industries produce clothing, fabricated metal products, machinery, and printed materials.
Transportation and communication.
The Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport lies 10 miles (16 kilometers) south of Baltimore. Freight railroads and truck lines serve the city. High-speed passenger trains connect Baltimore with Boston, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. Baltimore’s highway system includes two tunnels under the harbor. The Maryland Transit Administration (MTA) operates buses, light rail, and rapid-transit trains in the metropolitan area.
The city has two daily newspapers, The Sun and The Daily Record. There are also important weekly and biweekly newspapers, including The Afro-American, the Baltimore Jewish Times, and The Catholic Review.
Education
The mayor of Baltimore appoints members of the school board that oversees the Baltimore City Public School System. The Archdiocese of Baltimore operates Roman Catholic schools in the city and eight nearby counties of its jurisdiction. Baltimore also has a number of other private schools.
Baltimore is the home of several famous colleges and universities. Johns Hopkins University and its medical center are known throughout the world. The Peabody Institute, a music school affiliated with Johns Hopkins, is also well known. Other institutions include Goucher College, a private college in suburban Towson; and Morgan State University, one of the nation’s oldest historically Black schools. The University System of Maryland has five campuses in the area—the University of Maryland at Baltimore, the University of Baltimore, Coppin State University, Towson University, and the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, in Catonsville. The city also is home to Loyola University Maryland, Notre Dame of Maryland University, and the Maryland Institute College of Art.
Baltimore has one of the oldest public library systems in the United States. The Enoch Pratt Free Library, founded in 1886, has branches throughout the Baltimore area.
Cultural life
The arts.
The Baltimore Symphony Orchestra gives concerts in the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall. The Peabody Institute sponsors other musical programs. Musical shows ranging from opera to rock concerts are presented in such places as MECU Pavilion, the CFG Bank Arena, and the Hippodrome Theatre. Baltimore Center Stage and Everyman Theatre perform plays in their own buildings. The Eubie Blake National Jazz Institute and Cultural Center celebrates contributions of African Americans.
Museums.
The Baltimore Museum of Art is famous for its collection of modern art. It also displays works from earlier periods. The Walters Art Museum features medieval and Chinese art. The Maryland Center for History and Culture displays the original manuscript of “The Star-Spangled Banner.” The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum houses a collection of early railroad cars and engines. The Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture tells the story of the state’s African Americans. The Jewish Museum of Maryland preserves two historic synagogues and displays changing exhibits. The Maryland Science Center includes a science museum, a planetarium, and an observatory.
Recreation
Parks.
Baltimore’s park system consists of dozens of parks. Two of the largest parks, Gwynns Falls Park and Leakin Park, are linked by a hiking trail and cover about 1,200 acres (486 hectares). Druid Hill Park includes the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore.
Other public recreation areas in the city include bike trails, playgrounds, golf courses, swimming pools, and skating rinks. Sherwood Gardens, a private garden open to the public, features displays of tulips and other seasonal flowers.
Sports.
Baltimore is the home of baseball’s Baltimore Orioles of the American League. The Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League also are based in the city. Pimlico Race Course features the annual Preakness Stakes, the second event in the Triple Crown of U.S. horse racing. The National Lacrosse Hall of Fame and Museum is in Sparks, a suburb north of the city.
Other interesting places to visit
include:
Babe Ruth Birthplace Museum,
the birthplace of the famous baseball player. The restored house contains mementos of Babe Ruth.
Battle Monument,
the first major war memorial in the United States. It honors Baltimore soldiers who died during a British attack in 1814. Maximilian Godefroy, a French artist, designed the monument, which was completed in 1825.
Edgar Allan Poe House and Museum,
a brick building where the American writer Edgar Allan Poe lived from 1832 to 1835. Poe is buried in Baltimore’s Westminster Churchyard.
Fells Point,
Baltimore’s original port, east of the Inner Harbor. Fells Point is now a pleasant neighborhood of restored homes and of restaurants, bars, and shops.
Fort McHenry,
where American troops fought British warships in 1814, as described in “The Star-Spangled Banner.” It was built in the 1790’s and became a national monument in 1939.
Star-Spangled Banner Flag House,
the home of Mary Pickersgill, a seamstress, who made the flag described in “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
U.S.S. Constellation,
launched in 1854, was the last U.S. Navy warship completely powered by sails. It was rebuilt in the late 1990’s to serve as a museum ship. See Constellation.
