Encyclopedia
Baltimore is an independent city located in the
U.S. state of
Maryland on the eastern coast of the
United States of America. As of 2005, the
population was 641,943, down slightly from 643,304 in 2004, but higher than the century-long low of 636,251 in 2000. The Baltimore–Towson metropolitan area, as of 2004, was estimated to have a population of 2.6 million. Baltimore is the largest city in
Maryland and serves as the state's major cultural and industrial center.
The city is named after the founding proprietor of the Maryland Colony,
Lord Baltimore in the
Irish House of Lords. Baltimore became the second leading port of entry for immigrants to the
United States during the 1800s. The city is a major U.S.
seaport, situated closer to major midwestern markets than any other major seaport on the East Coast.
After
New York City, Baltimore was the second city in the United States to reach a population of 100,000, . Baltimore was the second largest city in the nation until 1870, when it was surpassed by Philadelphia. Baltimore remained one of the 10 largest cities in the United States from 1790 until about 1970. The city and metropolitan area currently rank in the top 20 in terms of population.
Because there is also a Baltimore County surrounding the city, it is sometimes referred to as
Baltimore City when a clear distinction is desired.
History
During the 17th century, various towns called "Baltimore" were founded as commercial ports at various locations on the upper
Chesapeake Bay. The present city dates from July 30, 1729, and is named after
Lord Baltimore, who was the first Proprietary Governor of the
Province of Maryland. Baltimore grew swiftly in the mid- to late 18th century as the granary for
sugar-producing
colonies in the
Caribbean. The profit from sugar encouraged the maximum possible cultivation of cane and the importation of food. The relatively shorter distance between Baltimore and the Caribbean colonies allowed swift
transport and minimized the spoilage of
flour.
One of Baltimore's greatest moments occurred during the
War of 1812 with the British, who had declared Baltimore "A nest of Pirates." Baltimore's
Fort McHenry came under attack by
British forces near the
harbor after the British had burned
Washington, D.C. Known today as the
Battle of Baltimore, American forces won the decisive battles by repulsing a joint land and naval attack by the British forces. They fought to a stalemate at the
Battle of North Point after killing the British commander General Ross. British reinforcements were not possible after the British Navy was repulsed by the defenders of the fort, and all forces then withdrew. It was the naval engagement that inspired
Francis Scott Key to write the
poem "
The Star-Spangled Banner," the lyrics to the United States' national anthem. The battle was memorialized in the Battle Monument which is on the city seal.
On an 1827 visit to the city
John Quincy Adams nicknamed it "Monument City."
Baltimore is also the site of the first architectural
monument honoring George Washington, a 178-foot Doric column erected in 1829 and designed by Robert Mills, who later designed the
Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.
Baltimore became an independent city in 1851, being detached from Baltimore County at that time.
Prior to the Civil War, Maryland was a slave-holding state. During the
Civil War, Maryland was officially part of the Union but kept
slavery legal. Most people in Baltimore at the time were sympathetic to the
Confederacy. Pro-Southern sentiment led to the
Baltimore riot of 1861, when Union soldiers marched through the city. After the riot, Union troops occupied Baltimore, and Maryland came under direct federal administration — in part, to prevent the state from seceding — until the end of the war in April 1865. This was considered a necessary move by the Union to prevent
Washington, D.C., from being completely surrounded by seceded Confederate territory. The case
Ex parte Merryman, written by Supreme Court Chief Justice
Roger Taney , dealt with the habeas corpus rights of Marylanders jailed by the
Abraham Lincoln Administration and strongly rebuked Lincoln for his actions.
The
Great Baltimore Fire on February 7, 1904, destroyed over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours and forced most of the city to rebuild. Immediately afterward, Mayor Robert McLane was quoted in the Baltimore News as saying, "To suppose that the spirit of our people will not rise to the occasion is to suppose that our people are not genuine Americans. We shall make the fire of 1904 a landmark not of decline but of progress." He then refused assistance, stating "As head of this municipality, I cannot help but feel gratified by the sympathy and the offers of practical assistance which have been tendered to us. To them I have in general terms replied, 'Baltimore will take care of its own, thank you.'" Two years later, on September 10, 1906, the Baltimore-American reported that the city had risen from the ashes and "one of the great disasters of modern time had been converted into a blessing."
