"Reddy the Bull" Predicted Baltimore Motorists' Disgust in Traffic Lights

City Traffic, Early 1920s

   Within years of the automobile being introduced to Baltimore City streets, the issue of traffic had become a major problem where both patrolmen and/or traffic signals were used to control movement at congested intersections.  Besides cars and trucks, traffic included street cars (vehicles traveling on rails) and horse-drawn vehicles.  While they all obeyed a general principle of staying to the right on two-way roads, beyond the confusion at busy intersections, it was becoming outright dangerous.

Baltimore City Policeman with
Semaphore, circa 1920
(Courtesy: Kildruffs.com)

   As was the case in many bustling cities of the day, at first, whistle blowing and arm waving patrolmen attempted to provide order to the chaos. As early as April 1915, the Baltimore City Police Department had traffic police officers operating 'newfangled' signals upon long poles (or semaphores) having narrow paddles which were painted red on two sides with a bold white "STOP" - they were first trial implemented at the corner of Park Heights and West Belvedere Avenues.  Traffic policemen operating semaphores were widely used for a period of five years and often removed depending on the perception of their merit as opposed to the sole whistle and wave of patrolmen.

Gen. Charles D. Gaither
Baltimore City Police
Commissioner (1920-1937)

   On June 1st, 1920, a man by the name of Brigadier General Charles D. Gaither, previously commander of the First Brigade, Maryland National Guard began his duties as the Governor-appointed first Baltimore City Police Commissioner.  Called "The General," he took Baltimore City traffic seriously and would personally drive through downtown city streets observing the manner in which traffic was handled, especially during rush hour.

   By July 1921, under his direction, the Police Department placed fourteen six feet high "lighthouses" on concrete bases which were intended to warn motorists of dangerous curves and bends at night. The flashing lights in the lighthouses were fueled by acetylene tanks (see photo, below and left) - red flashing indicated places where people had been killed, yellow for dangerous curves or bends where caution must be exercised, and green was for danger at intersections where slow, careful driving should be exercised to the right.

Acetylene Traffic Beacon

   The earlier days of traffic lights and warnings resulted in disgruntlement by drivers and even beasts.  Prior to placing the traffic lights on streets with protective bases, they were continually run over by motorists refusing to stop.  On October 16, 1923, the Baltimore Sun reported that a certain Jersey bull by the name of Reddy had created a riot in the middle of the congested intersection of Bryant and Pennsylvania Avenues while being led to slaughter.  A heard of 40 bulls were being driven down the avenue where automobiles stopped in obedience to a blinking red light, but not Reddy who saw it as a challenge and proceeded to charge it.  In the charge, a truck struck and broke its leg before he could reach his "enemy."  Unfortunately, agents of the SPCA needed to kill the Reddy earlier than his originally intended fate.

  General Gaither refused to bring "automatic" electric traffic signals to Baltimore City until the Fall of 1925 since he felt that devices on the market prior to then were inefficient in regulating and safeguarding traffic, effectively still in experimental stages.  On St. Patrick's Day of 1926, all semaphores at congested intersections between the north-south Gay and Greene streets and east-west Center and Pratt streets were replaced by automatic electric signals, interestingly controlled by one manned traffic tower - all changing at exactly the same time.  The Baltimore Sun further reported that thoroughfares like Cathedral and St. Paul streets and Mount Royal, North and Pennsylvania avenues would be operated independently by a traffic tower on each thoroughfare controlling all signals on that street.

Native Baltimorean,
Charles Adler, Jr.
(1899-1980)

Sound-activated
Traffic Light -
Adler Invention

  Automatic signals were a change for motorists as they were used to patrolmen hesitating changing a semaphore against an aggressive driver.  In contrast, with automatic signals, drivers would know that the signal won't hesitate and that drivers in the opposing direction would move the instant they saw their green signal.  Savings were envisioned from reduced manpower, yet for a period policemen were stationed at intersections until motorists and pedestrians were educated  to the necessity of observing the signals.  Initially, the colors used were RED for stop, WHITE for change, and GREEN for go.

