Historical Background

The most blue collar of American cities started as the most blue blooded. Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore, hoped to reproduce England as perfectly as possible. But by the end of the 19th century, the city built as a seat for landed gentry had become a collection of fiercely solid working class neighborhoods.

Cecil appointed his brother Leo as the first governor, and, on November 22, 1632, the Ark and the Dove set sail from England with about 140 settlers, a mix of Protestants and Catholics. By March 25, 1633, the Feast of the Annunciation, they had established their first Maryland landing on the island of St. Clement's.

Maryland's early years were a rich time for landed gentry, with rolling estates, rich hunting and fishing, and a good port. Black slaves and indentured whites were doing the work and it was very much like Lord Baltimore's vision of an idyllic England, except that Catholics and Protestants were trying to live in harmony. This religious mix was highly unusual at the time--within a few years the religious tensions back in England would lead to civil war. During this period, in 1689, Anne Arundell Town was named Maryland's capital, but was renamed Annapolis in 1695.

In the colony's early years, 80 percent of the land was controlled by about 10 percent of the population. The town of Baltimore was chartered on August 8, 1729 as a place to put the colony's new customs house; eventually it became the chief port, and today it is the fifth busiest port in the United States.

By the 1750s, the main export crops were cereal grains and flour, ground in the new mills of Baltimore. Indentured servitude came to an end, and these new freemen opened a series of small farms across the state. Trade with the other colonies and with Europe was the principle industry of this seaport town, and the forces that propelled America into the Revolutionary War were keenly felt here. Baltimoreans raided British merchant frigates under officially sanctioned "privateering" laws.

Despite frequent skirmishes, progress continued. In 1808, Mother Elizabeth Seton opened a school for girls on Paca Street and in 1812 the University of Maryland was founded. Mother Seton was later canonized as the first American saint, in 1975.

During the Napoleonic Wars, Baltimore ships proved adept at skirting British blockades to supply France. Eager to take another crack at the ex-colonies, Britain declared war. During the War of 1812, the British burned Washington D.C. and General Andrew Jackson made a name for himself defeating the British in the Battle of New Orleans. Then, in 1814, British troops advanced on Baltimore, planning to burn the town and destroy the core of the American merchant fleet in the harbor. On Sunday, September 11, 1814, they attacked the harbor defenses at Ft. McHenry.

The battle raged for 12 hours. Eight miles away, aboard a British vessel, an American watched the bombardment. Francis Scott Key was a lawyer negotiating the release of a client when a British officer detained him for the duration of the battle. As evening fell, Key could plainly see the American flag, 80 feet long and 40 feet high, above the fort. The sight inspired Key to write "The Star Spangled Banner," which was later declared the official national anthem of the United States. Though the lyrics are Key's, the tune comes from an old British drinking song.

By the end of the Civil War, Baltimore started to resemble the city it is today. The landed gentry of Lord Baltimore's time were long gone. The rising cities of New York and Boston and Philadelphia had become the new centers of culture, and many of the rich had moved on.

The end of the 19th century marks the beginning of baseball. The Baltimore Orioles was among the first teams. Babe Ruth was born here in 1895 and his father ran a pub on a spot in what is now Camden Yards. The Orioles' Cal Ripken, Jr., is a legend here, and everywhere that baseball is followed.

Modern Baltimore began at the end of World War II. As the new suburbs developed, downtown fell on hard times. By the 1960s, Baltimore faced the same sort of abandonment and blight as most American cities. This changed in the 1980s with the development of the Inner Harbor and Camden Yards, the new home of the Orioles.

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