he Port’s enriched flows of waterfront commerce generated
a brisk business for protecting maritime valuables; in 1798
alone, Fell’s Point’s export cargoes exceeded $121 million. Between
1787 and 1815, 10 insurance companies — five specializing in
marine risks — were started in Baltimore. The business of insuring
cargoes provided an injection of capital into Baltimore — an
example of maritime’s indirect economic stimulus.
And as the value of the Port’s commercial flows increased,
so did recognition that greater value lay in the Port’s uniquely
amphibious position, with one foot further inland than its East
Coast competitors, and the other foot planted in the sea lanes
leading outward to world markets. Baltimore’s port has variously
been called the most western of all Eastern seaports, the most
southern of the Northern ports, or the most northern of all
Southern ports. Baltimore’s proximity to choice markets was a
trump card played time and again against rival ports.
If there was ever a time when the Port’s commercial power
and shipbuilding prowess were both running fully flat-out, it
was during the first half of the 19th century — a period not
coincidentally regarded as Baltimore’s Golden Age.
Baltimore’s burst to glory was driven by the synchronicity
between the Port and Maryland’s business and civic machinery,
orchestrated by captains of industry like Alexander Brown.
In 1811, a little more than a decade after he arrived from
Ireland, Brown opened the nation’s first investment bank at 135
East Baltimore Street. By the 1820s, his firm was a powerful force
in international trade and finance. Brown, like other merchants,
made his first fortune in trade — in his case, Irish linens — and
subsequently widened his net to include shipping. By 1825, he
controlled a fleet of 11 vessels.
Brown’s trajectory typifies others who left their names on
Baltimore’s better-known institutions that still endure since being
established during the latter part of the 19th century; in 1893,
Baltimore reportedly had more millionaire philanthropists than
any other American city.
Enoch Pratt, who bequeathed funds for Baltimore’s public library
system, made his money through trade, shipping and investing
in businesses spun off by the Port’s commercial flows — finance,
Many of Baltimore’s early
movers and shakers sailed the
path to wealth on investments
in Port-related industries.
Above, from left, Alexander
Brown founded the nation’s
first investment bank, which
was located on East Baltimore
Street; philanthropist Enoch
Pratt lent his name and fortune
to the city’s public library.
Captains of
I
ndustry
22