   While these traffic lights were "automatic" to motorists, they were still controlled by a patrolman located in a tower.  True automatic traffic signals were actually invented by a gentleman by the name of Charles Adler, Jr. who was native to Baltimore.  An avid inventor, he invented a sound-activated traffic light (see figure, above, right), pavement traffic light sensors, and a list of many other inventions.  For all those motorists passing through Baltimore City streets, beware of camera activated ticket lights. Charge those traffic lights like Reddy the Bull and, while you won't meet his similar fate, you will be certain to receive a citation - you just won't have Charles Adler or General Gaither to blame for it.

(Sources: Baltimore Sun Newspaper articles, and Kildruffs.com)

Turning Blindness to Good Advantage

Robert W. Coleman,
circa 1912

  Robert W. Coleman - A Baltimore City elementary school memorialized his name, and rightly so. The youngest of four children, he was born November 1876 in Washington, D.C. and raised by his mother when his father died.  At age 19, Robert made Baltimore his home.  He was blind not by birth but due to a gradual reduction to near full lack of vision by age 36 as a result of a baseball accident.  He saw his first three daughters, but not the last three.

  His personality would not allow him to feel sorry for himself, nor be stifled by a physical impediment.  A booklet by his oldest daughter stated, "Robert Coleman and the Association for the Handicapped," he imbibed a philosophy and determination to overcome any obstacle, believed in action, had faith in God, himself, and his fellow man.

  Shortly after losing his sight, around 1912, this spirit would carry him to learn the new trade and graduated in piano tuning from the Maryland Workshop for the Blind after 3 years of study.  Within a year, he begin taking on causes as an activist to a new community to which he had become a part of - the handicapped individuals of Baltimore.  According to the Afro-American newspaper obituary, "his sympathy was aroused for all of those persons who were physically or mentally handicapped."

The MD Association for
the Colored Blind

  In October 1913, he organized and then founded the Maryland Association for Colored Blind which, according to the organization's literature was "for the purpose of advancing the moral, religious, social and industrial development of Colored Adult Blind and to extend to them sympathy and brotherhood".  Further literature stated it was reorganized on May 3, 1925 as the Association of the Handicapped, Inc. which then also included "the blind, mute, feeble-minded, and crippled," although he preferred the termed "handicapped."

  For the Association's 25th anniversary, he elegantly communicated with the staff of then Maryland Governor Harry W. Nice toward a successful Proclamation of Negro Handicapped Week for the second week of May in 1936.

First Colored Directory of
Baltimore City
4th Edition, 1916

   During that same year, according to the book Baltimore, by Philip J. Merrill, he, his wife (originally Mary Ann Mason) and their six daughters worked by writing and proofreading in order to publish the First Colored Directory of Baltimore City for a period of 33 years.  The Referred to as "the blue book," according to the Archives of  Maryland, the directory was the first of its kind in the United States to highlight the biographies, trades, and companies of African-Americans - its main audience was the African-American community.

  Initially, the directories sold for 15 cents and Coleman published about 500 to 1,000 copies yearly.  There were listings of drug stores, doctors, dentists, and many other professions.  Of course, his Association of the Handicapped, Inc. was one of the many listings.  Merrill wrote that the directories became an annual Who's Who of black Baltimore professionals, complete with photographs and biographical write-ups as well as statistics and historical facts.

Robert W. Coleman
Photo Courtesy: Afro-American
Newspaper

  His wife (originally Mary Ann Mason) became the director of the Association for the Handicapped, Inc. when her husband died in 1946.  After his death, it became known as "The Robert W. Coleman Association for the Handicapped," which became primarily a scientific organization for the treatment of human beings and the conditions under which they live.  He is credited with beginning "sight-saving" classes in the schools, providing car transportation so handicapped children could attend school, and purchasing eyeglasses for the less fortunate.

