41
In 1896, Congress authorized deepening the harbor channel to
35 feet. Bugeyes, pungies, sloops and schooners swarmed harbor
piers to disgorge cargoes of Eastern Shore produce, which then
were transported to area canneries, and finally packaged and dis-
tributed via the maritime chain’s transportation network. As the
level of commerce climbed higher, so did the numbers of adver-
tising shops, hotels, banks and insurance companies, and steam-
wagon manufacturers. Port activity expanded into the outer
harbor, downriver to Curtis Bay and Patapsco Neck. Maryland’s
transportation network was tied into 33 states via the B&O.
The western ramp of the Francis Scott Key Bridge is anchored in
Hawkins Point, an area with a long military history. Fort Armistead
was built on Hawkins Point during the Spanish-American War in
the late 1890s, and another river fort, Fort Carroll, was constructed
in 1850 on a manmade island in the harbor offshore. Robert E. Lee,
then an Army colonel, directed
the effort. A World War II ma-
rine ammunition terminal was
later bought by the Maryland
Port Administration (MPA),
which developed its Hawkins
Point Terminal to serve indus-
trial partners such as Grace
Davison, a large producer of
inorganic chemicals.
Baltimore City, feeling a bit crowded by all this growth, expand-
ed from 10 to 30 square miles, as its northern boundary extended
beyond Druid Hill Park. In 1900, Baltimore’s population was
508,957, up from 169,000 in 1850. It was America’s sixth most
populous city. Only New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, St. Louis
and Boston were larger.
Steamboats were in high season, jostling for freight and pas-
sengers at Light Street and Pratt Street piers in the Inner Harbor.
In 1904, the first car reached Ocean City, Maryland. The advent of
automobiles meant more roads, which provided stronger freight
links to remote towns in the eastern and western parts of the
state, and a cure for what ailed their economic health via their
new access to the Port’s national and international markets.
Residents of towns like Accident — located north of Oakland in
Garrett County — enjoyed their first reliable connection to the
National Road, which led to the Port of Baltimore.
And with more roads, there came more trucks, with ever-great-
er load capacities. It was a big change from the horse-and-buggy
era, a development that increased business at the Port, where more
products now were positioned to plunge into the maritime chain.
The Canton Company built a 33-mile railroad to connect the Port’s
three trunk lines — the B&O, Pennsylvania and Western Maryland
Hawkins Point, at the foot of
the Key Bridge, today provides
terminal services for bulk
carriers, such as this alumina
ship. The electrically powered
crane offloads cargo with its
clamshell bucket and deposits
it into railcars or trucks.
the port provides, whether one aspires
to sell several products or 15,ooo.