Baltimore is the location of the
Baltimore World Trade Center, the world's tallest equilateral five-sided building .
Baltimore is also the location of Pimlico Race Course, the home of the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the
Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. The Preakness has been run since 1873.
Baltimore's population peaked at 949,708 in the 1950 Census, which ranked it as the sixth-largest city in the country, behind
Detroit, and ahead of
Cleveland. For the next five decades, the city's population declined while its suburbs grew dramatically, bottoming out in 2000 at 636,251. In the 21st century, the city's population has stabilized and is once again rising, mostly due to revitalization efforts in many city neighborhoods.
In 1955 Flag House Courts, a public housing project made up of 3 12-story buildings, was built. The buildings were eventually demolished in 2001.
In recent years, efforts to redevelop the downtown area have led to a revitalization of the Inner Harbor. In 1979 the
Baltimore Convention Center was opened and was subsequently renovated and expanded in 1996. Harborplace, a modern urban retail and restaurant complex, was opened on the waterfront in 1980, followed by the
National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland's largest tourist destination, and another cultural venue, the Baltimore Museum of Industry in 1981. In 1992, the
Baltimore Orioles of
Major League Baseball moved from Memorial Stadium to
Oriole Park at Camden Yards downtown, and six years later the
Baltimore Ravens of the
National Football League moved next door into PSINet Stadium .
On October 2, 1996, Baltimore became the first city in the United States to adopt 311 as a non-emergency "hot line" telephone number, in order to reserve the use of
911 for genuine emergencies. The concept has been highly successful, and numerous other American municipalities have since implemented the practice.
A 60-car train derailment occurred in a
tunnel in Baltimore on July 18, 2001. The derailment sparked a chemical fire that raged for six days and virtually shut down the downtown area until the heat caused a water main to rupture, largely extinguishing the fire but also causing significant flooding in the streets above. Three weeks later, manhole covers flew into the air as underground explosions along West Pratt Street followed due to residual explosive chemicals from the fire left in the sewers.
In 2003, the Baltimore Development Corporation announced that three hotel projects were being reviewed. As of September 2006, the 756-room, $305 million
Hilton hotel project is currently under construction west of the
Baltimore Convention Center. The City of Baltimore hopes to have it finished and opened by August 2008.
Also in 2003, Baltimore was affected by
Hurricane Isabel from flooding as a result of
tidal surge, affecting primarily the Fells Point community and the
Inner Harbor and surrounding low areas. Many places were flooded, including the sports center
ESPN Zone, the
Baltimore World Trade Center , and most of the Inner Harbor. Water levels rose some 20 feet in areas, flooding underground parking garages and displacing thousands of cubic yards of trash and debris.
In the early part of the 21st century, Baltimore is undergoing a major building spree in the downtown area, specifically in the Inner Harbor East district. Its skyline will extend further outward and upward in the next few decades. ARC Wheeler, a
Philadelphia-based developer has been approved to build a new hotel/condominium complex that will be the city's new tallest building, dubbed "
10 Inner Harbor," at 59 stories and 717ft tall. Other proposals in the pipeline are twin 65-story towers at sites on E. Saratoga Street and Guilford Avenue, an 800ft.+ tower and complex located on the banks of the
Patapsco River's middle branch area, and a 40-story condo and hotel tower at 300 E.Pratt Street.
Law and government
Baltimore is an independent city — not part of any
county. For most governmental purposes under Maryland law, Baltimore City is treated as a "county"-level entity. The
United States Census Bureau uses counties as the basic unit for presentation of statistical information in the United States, and treats Baltimore as a county equivalent for those purposes.
Baltimore has been a
Democratic stronghold for over 150 years, with Democrats dominating every level of government.