  An Afro-American article which interviewed fellow citizens about notable citizens summed it up quite nicely, "Baltimore needs more men like Mr. Coleman, men who believe in unselfishly working together for the common good of our community."

(Sources: Afro-American newspaper; "Baltimore," by Philip J. Merrill)

Baltimore’s Flower Mart – Roots from Civic Minds (1911)

This weekend, May 3 and 4, Baltimore will host what has been said to be America’s oldest garden show and it, the FlowerMart, will be 102 years old this go around.   While currently sponsored by the “Flower Mart at Mount Vernon, Ltd.”, a non-profit organization, the roots of this locally famous event can be traced to the ideas of some pretty impressive, civic-minded, early 20th Century women.

FlowerMart ad from
VisitMountVernon

  Baltimore at the time was well on the path of resurgence since the Great Fire of 1904, however there was no city plan with zoning protections, smoke permeated the air, and rebuilding took precedence over sanitization improvements that would have typified those of a modern city such as this.

  This was a city where by 1911, individual liberty trumped community welfare. The school system consisted of schools, many of which were built before the Civil War, needing upgrade and expansion to meet the expanding school-age population.   Overcrowding was leading to higher death rates, epidemics, and unhealthy supplies of food and staples, like milk. At this time, the population was composed of 20 percent African-American Baltimoreans who lived in some of the most deplorable of conditions.

Women's Civic League Seal
(ties to the Flower Mart location)

  To the rescue was the Women’s Civic League of Baltimore!!!  The Civic League was first organized in January 1911, the result of a meeting of six women who met in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Francis M. Jencks.  The By-Laws captured their noble purpose:

“To suggest, obtain, improve and promote desirable and proper living conditions in the City of Baltimore and its environs, or elsewhere in the State of Maryland, in respect to hygienic and sanitary matters, cleanliness, recreation, ornamentation, cultivation, the abatement of nuisances of every kind, and … whatsoever which may in any way effect the safety, health, or welfare of the people.”

  That first meeting determined that the League (and its Board of Directors, numbering 50) would be composed only of women, and Advisory Council of 55 men.  By 1916, they numbered 2,172 in membership.  They elected their first president; Mrs. Henry Barton Jacobs, and women on the first Board of Directors represented some of Baltimore’s most notable families. [The Frick family arrived around 1770 to Baltimore, had a family member on the first Baltimore City Council; the Gutmans and Hutzlers were two of Baltimore’s most well-known retailing families; and the Abell family were longtime owners of the Baltimore Sun]

  With thousands of members, they had a Committee to address just about everything, here is just a sampling:  Juniors Division, Milk, Health, Art, History, Citizenship, City Planning and Zoning, Civil Service, Education, and Home Garden Committee (to which we owe the idea of a Flower Market to be held around the Washington Monument as a means of raising funds for the work of the Committee, which originally as an idea in the mind of Miss Maria Manly).

Page from the Women's Civic
League membership brochure

  The women of the League, having much more time to spare on civic matters than the women of today, were able to claim an imposing list of achievements in Baltimore since its inception.  In 1911, the Home Garden Committee began the first flower mart, believed to be the first one in this country. In 1912, they asked the health department to abolish the sale of unbottled milk, publish milk scores, and set standards of bacteria for raw and pasteurized milk.

  As early as 1911, they called for inspections of smoke stack plants of the city that led to the Mayor appointing a Smoke Abatement Commission and inspector – a Smoke Abatement Ordinance was passed and signed in 1931. By 1945, an ordinance to prohibit the sale of wild rabbits, a source of tularemia, was supported. By 1955, the league drew up an ordinance that was passed by the City Council controlling the use of electric signs.
At the 1955 Flower Mart, the Red Rose was chosen by popular vote as the official flower of the City of Baltimore.  The helped bring about an Enoch Pratt branch library, cross-town service between North and East Baltimore, and many more successes.

