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Maryland Historical Society Lecture
Friday, December 5th from Noon to 1 p.m.
- David Schley will lecture on "City of Movement: The B&O and Urban Life in Baltimore, 1827-1877."
$ The talk will examine the first 50 years of the B&O Railroad from the perspective
of its relationship to Baltimore. He will analyze the relationship between economic enterprise, the transportation
of goods and passengers and the internal development of the city, and how the railroad and the connections it created with
distant cities and villages shaped the political, social and economic life of Baltimore. The program is free with admission
to the museum. The Maryland Historical Society is located at 201 W. Monument Street. For more information, call
410-685-3750 or visit www.mdhs.org.
Mount Vernon Holly Tour 2008
Sunday December 7th from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in
Mount Vernon $ - This year's tour will have 13 stops including residences,
churches, and selected commercial spaces. For information, call 443-524-2370, or visit www.hollytour.com.
Union Square Cookie Tour
Sunday, December 14th from Noon to 5 p.m.
- This is the 23rd annual tour of 19th century homes in the Union Square neighborhood. $
Union Square is located in west Baltimore at Lombard, Gilmor, Hollins, and Stricker Streets. The square dates from the
1840s when developers bought the Willowbrook estate from the Donnell family. The Italianate homes built on the
square represented a whole new style of rowhouse in Baltimore. The tour will include houses both on the square and well
as nearby. For more information, call 443-415-0554 or visit www.union-square.us/cookietour.
Yuletide Tour of Baltimore's Historic Houses
Tuesday, December 16th from 9:30 a.m. to
4:30 p.m. $ This bus tour which includes lunch at the Mt. Clare Stable will visit
four of Baltimore's premiere historic houses, all decorated for the holidays. Included in the tour are: Mount Clare
(1760), Hampton Mansion (1790), Homewood Mansion (1801), and Evergreen Mansion and Library (1858). The tour departs
from Hampton Mansion. Advanced registration is required. Call 410-837-3262 or e-mail asstdirector@mountclare.org.
Maryland Historical Society Exhibit
December 4th through February 28th - "Mason and
Dixon & the Defining of America" - This new exhibition includes documents and artifacts related to the Mason Dixon
Line which established the border between the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Delaware. Also included is the
original survey instrument as well as Mason and Dixon's journal. The exhibit is free with admission to the museum.
The Maryland Historical Society is located at 201 West Monument Street. For more information, call 410-685-3750.
A. Aubrey Bodine Photo Exhibit
October 26th to December 7th at the Gallery Unicorn
located in the Towson Unitarian Universalist Church at 1710 Dulaney Valley Road - The exhibit includes 30 digitally restored
Bodine pictures highlighting the mid twentieth century of Baltimore's history. Born in Baltimore in 1906, A. Aubrey
Bodine spent 47 years as a feature photographer for the Baltimore Sun. The exhibit is free
and open to the public from Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, call 410-821-8361.
Baltimore Museum of Art - Self-Guided Tour of
Baltimore Monuments
The BMA has created a podcast guide
to 14 well known Baltimore monuments. The podcast features the voices of local artists, historians, authors,
and curators discussing the significance and history behind these 14 landmarks. In addition to the podcasts,
the free tour includes a map of the areas covered and a CD. The self-guided tour includes
these monuments: Lee-Jackson, Union Soldiers and Sailors, Confederate Soldiers and Sailors, Richard Wagner, Billie Holiday,
Francis S. Key, Edgar Allan Poe, Male/Female, Roger Taney, George Washington, Battle Monument, Casimir Pulaski, Katyn
Memorial, and War Memorial Plaza. For more information, call 443-573-1700. Also, see the Baltimore Sun article
from August 21st. The podcast is also available at www.baltimoresun.com/monumenttour.
Basilica of the Assumption Tours
Free tours of America's first
cathedral, the Basilica of the Assumption, take place Monday through Friday at 9 a.m., 11 a.m., and 1 p.m. For Saturday
tour times, call 410-727-3565. Sunday tours begin at noon following Mass. The Basilica is located at Cathedral
and Mulberry Streets.
Enoch Pratt Free Library - Happy Birthday
Mr. Pratt!
As part of the bicentennial of Enoch Pratt's birth (September
10, 1808), the Central Library (400 Cathedral Street) will present an exhibit of photographs, letters, and memorabilia
from the Library's archives. "Enoch Pratt's Living Legacy" will run from September
10th through January 10th and is free and open to the public
during regular library hours. Though born in Massachusetts, Pratt came to Baltimore in 1831 where he operated a wholsale
hardware business on South Charles Street. After the Civil War, Pratt gave money and time to various cultural and charitable
institutions including the Peabody Institute and First Unitarian Church. In 1882, he announced a major gift for
the construction of a central library and four library branches. the library system opened in 1886.
Enoch Pratt Free Library - Baltimore in
Postcards
This free program
takes a nostalgic look at Baltimore educational institutions, churches, restaurants, monuments using postcards from 1904 to
the 1960s.
Maryland
Historical Society Programs:
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The Legacy of Enoch Pratt - September
10th to January 4th - In collaboration with Pratt Library and First Unitarian Church, this
exhibit will celebrate the bicentennial of Enoch Pratt's birth: September 10, 1808. In addition, the Enoch Pratt house
will be open. The house, which is part of the Maryland Historical Society, was completed in 1848 and served
as the in-town residence for Enoch and Maria Pratt. The exhibit is free with admission to the museum.
FALL SEMESTER COURSES ON BALTIMORE HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE
Johns Hopkins University - Odyssey Liberal Arts Program
-
Jazz: Baltimore and Beyond - Saturday
and Sunday, December 6th and 7th from 1-5 p.m. - Instructor: Matt Belzer $.