Mayor
The current mayor of Baltimore is Democrat
Martin O'Malley, currently in his second term. He is also the Democratic Party nominee to challenge
Robert Ehrlich, the Republican incumbent for
Governor of Maryland.
Baltimore City Council
Grassroots pressure for reform, voiced as Question P, restructured the city council in November of 2002, against the will of the mayor, the council president, and the majority of the council. A coalition of union and community groups, organized by
ACORN, backed the effort.
The Baltimore city council is now made up of 14 single member districts and one elected at-large council president. Sheila Dixon is the current council president. On November 2, 2004, Dixon won re-election in a two-way contest; Joan Floyd, a
Green Party candidate, was the only challenger; the Republicans did not field a candidate.
State Government
Baltimore and its suburbs were long underrepresented in the
Maryland General Assembly, while rural areas were heavily overrepresented. Since
Baker v. Carr in 1969, the Baltimore suburbs account for a substantial majority of seats in the state legislature.
Baltimore dominated Maryland state politics prior to 1969, however; even today, most of the states' highest elected officials come from the Baltimore area.
Federal Government
Baltimore is split between three congressional districts — the 2nd, represented by
Dutch Ruppersberger; the 3rd, represented by
Ben Cardin; and the 7th, represented by
Elijah Cummings. All three are Democrats; a
Republican has not represented a significant portion of Baltimore since Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr. stepped down from the 2nd Congressional District seat to run for governor — a position he won by defeating Kathleen Kennedy Townsend.
Both of Maryland's
Senators,
Paul Sarbanes and
Barbara Mikulski, are from Baltimore. Sarbanes is not running for reelection in 2006; both of the main Democratic candidates for his seat, Cardin and former 7th District Congressman
Kwesi Mfume, are from Baltimore as well.
Crime
City Crime Rankings ranks Baltimore second only to
Detroit among the most dangerous American cities over 500,000 in population.
According to crime statistics there were 269 murders in Baltimore in 2005.
Though this is significantly lower than the record-high 353 murders in 1993, the murder rate in Baltimore is nearly seven times the national rate, six times the rate of
New York City, and three times the rate of
Los Angeles.
In addition, other categories of crime in Baltimore have also been declining, although overall crime rates are still high compared to the national average. The rate of forcible rapes has fallen below the national average in recent years; however, Baltimore still has much higher-than-average rates of aggravated assault, burglary,
robbery, and
theftand a local news survey, though unscientific, recorded that over 75% of respondents felt that Baltimore City is no safer.
Though the crime situation in Baltimore is considered one of the worst in the nation, city officials have pointed out that most violent crimes, particularly murders, are committed by people who know their victims and who are often associated with the
illegal drug trade.
City officials have, however, come under scrutiny from Maryland legislators regarding the veracity of crime statistics reported by the Baltimore City Police Department.
For 2003 the FBI identified irregularities in the number of rapes reported, which was confirmed by the Mayor. 2005's murder numbers appear to exhibit discrepancies as well
The former Commissioner of Police states upon interview that the administration suppressed corrections of its reported crime.
However, many of these charges seem to be, at least partially, politically motivated.
Nonetheless, experts indicate that the city's reporting practices should raise eyebrows and call for an independent audit, with which the administration has not cooperated, despite requests from members of City Council and the City's auditor.
While racial disparities in arrest and incarceration rates exist in Baltimore, both young white and black men in the city are arrested and incarcerated at relatively high rates. One in five young black males is in prison, in jail, or under correctional supervision.
Of the roughly 100,000 arrests each year in this city of 635,000, about a quarter do not merit charging and another quarter do not merit prosecution. The ACLU has filed a suit in respect of systematic civil rights abuses by the current administration.
Criminal intimidation has also been reported as a problem in the city.
In an infamous case, community activist Angela Dawson and her family were murdered by firebomb in their Baltimore home on October 16, 2002, in retaliation for Dawson's reporting of criminal activity. In a separate incident, another public safety activist, Edna McAbier, was also targeted.
Though she survived, she has fled her neighborhood, where she cannot be protected by city police.
In 2005, 3 men were sentenced to life in prison for their involvement in the latter case.