  Within ten years just shy of a century of the Women’s Civic League, the Flower Mart was about to be cancelled for good due to the League’s dwindling membership, but you can read about how it survived even this challenge in a May 5, 2011 Baltimore Sun article.  So, as you experience the tradition this weekend,…remember and be thankful for the convictions and enthusiasm of some very special women from an earlier generation.

(Source: “History of the Women’s Civic League of Baltimore, 1911-1961", King Brothers Inc., and the Baltimore Sun)

A Sweet Baltimore Discovery at Johns Hopkins University (1879)

  In 1877, the H.W. Perot Import Firm, largest supplier of sugar in Baltimore at the time, had a large shipment impounded by the U.S. Government, which questioned its purity. The company hired Constantin Fahlberg (born in Tambov, Russia in 1850), an expert on sugar, to run tests and requested Johns Hopkins University Professor Ira Remsen (born in Harlem, NY in 1846) for use of the chemistry lab he managed.  H.W. Perot also hired Remsen, asking him to provide a laboratory for Fahlberg’s tests.

Constantin Fahlberg

  Dr. Ira Remsen founded the nation’s first journal of chemical research, and is considered the father of American chemistry. According to the book, "Sweet and low: A Family Story” by Rich Cohen, he had began tinkering with sulfobenzoic acids as a student in Germany eventually publishing 75 papers on these and related compounds, work that would be the research basis for what was to come – “saccharin”.

Ira Remsen,
Johns Hopkins Professor
and President

  In 1878, he became the second president of Johns Hopkins University and was less directly involved with the lab.  One day in June 1878, Professor Remsen suggested to his colleague, Fahlberg, that he experiment on testing substitution products of coal tar.  He had become so intensely interested and eventually forgot about supper until it was quite late, and then rushed off for a meal without stopping to wash his hands.

  Fahlberg sat down to dinner, picked up a roll with his hand and bit into a remarkably sweet crust – the result of having spilled an experimental compound over his hands from earlier that day. Realizing that it had to have come from the laboratory, according to his statement in a Baltimore Sun article he rushed back to it and “proceeded to taste the contents of every beaker and evaporating dish on the lab table.  Luckily for me, none contained any corrosive or poisonous liquid.”  Finally, he found the source:  an overboiled beaker in which sulfobenzoic acid had reacted to ultimately produce benzoic sulfinide which, to the taste, outsugared sugar.

Seal of the Fahlberg, List & Co.

  Remsen and Fahlberg jointly published an article describing the method of saccharin synthesis in February 1879, though initially neither discoverer seemed interested in its commercial use.  That would change in 1884 when, after Falhberg left Remsen’s lab and without notifying his co-discoverer, he applied for a German patent (which later transferred to an American patent) on a new method for cheaply producing greater quantities. By 1886, it was introduced to the public through a company he started the world’s first saccharin factory known as the Fahlberg, List & Co.

Chandler's Saccharin Pellets

  He then likewise quickly returned to the U.S. and set up shop in New York City, where he opened America’s first factory. Patent medicine companies like Chandler’s Distributors of St. Louis, MO, distributed saccharin in the United States as early as 1888 (see photo, left).  “Don’t Miss Your Sugar” was advertising headline.
  

 "Concentrated sweetness in handy form.  One pellet equals one teaspoon of sugar. Dissolves instantly – No bitter after-taste; which is experienced from the user of cheaper, inferior brands. Prescribed by doctors for persons unable to use sugar, also for reducing purposes.  A non-fattening, non-nutritive sweetening agent."

  By 1901, Monsanto was founded by John Francis Queeny, a 30-year veteran of the pharmaceutical industry, who gave the company his wife’s maiden name.  Oddly enough, the company’s first product was saccharin (in 1902) despite his father-in-law being a wealthy financier of a sugar company based in St. Thomas - this became the first commercial production of saccharin in the United States.   During the periods 1903 to 1905, Monsanto’s entire saccharin output was shipped (and later sold) to the growing soft drink company in Georgia, called Coca-Cola.  Its use became widespread especially during World War I due to sugar shortages.