Washington Monument,
the first major monument dedicated to President George Washington. Robert Mills, an American architect, designed the marble structure, which was completed in 1842.
Government
Baltimore is not in any county, nor is it a county itself. But the city has the same powers as do Maryland’s 23 counties. For example, Baltimore sends representatives to the Maryland General Assembly, the state legislature.
The city has a mayor-council form of government. The mayor and the council members all serve four-year terms. Baltimore voters elect one council member from each of 14 districts. They also choose a council president in a citywide election. The council passes laws and approves the city budget. The mayor appoints department and commission heads, subject to the approval of the council. Individual income taxes and property taxes provide Baltimore’s main sources of income.
History
Early days.
The Indigenous (native) Susquehannock people lived in what is now the Baltimore area before European settlers came in 1661. But Baltimore was not founded until 1729. That year, the Maryland General Assembly bought a 60-acre (24-hectare) tract at the head of the Patapsco River and named it Baltimore Town. In 1745, Jones Town merged with Baltimore Town, and in 1773, Fell’s Point was annexed.
The Assembly intended the town to be a trading center for the tobacco plantations of southern Maryland. But the town soon began to handle other products, including wheat from Pennsylvania and coffee from South America. By the late 1700’s, flour milling and the export of wheat and flour provided Baltimore’s main income.
Baltimore served as the national capital for more than two months during the Revolutionary War in America. The Continental Congress fled there in 1776 when British troops threatened Philadelphia. Baltimore was incorporated as a city in 1796.
The 1800’s.
By 1800, Baltimore had a population of 35,514. During the War of 1812 (1812-1815), armed merchant ships called privateers sailed from Baltimore’s harbor and attacked British shipping in the Atlantic. As a result, the city became a target for British revenge. On Sept. 12, 1814, British troops attacked Baltimore by land. The next day, the British fleet began to bombard Fort McHenry. The city drove back both attacks. The sight of the flag waving over Fort McHenry after the bombardment inspired Francis Scott Key to write “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
The National Road (most of which is now U.S. Route 40) began in 1818 to open Midwestern markets to Baltimore by connecting Maryland with the Ohio Valley. The city became the leading port for Midwestern trade because it lay closer to the Midwest than other Atlantic ports.
During the 1820’s, construction of the Erie Canal threatened Baltimore’s position as a leader in trade. The canal provided rapid transportation from the Great Lakes to New York City. But railroads built in the 1830’s helped the city strengthen its trading importance. For a time in 1830, the Tom Thumb, the first American-built steam locomotive, operated from Baltimore. That year, the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad became the first U.S. railroad to carry passengers.
Clipper ships built in Baltimore carried flour, tobacco, and wheat from the city to Europe and South America and returned with coffee, copper, hides, and sugar. Baltimore became the nation’s largest coffee market and a major processor for many agricultural products. It also became a banking center, with heavy investments in the South. Many German and Irish immigrants settled in the city during the 1840’s and 1850’s. By 1860, Baltimore was the country’s third largest city, with 212,418 people.
Maryland remained in the Union during the American Civil War (1861-1865), but many Baltimoreans sympathized with the Confederacy. On April 19, 1861, a mob of Southern supporters attacked Union soldiers passing through the city. Four of the soldiers and 12 citizens were killed. Union troops occupied Baltimore from May 1861 until May 1865. During this period, some city officials were kept in jail as Southern supporters.
After the war, Baltimore continued its commercial, cultural, and industrial expansion. In 1873, a Baltimore merchant named Johns Hopkins died and left $7 million to build a university and hospital. Johns Hopkins University was established in 1876, and the hospital in 1889 (see Hopkins, Johns). By the late 1800’s, the city’s factories were producing large amounts of food products, steel, and ready-to-wear clothing.
The 1900’s.
Baltimore had a population of 508,957 by 1900. The large immigration of Germans and Irish was followed by the arrival of Czechs, Italians, and eastern European Jews. The city’s borders expanded and automobiles and suburbs appeared.
On Feb. 7, 1904, the Great Baltimore Fire broke out in the heart of the downtown area. The fire, the city’s worst disaster to that date, burned for two days and spread over 140 acres (57 hectares). It destroyed nearly every major downtown building. Although no homes or lives were lost, the fire caused damage totaling over $100 million.
By the time World War I began in 1914, all damage from the fire had been repaired. New industries, together with trade, made Baltimore more prosperous than ever. Between 1888 and 1918, the city expanded its boundaries by annexing parts of Baltimore County.