One of these men had appeared in the infamous video
Stop Snitchin', a homemade DVD produced by local drug dealers threatening fellow dealers who failed to adhere to a street based code of ethics and became informants.
Culture
Baltimore culture can be equally interesting and baffling. The city's geography and history as a working class port town has given it a very distinctive social flavor. The most prominent example is the city's association with
blue crabs. The
Chesapeake Bay for years was the
East Coast's main source of blue crabs, and Baltimore became the central hub of the crab industry. In the tourist district , it is almost impossible to find a shop or restaurant that does not serve crabs or
crabcakes, or sell some sort of crab related merchandise. Maryland's distinctive way of eating crabs is often not understood by outsiders. Traditionally, crabs are steamed in rock salt and Old Bay Seasoning, a favored local all-spice manufactured in Baltimore for decades. They are eaten on tables spread with newspaper with the use of only a wooden mallet, a knife, and one's hands. Cold
beer is also said to be a must.
Another popular Baltimore food item is the "chicken box". A chicken box is an inexpensive meal consisting of 4 or 5
fried chicken wings served in a
fast food carry out box with some kind of starch as a side . The item is chiefly sold at independent
fried chicken shops and delis in the city. Chicken boxes are usually enjoyed with "Half and Half", a drink combining iced tea and lemonade — referred to elsewhere in the U.S. as an "
Arnold Palmer".
Natty Boh
The city's favored local
beer has traditionally been
National Bohemian, or, as residents refer to it,
Natty Boh. In some areas of Baltimore, locals call it "National." The beer and its one time mascot, Mr. Boh, are considered indelible parts of Baltimore culture. Though it is said that few truly enjoy the drink, the historically low price and association with the city make it a local favorite. The National Brewing Company was also the "inventor" of Colt 45 malt liquor in 1963. Natty Boh was also the long-time beer of choice for Orioles and Colts fans at Memorial Stadium. After the Orioles moved from Memorial Stadium in 1991, Natty Boh was no longer available to fans at Baltimore sporting events. However, for the 2006 Orioles season, "Boh is Back" and is being served throughout Oriole Park.
The Block
Residents are often proud of Baltimore's old-fashioned and often seedy characteristics. One of the more famous seedy spots in the city is The Block, a stretch of district along Baltimore Street between South and Gay Streets. Since the late 19th century, the location has variously been home to
burlesque shows,
nightclubs, strip clubs,
pornography shops, and
prostitution.
Though the presence of
BPD Headquarters at one end of the district has cut down on many illegal activities, the adult entertainment has continued and the area is still popular for city night life.
Even in 2006, many of the strip clubs on The Block are little more than fronts for prostitution.
Rowhouses
Baltimore is noted for its near-omnipresent
rowhouses. Rowhouses have been a feature of Baltimore architecture since the 1790s, with early examples of the style still standing in the
Federal Hill and Fells Point neighborhoods. Older houses may retain some of their original features, such as marble doorsteps, widely considered to be Baltimore icons in themselves. Later rowhouses dating from the 1800s-1900s can be found in Union Square and throughout the city in various states of repair. They are a popular renovation property in neighborhoods that are undergoing
urban renewal, although the practice is viewed warily by some as a harbinger of "yuppification." Elsewhere in the city, rowhouses can be found abandoned, boarded-up, and reflective of Baltimore's
inner-city blight.
Marble Steps
Marble steps found along the streets of Baltimore are as much a part of the city's culture as crabs and baseball games. The use of marble for steps is due to the presence of high quality white marble in Cockeysville, a town 17 miles north of Baltimore harbor by highway. Indeed, the marble found there is so attractive, stone was hauled all the way from this northern Maryland town to the nations new capital, instead of local Potomac marble quarries, for use in decorative construction around Washington, D.C., including the
Washington Monument, and 108 columns of the capitol building. During the construction phase of the Washington Monument, that is through the middle of the 19th century, the marble gained in popularity as a decorative stone and was used omnipresently for the steps of rowhouses surrounding Baltimore harbor and in Fells Point. Baltimoreans take pride in the fact that their mundane doorsteps are made from the same beautiful white marble used for the construction of the famous Washington Monument. Scrubbing marble steps has become a tradition in Baltimore. The ritual includes scrubbing the marble with Bon Ami powder and pumice stone.