Monsanto-brand Saccharin

  As early as 1907, the USDA investigated saccharin for being contradictory to the Pure Food and Drug Act, which had been enacted during President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration.  Teddy Roosevelt (being a consumer of saccharin) opposed the investigation and was stated saying, “Anyone who says saccharin is injurious to health is an idiot” when people questioned its use as a sweetener.  By 1917, the U.S. government filed suit over the safety of saccharin. 

  The safety of this now world-famous Baltimore-based discovery has been studied and written in volumes of literature and research.  Interestingly enough, it was one of the co-founders himself (Ira Remsen was the Johns Hopkins University acting president) who was quoted by the Baltimore Sun as he lectured before the Public School Teacher’s Association on an evening in February 1890, “It may interest you to learn that saccharin was discovered about ten years ago in the chemical laboratory of the Johns Hopkins University, and that it is now manufactured on the large scale in Germany.  It is an open question whether its side effects upon the system are injurious or not.” 

Remsen Hall, Johns Hopkins
(Courtesy: JHU)

  Although it was possibly stated with vengeance over not being credited for its discovery within patent or public venues, perhaps this forewarning by the true co-inventor might be the best input in determining your own opinion about its safeness

  Here in Baltimore, after his death in 1927, Dr. Ira Remsen’s ashes were placed behind a plaque in Remsen Hall on the Homewood Campus of saccharin’s discovery location at Johns Hopkins University.  Dr. Constantine Fahlberg died in Aug 1910 and is buried at Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow, Russia.

(Other Sources for this blogpost courtesy of: Chemical Heritage Magazine, Wikipedia, and Baltimore Sun articles)

Early Baltimore "Wireless Telephone" (Radio) Stations

War Questionnaire,
Calman J. Zamoiski

  Calman J. Zamoiski, Sr. was born in Baltimore (1896) to Joseph M. and Tena Zamoiski.  (An interesting side note: His father was nursed while wounded in the Crimean War by Florence Nightingale, and later supervised the construction of the Baltimore Belt Tunnel). Prior to World War I, he worked at his father’s electric supply and construction company, “Joseph M. Zamoiski Co. The Electrifiers.” Following his return from the war, he became interested in radio, the company began stocking Philco radio parts, and after received a radio operator’s license, he founded the Baltimore’s first commercial radio station.  According to published obituaries, Calman first began broadcasting in Baltimore from the bedroom of his home at 2527 Madison Avenue (across from Druid Lake) in November, 1921, under the call letters 3RM - initially featuring sermons by local clergymen but later included concerts and non-religious talks. 

  At that time, the term “wireless telephone” was used synonymously with the term “radio,” and as Baltimore's pioneer in radio, Zamoiski received a license on March 26, 1922, to operate a new station (call sign WKC), from the top floor of his radio and electronics store at 19 North Liberty street (currently at the location of the downtown Sheraton hotel).  The Evening Sun first public announced on March 30, 1922, that a “new broadcasting station of Baltimore … would give a concert” (the eight-piece Century Roof Dance Orchestra) that evening. One could imagine the local neighborhood crowd and spectacle on evenings when these performances would air. The WKC radio station would last until 1924.

  WEAR, owned by the Baltimore American was the second radio station on air by becoming operational on June 8, 1922. Frank Munsey was the owner of the Baltimore American at that time their studios were run from the 18th floor of the Munsey Building (7 N. Calvert Street).