During World War II (1939-1945), Baltimore’s manufacturing plants produced huge quantities of airplanes, chemicals, electronic equipment, ships, and steel. Large numbers of Southern Black people and white people from Appalachia moved into the city to work in Baltimore’s expanding industries. By 1950, the population of Baltimore reached 949,708.
Friendship International Airport (now Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport) opened in 1950. That year, workers also began to clear rundown areas and displace many people for other construction projects. These projects included expressways, new office and apartment buildings, and expansion of Johns Hopkins Hospital.
The city’s population dropped during the second half of the 1900’s as industries declined and many families moved to nearby suburbs. Though the city’s population fell, the population of the metropolitan area grew steadily.
The Greater Baltimore Committee worked to plan improvements to downtown. The Civic Center (now the CFG Bank Arena) opened in 1962, and the Charles Center complex was completed in 1974. The Inner Harbor program was begun in 1967. The original program was completed in the mid-1980’s, but further construction continued.
Riots that followed the murder of the American civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., in April 1968 had an enormous effect on Baltimore for the rest of the 1900’s. Six people were killed, many homes and businesses were destroyed, and race relations were tested. The City Fair, a major street fair held every year from 1970 to 1991, was one plan to help heal the city.
In 1992, the baseball stadium Oriole Park at Camden Yards opened. All of the high-rise public housing developments that had surrounded the Inner Harbor since the 1950’s were torn down between 1995 and 2001.
The early 2000’s.
The city’s population decreased during the first two decades of the 2000’s. Baltimore continued to have problems to solve, including “undercrowding” (too much housing and too many school buildings for the current population), poverty, and crime. Baltimore fought these problems with federally aided antipoverty programs and urban renewal projects.
In 2007, Sheila Dixon became the first woman elected mayor of Baltimore. In 2009, Maryland prosecutors indicted Dixon on criminal charges, including theft and perjury (lying under oath), dating from the time she served on the City Council. Dixon denied any wrongdoing. A judge dismissed several of the charges. A jury convicted Dixon of embezzling (stealing) gift cards intended for Baltimore’s poor. Dixon resigned in 2010 as part of a plea bargain. Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, the former City Council president, succeeded her as mayor. State Senator Catherine Pugh succeeded Rawlings-Blake following the 2016 election.
In April 2015, violence erupted in Baltimore amid protests following the death of Freddie Gray, an African American man who suffered a spinal injury and died while in police custody. Rioters in west Baltimore threw rocks at police, looted businesses, and set a number of buildings on fire. Following a week of protests that had begun peacefully but turned increasingly violent, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan declared a state of emergency and called in the National Guard to help restore order in the city. The unrest brought renewed attention to the tense relations and mistrust that often exists between police and minority groups. It also echoed events that occurred in several U.S. cities, beginning with protests and riots that occurred in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
In May 2015, the state’s attorney for Baltimore indicted (filed charges against) six police officers for their role in Freddie Gray’s death. The charges ranged from second-degree murder to misconduct in office. In trials from late 2015 through mid-2016, three officers were acquitted (declared not guilty). Another’s case resulted in a mistrial. The state’s attorney then dropped all charges against the officers still waiting to stand trial, stating that the available evidence was insufficient to obtain a conviction. In August, the U.S. Department of Justice released a report stating that Baltimore police had engaged in unconstitutional practices involving stops, searches, and arrests of African Americans. In 2017, the department and the city agreed to a consent decree (settlement) that recommended such reforms as federal monitoring of the police department and training police to use tactics meant to resolve conflicts without violence.
Catherine Pugh resigned as Baltimore’s mayor in May 2019. State and federal authorities had investigated Pugh for possible conflict of interest in selling her children’s book series to a state government entity and to companies doing business with the city. Baltimore City Council President Bernard “Jack” Young succeeded Pugh as mayor. Pugh pleaded guilty in November to federal charges of conspiracy to defraud the government, tax evasion, and wire fraud conspiracy. Pugh served 19 months in prison for her crimes. In November 2020, City Council President Brandon Scott was elected to replace Young as mayor.
A large cargo ship struck Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge in the early morning of March 26, 2024. The bridge, which spanned the Patapsco River, collapsed soon thereafter. Authorities said the ship had lost power shortly before the collision. Six construction workers who had been repairing the bridge’s roadway were killed in the collapse.