Hons
Perhaps the most intriguing part of Baltimore's culture are the people themselves. Though nowadays the city is extremely culturally diverse, the lasting image of Baltimoreans seems to be the "Hon" culture exemplified most markedly by the longer established families and residents of the Highlandtown, Canton,
Locust Point and
Hampden neighborhoods. Between the 1950s and
70s, it wasn't uncommon to see working class local women dressing in bright,printed dresses with out-dated glasses and beehive hairdos. Men were often dressed casually, but with a general factory or dock worker look, as many in town did indeed have such jobs. Now within the younger generations you can always spot someone from Baltimore because the girls will have on the "flyest" clothes with the tackiest colored hair and the boys will have on Dickies male capris with new balance sneakers, and a fitted cap.
The name of the culture comes from the often parodied Baltimore accent and slang. "Hon" was a common informal name for someone else, properly pronounced "hohn", with emphasis on the vowel. Baltimores accent exemplifies a dialectal continuum between Tidewater American English and Delaware Valley American English, loosely possessing the vowel shifts of the former and general pronunciation of the latter. For instance "Baltimore" is pronounced "Bawlamer" or even "Balmer," and "Maryland" becomes "Murland" or "Murlan." Other common pronunciations include "ool," "amblance," "wooder," "warsh,","sharr","dug" , tew.
John Waters parodies the Hon culture, as well as Baltimore itself, extensively in his movies. For a somewhat accurate representation of Baltimorese, one can look to Waters' narration spots in his 1974 movie
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 [i] film [i] directed by John Waters [i]. ...
. Waters himself used a local commercial for
Mr Ray's Hair Weaves as his main inspiration. The commercial was famous around town for Mr. Ray's extreme Baltimore accent. "Cawl todaey, for your freee hame showink..." was the most memorable line from that commercial, translating as "Call today, or for your free home showing..."
Corned Beef Row
"Corned Beef Row" is a stretch of East Lombard Street that was once the center of Jewish life in Baltimore. Today, only a few landmarks remain. Notable is Attman's Delicatessen, founded in 1915, which is famous throughout the city for its hot corned beef sandwiches. The Jewish Museum of Maryland is located on nearby Lloyd Street. The museum campus includes the historic Lloyd Street and B'nai Israel Synagogues and a modern museum building with changing exhibition galleries and research library.
H.L. Mencken
Baltimore was home to
Henry Louis Mencken, better known as
H.L. Mencken, journalist, satirist, and social critic. Mencken attended the
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, one of best public schools in the city. Mencken achieved iconic status for the editorial columns he wrote at the
Baltimore Sunpapers is the newspaper of record [i] for Baltimore, Maryland [i], with a daily press run of 247,19 ...
. His work earned him the nickname "The Sage of Baltimore". His personal papers are held in the "Mencken Room" of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. The house he lived in for most of his life, located at 1524 Hollins Street in the city's
Union Square neighborhood, is on the
National Register of Historic Places.
Miss USA
Baltimore hosted the
Miss USA pageant in 2005 and 2006. Donald Trump brought the event to Charm City. In 2005 it was hosted at the historic Hippodrome Theatre in downtown Baltimore, which reopened after a large renovation in 2004. In 2006, the pageant moved to
1st Mariner Arena.
Television and Film
Baltimore has become a prime city for filming movies and television. Many movies, such as
Hairspray,
Ladder 49,
Serial Mom is a 1994 [i] film [i] directed by John Waters [i], starring Kathleen Turner [i] ...
,
Eraser,
Enemy of the State,
Cry-baby,
The Replacements, scenes from
12 Monkeys is a 1995 [i] science fiction film [i] written by David [i] ...
,
True Lies is a 1994 [i] action movie [i]/comedy [i] directed by James Cameron [i]. ...