Early WCAO, S&N Katz
Radio Advertisement

  Three months later, on September 4, 1922, WCAO, owned by Sanders and Stayman Piano Co (a musical instrument and phonograph store later to be known as Kranz-Smith) became the third on air radio station (at 600 kHz) by originally broadcasting from the piano company at 319 N. Charles Street.  It moved to Lehman Hall (852 N. Howard Street) and then to its last downtown location at Brager’s Department Store (corner of Eutaw and Saratoga Streets). The Upton Mansion, at 811 W. Lanvale Street, ended up being the residence of its big studio, radio offices, and transmitter location.  WCAO was one of the 16 original stations making up the United Broadcasting System, later renamed as the Columbia Broadcasting System, the network now known as CBS.  In the early 1930s, WCAO became the first national broadcast from a moving train (the B&O) by rebroadcasting the feed to CBS transmitters.

WCBM 1957 Postcard,
(Courtesy: dcrtv.com)

 "Where Christ Blesses Multitudes” became the moniker to represent Baltimore’s first religious radio station (at 1370 kHz, in 1941 at 1400 kHz and finally 680 kHz), call sign WCBM, which, according to a Jan 1949 Broadcasting magazine, began operating after its license was issued in May 1924 by the Seventh Baptist Church (30 E. North Avenue) at the corner of St. Paul Street.  In 1926, it then moved to its first formal studios in the Hotel Chateau (2-4 W. North Avenue, northwest corner of Charles Street).

Early WBAL Radio ad

  In late 1925, WBAL (1090 kHz) radio was advertising to find any man that felt they could qualify as a radio announcer and they began broadcasting of that year as a subsidiary of the Consolidated Gas Electric and Power Company on November 2 from their studio that existed in the 39 Lexington St Building, the location of the utility offices.   Though the name of the company’s owners was not broadcast or exploited in any way, the announcers quite often stated, “This is BALtimore.”  In its early days, (according to the Baltimore Broadcasting, From A to Z, by Thomas O’Connor) the first letters of each of the last names of the announcing staff coincidentally spelled out the station’s call sign (WBAL) – John Wilborne, Stanley Barnett, Delano Ames, and Walter Linthicum. 

Early WFBR Radio Ad

  Originally owned and operated by the Fifth Maryland Regiment having studios at the Armory on Preston Street, WFBR Baltimore (an NBC network) was at 1180kHz, and it was a station that expanded the limits of mobility.  Its call sign was an an acronym for "World’s First Broadcasting Regiment.”  While it had offices on St. Paul Street, it operated Baltimore’s first mobile news truck, known as “Unit 2.” An October 4, 1925 Baltimore Sun article reported that it claimed to be the first station in the United States to successfully rebroadcast a program sent from a moving airplane. For a while it operated at 13 E. 20th Street and above the Center movie theatre (10 E. North Avenue).

WEBB Radio Announcer, Late 1950s

  By 1955, radio was in full bloom in Baltimore.  WEBB was established that year and named for the
legendary Baltimore-born and raised swing and jazz musician, William Henry “Chick” Webb.  From it’s beginnings, it was planned to serve Baltimore’s African-American community. Interestingly, Chuck Richards, one of WEBB radio’s best-known performers began his career as a vocalist with Chick Webb’s band, singing with Ella Fitzgerald. In 1969, soul singer James Brown purchased WEBB and owned it for 10 years.  Dorothy E. Brunson, a prominent local businesswoman, purchased it during bankruptcy proceedings in 1979 thereby becoming the first African-American woman in the country to own a radio station – it was later sold in 1990. 

  Baltimore’s first FM station was an experimental station designated as W3XMB, and later began licensed operation as WITH-FM, later known as WBSB (B104 FM).

