Portal:Baltimore
The Baltimore Portal
Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. It is the 30th-most populous U.S. city with a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, while the Baltimore metropolitan area at 2.86 million residents is the 22nd-largest metropolitan area in the nation. The city is also part of the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area, which had a population of 9.97 million in 2020. Baltimore was designated as an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland in 1851. Though not located under the jurisdiction of any county in the state, it forms part of the Central Maryland region together with the surrounding county that shares its name.
The land that is present-day Baltimore was once used as hunting ground by Paleo-Indians. In the early 1600s, the Susquehannock began to hunt there. People from the Province of Maryland established the Port of Baltimore in 1706 to support the tobacco trade with Europe and established the Town of Baltimore in 1729. During the American Revolutionary War, the Second Continental Congress briefly moved its deliberations to the Henry Fite House from December 1776 to February 1777 prior to the capture of Philadelphia to British troops, which permitted Baltimore to serve briefly as the nation's capital before it returned to Philadelphia. The Battle of Baltimore was pivotal during the War of 1812, culminating in the British bombardment of Fort McHenry, during which Francis Scott Key wrote a poem that became "The Star-Spangled Banner" and was designated as the national anthem in 1931. During the Pratt Street Riot of 1861, the city was the site of some of the earliest violence associated with the American Civil War. (Full article...)
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The Baltimore Light RailLink (formerly Baltimore Light Rail, also known simply as the "Light Rail") is a light rail system serving Baltimore, Maryland, United States, and its northern and southern suburbs. It is operated by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA Maryland).
In downtown Baltimore, it uses street-embedded tracks. Outside the central portions of the city, the line is located on private rights-of-way, mostly from the defunct Northern Central Railway, Baltimore and Annapolis Railroad and Washington, Baltimore and Annapolis Electric Railway. The system had a ridership of 5,015,100, or about 14,500 per weekday, as of the second quarter of 2025. (Full article...)
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Fort McHenry, which served as the inspiration for The Star-Spangled Banner
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Florence Eilau Bamberger (October 19, 1882 – December 18, 1965) was an American pedagogue, school supervisor, progressive education advocate, and author. Influenced by the ideas of John Dewey, she researched, lectured, and wrote extensively on the concept of child-centered education. She spent most of her career as a professor of education in the department of philosophy at Johns Hopkins University, and was the first woman to attain a full professorship at that university. From 1937 to 1947 she served as director of Johns Hopkins' College for Teachers. After her retirement, she taught in private elementary schools in Baltimore, Maryland. (Full article...)
Did you know...
- ... that Robert Baker Park in Baltimore was named after Robert Lewis Baker, whose personal garden was recreated at the city's Flower and Garden Show the year after his death?
- ... that Darryl De Sousa created a Baltimore Police Department unit to give lie detector tests to other units?
- ... that Charles J. M. Gwinn was the first state's attorney of Baltimore elected under the Maryland Constitution of 1851, which he had helped to draft?
- ... that Baltimore County Police Department leader Carroll E. Stansbury assigned officers to combat chicken theft?
- ... that the writer of "Crabs for Christmas" joked that it contributed to Baltimore's population decline?
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Baltimore Street Map, 1892 (from History of Baltimore) -
Row houses like these in Locust Point historically comprised much of Baltimore's housing. (from Culture of Baltimore) -
Blue crabs (from Culture of Baltimore) -
View of Baltimore from Chapel Hill, by Francis Guy, 1802-03 (Brooklyn Museum) (from History of Baltimore) -
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John E. Hurst Building, site of the fire's outbreak (from Great Baltimore Fire) -
An 1864 map of Baltimore (from History of Baltimore) -
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Map of Chesapeake Bay area by John Senex, 1719, with Baltimore County labeled near Maryland's border with Pennsylvania. (from History of Baltimore) -
Some of the more upscale rowhouses in Baltimore, like these brightly painted homes in Charles Village, have complete porches instead of stoops (from Culture of Baltimore) -
Marble steps in need of a scrubbing with Bon Ami powder and a pumice stone. East Fort Avenue, Locust Point, August 2014 (from Culture of Baltimore) -
Marylanders steam blue crabs, usually in water, beer and Old Bay Seasoning. (from Culture of Baltimore) -
An illustration of the aftermath of the Great Baltimore Fire in February 1904 (from Great Baltimore Fire) -
South Baltimore (from List of Baltimore neighborhoods) -
West Baltimore (from List of Baltimore neighborhoods) -
Sharp Street Church was established 1787, the existing building having been erected in 1898 (from History of Baltimore) -
The Baltimore riot of 1861 (from History of Baltimore) -
Baltimore Street Map, 1838 (from History of Baltimore) -
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Mount Clare Mansion, known today as the Mount Clare Museum House, is the oldest Colonial-era structure in Baltimore. (from History of Baltimore) -
Same view in 1906, 2 years after the fire (from Great Baltimore Fire) -
Child labor at J.S. Farrand Packing Company in Baltimore, 1909. Photo by Lewis Hine. (from History of Baltimore) -
View of Baltimore by William Henry Bartlett (1809–1854) (from History of Baltimore) -
Storefront of establishment selling Lake Trout in Baltimore (from Culture of Baltimore) -
Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, looking West from East Pratt and North Gay Streets (from Great Baltimore Fire) -
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad engine and passenger car from the 1830s. (from History of Baltimore) -
Worker assembling an aircraft at the Glenn L. Martin plant in Baltimore (from History of Baltimore)
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