The course will focus on the inner workings of jazz, as well as Baltimore's connection to the history of jazz and it's present.
Jewish Museum of Maryland Exhibit:
"Voices of Lombard Street"
This exhibit which
runs through December traces the history of the museum's neighborhood on Lombard Street. $ The Jewish
Museum of Maryland is located at 15 Lloyd Street and is open Tuesday through Thursday and on Sundays as well from Noon to 4 p.m. For information, call 410-732-6400 ext 14.
Edgar Allan
Poe Bicentennial
In January, 2009 Baltimoreans will celebrate the bicentennial
of Edgar Allan Poe's birth. Numerous activities have been planned. More information on this event can be found
at www.nevermore2009.com .
Green Mount Cemetery Walking Tours
The next set of walking tours through
historic Green Mount Cemetery will take place on Saturday, May 2, 9, 16, 23 - $ -Opened in 1839 as the city's first urban-rural cemetery, Green
Mount is the final resting place of Johns Hopkins, Enoch Pratt, William and Henry Walters, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Theodore
McKeldin, John Wilkes Booth, Betsy Patterson, Walter Lord, and other famous Marylanders. Tours begin at 9:30 a.m. from
the main gate located at Greenmount Avenue and East Oliver Street, and are led by Baltimore historian Wayne R. Schaumburg.
For information, call 410-256-2180 or e-mail: wschaumburg@earthlink.net . See the Baltimore Messenger newspaper from October 23rd for an article on Green Mount written by Larry Perl.
COMING NEXT WEEK: The annual guide to Baltimore's best Christmas train
gardens
New Books on Baltimore History & Architecture for 2008:
W. Edward Orser, The Gwynns Falls, Baltimore
Greenway to the Chesapeake Bay.
Ellen Hirschland and Nancy Ramage, The Cone
Sisters of Baltimore: Collecting At Full Tilt.
Gary Helton, Images of America: Baltimore's
Streetcars and Buses.
Tom Flynn, Baseball in Baltimore.
Eden Bowditch and Anne Draddy, Druid Hill
Park, the Heart of Historic Baltimore.
Kathleen Sander, Mary Elizabeth Garrett, Society
and Philanthropy in the Gilded Age.
Michael Olesker, The Colts' Baltimore, A City
and Its Love Affair in the 1950s.
C. Fraser Smith, Here Lies Jim Crow.
Seth Rockman, Wage Labor, Slavery, and Survival
in Early Baltimore.
Mary Ellen Haywood, Baltimore's Alley Houses, Homes
For Working People Since the 1700s.
Leonard Augsburger, Treasure in the Cellar,
A Tale of Gold in Depression-Era Baltimore.
Lauren Silberman, Images of America:
The Jewish Community of Baltimore
Sarah Achenbach and Bill McAllen, Spirit of
Place: Baltimore's Favorite Places.
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This Week in Baltimore's History:
November 24th: 1872: The
new Park Avenue Railway began testing its cars over the route along German, Charles, and Howard Streets. Cars were drawn
by a single horse and did not have conductors. Instead, patrons were required to deposit their money in a farebox.
November 25th: 1828: Construction
was completed on the Phoenix Shot Tower located at Fayette and Front Streets. The tower was 234 feet high and built
with over one million bricks using no exterior scaffolding. It was 40 feet wide at the base and 20 feet wide at
the top with walls that were 4 1/2 feet thick. The Phoenix was one of four shot towers in Baltimore. In its heyday,
the Phoenix tower made 500,000 twenty-five pound bags of shot annually. The tower still stands today and was placed
on the National Register of Historic Landmarks in 1972.
November 26th: 1910: The Forest Park branch of
the Enoch Pratt Free Library opened for business.
--------------------: 1952:
Baltimore began floridation of its water supply.
November 27th: 1867: The Centenary Biblical Institute
was chartered with the purpose of training African American men for the Methodist ministry. The school would
eventually be located at Edmondson and Fulton Avenues on land given by John Franklin Goucher. Later in 1919, the
Institute moved to its present-day location at East Cold Spring Lane and Hillen Road, and was renamed for the Rev. Lyttleton
F. Morgan. We know know, of course, as Morgan State University
November 28th: 1828: The first umbrella factory
(Beehler) in the United States was opened in Baltimore.
November 29th: 1930: Due to a severe drought, the watering
of lawns and gardens was banned. The drought had left Loch Raven Reservoir with less than 100 days' supply of water.
November 30th: 1957: The Baltimore Harbor Tunnel
opened. The 1.7 mile tunnel along with 15 miles of expressway, built at a cost of $144 million, was touted by Governor
Theodore McKeldin to improve the flow of traffic through downtown Baltimore.
Updated on 11/24/08
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On February 7, 1904, the Great
Baltimore Fire destroyed 140 acres of downtown Baltimore along with 1,526 buildings and over 2,500 businesses.
The photo above shows the intersection of Baltimore and South Streets (looking from the northeast).
The corner was the "journalistic heart" of town with the Baltimore Sun and
its chief competitor, the Baltimore American,
on opposite corners. The photo directly below is the Sun Iron building, the first cast iron-front struture in the city's
history (1851). Notice the clock located next to the building (bottom center of the photo). The second
photo shows the American building, also a cast-iron front structure from 1876. The third photo shows
the remains of the American building after the 1904 fire. Again, notice the Sun clock on the corner.
The ruins of the Sun building can be seen in the photo at the top of this site along with the clock that survived the blaze! Both
newspapers were forced to publish from Washington, D.C. for an extended period of time. The Sun would put
up its new building on the southwest corner of Charles and Baltimore Streets. The American rebuilt
on its same site, and that building still stands today.
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