(Sources: “The Free State of Maryland,” Kummer-Latrobe, Baltimore Broadcasting-From A to Z, Baltimore Sun newspaper, and Wikipedia)

The Lasting Products Company - Baltimore City's "Little Castles"

The Lasting Products Company ad, circa 1946

Until 1937, downtown Baltimore City homes looked like many other homes within urban landscapes across America - concrete or brick-faced or even slated wood - but U.S. Patent Number 2,095,641 would change all that.  Lewis Albert Knight (he went by "Albert") had a vision which eventually transformed the traditional row home-lined Baltimore City street only to become a distinctive part of its unique heritage. Mr. Knight graduated from Franklin High School in Reisterstown, studied at the Maryland Institute, and eventually received his bachelor's degree from Johns Hopkins University.  He died in 1980 at the age of 76.

  On March 1, 1937, this Glyndon native filed his patent as an assignor to the Lasting Products Company where he was employed at the time - "A process of making artificial stone wall facings."  It was marketed to thousands of homeowners that it would "make your home the neighborhood showplace," "beautiful, long-lasting," and "maintenance free."

The FormStone Original, PlateMarker

  The parent firm of Formstone was the Lasting Products Company (see their ad, above), a paint manufacturing firm founded by Albert I. Rankin who was born in 1897 and immigrated to Baltimore as a young boy.  He began manufacturing paint, roof coatings, and putty at 200-212 S. Franklintown Rd, Baltimore, MD, the location of the company until it sold out in 1974, seven years after he died.

  Simulated stone was found in other cities, and while the Formstone patent expired 17 years later, it went by a multitude of other brands such as "Perma-stone," "Dixie Stone,""Rostone," "Silverstone," TruStone,""Bermuda Stone,"Modern Stone," "Romanstone," "Magnolia Stone," "Fieldstone," or "Stone of Ages."  It was the rage throughout the 40s, 50s, and 60s, given that homeowners seemed to love it as it covered up brick and other masonry imperfections, helped modernize home appearances, and was advertised to be near maintenance-free. Those who dreaded the idea of repeated, exterior wall painting, saw hope in the concept.

"Little Castles" Rowhomes in Baltimore
(Photo: Courtesy, theatlanticcity.com)

  Formstone and Permastone were similar in that they were created at the job site, much like interior plaster.   Decades later, there were surprises for homeowners and a nightmare for preservationists since its removal would often destroy the original detailing under the installation.  Mesh wiring was first applied to the exterior of the building, overlaid by a cement "scratch" coat.  Over that went a base coat followed by a color or textured material that was hand-sculptured on top - in Mr. Knight's case, rather than just coloring the stone mixture with pigment, he mixed colored stones from many parts of the country which enabled it to be color-resistant to outdoor elements.

  According to "Old House Journal, 1982," Formstone was not the only affront to be sprayed, rolled, poured, or smeared over original exteriors.  For instance, there was the "Merit Wall Method"which was marketed by Merit Enterprises.  A thick rubbery material was sprayed over everything but the window glass -- cornices, gutters, and door frames were not exempted. Suspended in goo was fine stone dust and the effect was that of a huge metalflake balloon having been stretched over the house and then cut out at the doors and windows."  Fortunately, it never caught on to the extent of Formstone.

  Native son and avant-garde film director, John Waters, affectionately referred to it as the "Polyester of Brick" and went so far as to document it in one entitled "Little Castles: A Formstone Phenomenon."  Due to its prolific use in over 50 percent of Baltimore row homes, preservationists to this day debate over what is worthy of preservation - the pre-faux or the post-faux look. The idea of preserving Formstone in Baltimore has been creeping into the modernist mentality, while others have decided that tradition is what lies beneath.  A Baltimore Sun article, December 1, 2012, states that the Baltimore City Council seems to be of the impression that it is a rather tacky appearance and needs to henceforth be banned from further proliferation and use.  What opinion do you have, hon?

It's 2 O'clock. Do You Know Where Your Husband Is?

The 2 O'clock Club's Neon Marquee, best seen at night.