, and the film
Hardball, were filmed in Baltimore; in fact, many scenes from the 1972 cult classic film
Pink Flamingos is a 1972 [i] film [i] directed by John Waters [i]. ...
were shot in the city's Waverly and
Hampden neighborhoods . Additionally, television shows such as NBC's
and
HBO's
The Wire have also been filmed in the city. Television series
Roc and
Hot L Baltimore were set in the city.
See Filmed in Baltimore for additional movies and shows filmed or set in Baltimore.Geography and climate
Geography
Baltimore is in the north central part of the state of Maryland, on the Patapsco River, not far from the Chesapeake Bay. It is on the western edge of the
Atlantic Coastal Plain, with low hills rising in the western part of the city.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 238.5 km² . 209.3 km² of it is land and 29.2 km² of it is water. The total area is 12.240 percent water.
The
Baltimore-Washington Metroplex Metropolitan Statistical Area is the 4th largest in the United States, with an estimated population of 8,052,496.
Climate
Baltimore is on the northern end of the humid subtropical climate zone, according to the Köppen classification, with moderating influence from its relative proximity to the ocean. It gets relatively hot, humid summers and cool, moist winters, but the climate is less extreme than that of other American cities farther inland at a similar latitude.
July is typically the hottest month of the year, with an average high temperature of 91°F and an average low of 73°F . January is the coldest month, with an average high of 44°F and an average low of 29°F . The record high for Baltimore is 108°F , set in 1985, and the record low is -7°F , set in 1934. Baltimore rarely experiences temperatures below 10°F and above 100°F. Due to an
urban heat island effect in the city proper, the outlying, inland parts of the Baltimore metro area are usually several degrees cooler than the city proper and the coastal towns.
Typical in most
East Coast cities, precipitation is generous, and very evenly spread throughout the year, with every month bringing 3 to 4 inches of precipitation. Snow occurs in Baltimore every winter, and the average annual snowfall is around 20 inches . The largest snowstorm on record brought 28.2 inches to the city, from February 15-18, 2003. Seasonal snow totals have ranged from less than an inch to more than 60 inches. . In the northern and western suburbs, the climate turns continental and snowfall amounts are usually higher, where many places annually receive 24-36 inches . Freezing rain is not uncommon in Baltimore, but major ice storms are very rare. It is also possible for unseasonably warm weather to bring temperatures into the 60's and 70's in the winter.
The city lies in between two peculiar physical features that protect it from extreme weather and account for the relatively tempered seasons. The
Appalachian Mountains protect central
Maryland from much of the harsh northern winds and accompanying
lake effect weather that bring subfreezing temperatures and heavy snows to the
Great Lakes region, and the
Delmarva Peninsula protects Baltimore from many of the
tropical storms that affect the immediate coast.
Average Monthly Temperatures and Precipitation for Baltimore, MD| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
|---|
| Avg high °F | 44 | 47 | 57 | 68 | 77 | 86 | 91 | 88 | 81 | 70 | 59 | 49 | 68 |
|---|
| Avg low °F | 29 | 31 | 39 | 48 | 58 | 68 | 73 | 71 | 64 | 52 | 42 | 33 | 52 |
|---|
| Rainfall inches | 3.48 | 3.07 | 4.12 | 3.06 | 4.18 | 3.28 | 3.96 | 4.05 | 4.06 | 3.19 | 3.45 | 3.60 | 43.59 |
|---|
Transportation
Road transport
The major
highways serving the city are I-695 ,
I-95,
I-83 , and
I-70 . Freeways I-95, I-83, and I-70 are not directly connected because of
freeway revolts in the City of Baltimore led by
Barbara Mikulski, which resulted in the abandonment of the original plan. There are two tunnels traversing the Baltimore harbor within the city limits: the four-bore
Fort McHenry Tunnel and the two-bore Harbor Tunnel .
Passenger rail
Baltimore is a major stop for
Amtrak. Named passenger trains which serve Baltimore include
Acela Express, Palmetto, Carolinian,
Silver Star,
Silver Meteor 
