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y 1830, Baltimore was the second-largest American city, with
80,620 people. Arunah S. Abell began publishing
The Sun
in 1837, spreading the good word about Maryland’s economic
muscle: Baltimore’s port had surpassed Philadelphia to become
second only to New York on the East Coast. Coal and grain were
the leading exports, but as coffee imports kept climbing, new
coffee warehouses crowded the Thames Street corridor in Fell’s
Point. Baltimore was full of (coffee) beans; Belt’s Wharf began as a
terminal for the coffee fleet of C. Morton Stewart, whose clipper
Josephine
set a record for the fastest passage from Rio de Janeiro,
22 days. Today, Belt’s Corporation has evolved into a leading
mid-Atlantic provider of distribution services.
From the
observatory tower atop Federal Hill, telescopes
peered over the lower Patapsco 60 miles downriver. When an
incoming vessel was recognized, its owner’s flag was hoisted from
the tower to notify Baltimore merchants the ship had arrived
safely. In waterfront neighborhoods like Fell’s Point, owners also
flew their flags outside their homes.
The C&O Canal finally reached Cumberland in 1850; cargoes
now could be moved to and from southern states and heavily-
populated Midwestern locations. More freight called for more
railroads. In 1852, the predecessor of the Western Maryland
Railroad — the Baltimore, Carroll and Frederick — was chartered.
The B&O’s sweeping orbit provided Baltimore with architectural
prestige: In 1850, Bartlett, Hayward & Company moved next door
to B&O’s shops and began producing cast-iron architectural
components, which led to the 1851 construction of the Sun Iron
Building at Baltimore and South streets, the forerunner of the
modern skyscraper, the first building in America with a cast-iron
facade and iron post-and-beam frame. Within 18 months, 22
new downtown Baltimore
buildings incorporated cast
iron in their construction;
cities worldwide took
notice of the new
technology.
The Association of
Maryland Pilots was
organized in Duda’s Tavern in
Fell’s Point in 1852. In the early days, pilots
would hover in their boats at the mouth of the Chesapeake
awaiting incoming vessels; when a sail was sighted on the horizon,
they would all race toward it, with the winning boat being the
first to throw a line to the ship. The select members of the oldest
pilots’ association in the United States still board incoming ships
at Cape Henry by scurrying onboard via a Jacob’s ladder thrown
over the side to become temporary master for the 150-mile run
upriver. Bay pilots are tasked with negotiating the usual local
Above: Immigrants
line up onWolfe
Street, waiting for
transportation to the
country for berry picking.
Inset: Bartlett, Hayward &
Co. pioneered the modern
skyscraper and helped make
Baltimore’s architectural
innovations the envy of
the world.
The Good
W
ord