  In the mid 1800's, East Baltimore Street was not unlike much of the architecture on that street and throughout the city prior to the Civil War, being architecturally populated with four story commercial buildings.  By 1855, at 416 E. Baltimore, an auctioneer by the name of Samuel H. Gover determined to have a home for his auction gallery.  Interspersed with auction events, the hall was often used for public meetings. From 1860 for nearly four years, it was known as Apollo Hall and then Metropolitan Hall and then, between 1873 and 1891, it was known as Turner Hall.

  By 1892, the local chapters of the Grand Army of the Republic or "GAR" (a fraternal organization composed of veterans from the triumphant Union Army, US Navy, US Marines, and Revenue Cutter Service who served in the American Civil War) deemed it as their "Grand Army Hall" between 1892 and 1903. The GAR National Headquarters was rotated among various U.S. cities, however, unfortunately never was hosted by the City of Baltimore.

  The 1904 Great Fire of Baltimore was akin to an Etch-a-Sketch to much of the architectural and cultural landscape of the city.  Despite the tragedy, the original owners had high hopes and rebuilt to the original height.  Little would they know that their desire to build this building would be effectively sowing the seed for a cultural milestone within the U.S.

Harold Lloyd's Silent Film
 "Safety Last", 1923

  It was at this location where Marion Scott Pearce, motion picture pioneer, and his partner Philip J. Scheck (their firm here in Baltimore, known as Pearce & Scheck, originally built the Hippodrome Theater) operated their first theater in 1908, the Amusea (which first opened in a little room at 404-406 East Baltimore in 1906), showing some of Baltimore's first public showings of silent films.  The nickelodeon originally contained 75 seats operated 15 minute long reels non-stop for 12 hours daily but, due to the tremendous popularity of "moving pictures," they expanded to a 275 seat capacity auditorium and included "polite" vaudeville into their schedule of entertainment offerings.  You can read more about Mr. Pearce in the 1912 book "Baltimore: Its History and Its People," of the Lewis Historical Publishing Company.

  From the Amusea, they introduced the rather novel experiment of "talking pictures" which became interspersed with other venues - it was quite possibly the first instantiation of this concept in America.  In those days, these 'sound' movies were merely voice actors behind the screen who attempted to synchronize their voices and sounds of gunfire or other action with the silent visual screen display.

  According to the 1974 book "Headley's Exit: A History of Movies in Baltimore," when Pearce and Scheck began to have financial issues attempting to run the Hippodrome, they sold the Amusea to Milton Caplon who promptly changed the name to the Clover and expanded the seating capacity to 375.  By the 1930, the theater along with its environment on Baltimore Street became increasingly cheap and dirty.

Sol Goodman advertisement,
circa late 1930s

  In 1936, an enterprising Jewish man by the name of Solomon Goodman and his wife purchased the theater and opened the "2 O'Clock Club" which produced vaudeville and burlesque shows. By the 1951, Goodmans had pushed the envelope such that a Baltimore Sun article reported that Liquor Control Board was "horrified" over police descriptions of their floor shows.  In that instance, the club had its license suspended for 10 days due to a dancer named Zorita who it was reported during the "final part of her act the dancer held a snake close to her body and went through several indecent motions."

A 2 O'Clock Club Matchbox Cover
Featuring Blaze Starr, c1960
(Courtesy: Hakes.com)

  The 2 O'Clock Club became most known through the efforts of a particular stripper and burlesque star by the name of "Blaze Starr" who, according to The Selvedge Yard blog, was born Fannie Belle Fleming and commanded the stage with a voluptuous 38D-24-37 figure.  Blaze began performing at the  club in December 1950 and soon Mr. Goodman became her personal manager.  He eventually sold her the club in 1968 and over the next four years, Ms. Starr worked to elevate the reputation of The Block.  While she owned it, in addition to the building housing a burlesque theater, it housed an envelope factory, violin factory, and a gypsy shop.  So far, the 2 O'Clock Club is still alive and kicking, a remnant of Baltimore's illustrious and tawdry past on a slowly vanishing, somewhat seedy, section of town near Baltimore's Finest back doorstep.