53
repairing torpedo-damaged ones. Glenn L. Martin’s payroll
soared from 3,500 to 53,000 on incoming orders from the
Allies. Maryland’s industrial machinery stepped up to supply
everything from assemblies to debarkation nets. As in 1861
and 1917, clothing firms produced uniforms on a large scale for
export. Companies in every line of work converted to supply
wartime needs; Everedy Company in Frederick, which was using
imported metals to make cutlery, started churning out anti-
tank mines and rifle grenades.
Canton’s postwar development began in 1946 when Rukert
Terminals Corporation purchased Lazaretto Point from the
Western Maryland Railroad. Founder Captain W.G.N. Rukert was
a tough-talking waterfront character who cajoled McCormick
founder Willoughby McCormick into selling Jackson’s Wharf in
Fell’s Point in 1927; today, Rukert’s maritime operations include
24 warehouses on 130 acres.
Baltimore’s postwar port resembled an old warrior; many
waterfront facilities had deteriorated beyond repair. Necessary
modernization required a financial commitment that exceeded
private-sector resources.
But Baltimore had other troubles. The Port’s marriage to
railroads, which had given them a transportation stranglehold
on the waterfront and ownership of maritime terminals and other
essential facilities, now worked against the Port’s best interests by
restricting trucking access to the waterfront. Baltimore was known
as a “railroad port,” its waterfront overly customized for railroads
to handle bulk cargoes like wheat, coal and project cargoes, which
served to drive general cargo business into the arms of competing
ports. And the impending completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway,
which would give New York a waterway to Midwest markets,
posed another threat to Baltimore.
Above: Rukert Terminals now
handles a variety of bulk
cargoes, like the road salt area
commuters see piled high
along Interstate 95. Left: Of the
hundreds of Liberty ships built
in Baltimore duringWorld
War II, the last survivor is the
John Brown
, docked in Canton.
