Wayne's Guide to Talks, Walks, and Tours of Baltimore
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Can you name and locate this historic Baltimore building? For the answer, go to the end of this page.

 

 This website is an on-going list of walks, talks, and tours that relate to Baltimore history and architecture.  The site was created for the benefit of my students, friends, and colleagues who often inquire about upcoming events.   My e-mail address is: wschaumburg@earthlink.net.  Please feel free to comment or make suggestions. 

COMING SOON:  MY ANNUAL HOLIDAY LIST OF BALTIMORE'S BEST CHRISTMAS TRAIN GARDENS

 

Enoch Pratt Free Library Exhibit:  NAACP Baltimore Branch:  97 Years and Counting

This historical exhibit includes photographs, posters, documents, newspaper clippings and memorabilia from the archives of the Baltimore branch of the NAACP. This display was curated by Larry S. Gibson and will be on display at the Central Library (400 Cathedral Street) through December 31st. The exhibit is free and open to the public during regular library hours. 

 

 

Fell's Point Walking Tours

The popular walking tours of historic Fell's Point will run on weekends through November.   $   All tours start from the Visitor Center at 1724 Thames Street and are approximately 90 minutes long.  Reservations are required.  for more information, call 410-675-6750, ext. 16 or 12. 

  • Immigration Tour:  Saturdays at 12 noon
  • Secrets of a Seaport - Fell's Point Tour:  Saturdays at 10 a.m.
  • African American History Tour - Sundays at  3 p.m.
  • Robert Long House (Ann Street) - Tuesdays through Saturdays at 1:30 p.m. 

 

 

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.

 

 

FALL SEMESTER COURSES ON BALTIMORE HISTORY AND ARCHITECTURE:

Johns Hopkins University Odyssey Program - 410-516-4842 or visit www.odyssey.jhu.edu.

  • The Life and Times of the Baltimore Colts - $ - Thursday, December 3rd from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Instructor:  William Gildea (Join sportswriter Bill Gildea as he look at the early years of the Colts from 1953-1958.)

 

 

Green Mount Cemetery Walking Tours

The next set of walking tours through historic Green Mount Cemetery will take place on Saturday, May 8, 15, 22, 29 - $ -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.  Reservations are required.   For information, call 410-256-2180 or e-mail:  wschaumburg@earthlink.net. 

 

 

NEW BOOKS ON BALTIMORE FOR 2009:

Bob Luke, The Baltimore Elite Giants, Hopkins University Press.

Greg Alexander and Paul Williams, A Brief History of Charles Village, History Press.

John Breihan, Images of Aviation:  Maryland Aviation, Arcadia Publishing. 

Marsha Wise, Postcard History Series:  Baltimore Neighborhoods, Arcadia Publishing.

Barry Lanman, Baltimore County:  Celebrating a Legacy, 1659-2009, Historical Society of Baltimore County.

Geoff Brown, Moon Baltimore, Avalon Travel.

Mike Gesker, The Orioles Encyclopedia, A Half Century of History and Highlights, Hopkins University Press.

Frank Shivers Jr., Bolton Hill, Blue Plaque Edition, Hopkins University Press. 

Charles Balfoure, Edmund G. Lind:  Anglo-American Architect of Baltimore and the South, Baltimore Architecture Foundation. 

Jospeh R. L. Sterne, Combat Correspondents, The Baltimore Sun in World War II, Hopkins University Press.

Michael J. Lisicky, Hutzler's Where Baltimore Shops, The History Press. 

 

 

 

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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 Street.  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 that would be built in Baltimore.  In its heyday, the Phoenix tower made 500,000 twenty-five pound bags of shot annually.  The tower still stands today was 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 for the purpose of training African American men for the Methodist ministry. The school began at the Sharp Street Methodist Church. Later it moved to Edmondson and Fulton Avenues on a site given by Dr. John Franklin Goucher.  In 1919 the Institute moved to its present-day location at Cold Spring Lane and Hillen Road, and was renamed for the Rev. Lyttleton Morgan.  We know it today as Morgan State University.   
 
November 28th:  1828:  The first umbrella factory (Beehler) in the United States 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 11/24/09
 
 
 
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Located on the southeast corner of Eutaw and Baltimore Streets (across form the Hippodrome Theater), the Abell Building opened in 1879.  Baltimore Sun founder, Arunah S. Abell built the structure as an investment property to capitalize on the growing garment trade that was moving into this part of the central business district. Abell commissioned City Hall architect George Frederick to design this Victorian Gothic warehouse that is 6 bays wide and 19 bays long with abundant details.  The first floor is framed with cast iron manufactured by Bartlett,  Robbins & Company here in Baltimore. The upper floors are brick with bluestone, white marble and terra-cotta trim.  With the demise of the westside district, the Abell building sat vacant for a number of years until it was recently purchased by the PMC Property Group which has rehabbed the building for use as one and two-bedroom apartments.