Faded Hints of the Past Series: William Hollingsworth Machine Company

Ghost Ad, 227-229 Holliday St
(CharmCityHistory.com)

  The second in Faded Hints of the Past series focuses upon a brick building with a near fully obscure ghost ad, nestled between the Brink's Building (built circa 1947) and the Peale Museum (built 1814), on the east side of the 200 block (227-229 Holliday Street).  Departing from a recent City Hall visit, I came across this vertically placed white backgrounded ghost ad reading "ollingsworth..."  A few other clues were even less visible and barely recognizable from weathering and time, it diagonally reads "Rotary Press."

Early Morning Software,
Current Occupant (Oct 2013)

  A business by the name of Early Morning Software Incorporated currently occupies the building at this address having signage above the door.  In comparison to the Peale Museum adjacent to the south, the building's brick facade seems to have been less maintained and one would be inclined to guess it to have been built earlier, but this is likely not the case.
  After some investigative work and with the help of Sanborn insurance maps, we can determine that as of 1902, this building consisted of two separate smaller buildings having the address of 227 and 229 Holliday Street.  The second floor of the more northern section, 229 Holliday, was occupied by a "machine shop."  From the same map, it sat adjacent to a building that once occupied the north lot from 1847 to 1908, a bell foundry and brass works that was (according to Baltimore Sun classified ads) originally known as Clampitt & Regester, and finally J. Regester's Sons Co. (it is from this location that the original Baltimore City Hall bell was fabricated).

William T. Harris'
Gasoline-Powered
Motor Vehicle 1893
(Courtesy: U.S. Patent Office)

2nd Floor Machine Shop
at 227 Holliday St
(1902 Sanborn Insur. Map)

According to research, the machine shop was owned by a William Hollingsworth who rose from being an apprentice at age 14 after coming to Baltimore from his birthplace in Hartford County, Maryland to being a foreman and then superintendent.  Born in 1869, by his 31st birthday, he began his own business here on Holliday Street.  He was an avid inventor and well known in his trade, having been cited numerous times in the "American Machinist" journal.

  Most notably, according to The Antique Automobile, Vol. 33, in 1892, "a man" came into Mr. Hollingsworth's machine shop at this Holliday Street location wanting a steam-propelled passenger wagon for a sight-seeing bus for the World's Fair, but was instead persuaded to change to gasoline power and designed the car.  With high certainty the man, referenced in the above book, was a certain William T. Harris who is credited by Encyclopaedia Britannicaas being one of the earliest builders of a gasoline car.  In fact, one the earliest patent filings (No. 495733) for a vehicle motor (possibly THE earliest gasoline powered) is that of William T. Harris of Baltimore, MD, likely as a result of Hollingsworth's idea that day.  By 1896, William Hollingsworth invented and patented a "Mechanism for Drying Varnished Paper," in 1909, a "Ticket Vending Machine" and in 1926, a "Bronzing Machine," all in addition to the routine manufacturing of positive pressure blowers and combustion engines.

The Wm. Hollingsworth Building,
Circa 1900 (Courtesy: MD Historical Society)

   The building has had its share of catastrophic events in the early 20th Century.  It appears that late in 1906, Mr. Hollingsworth's machine shop was temporarily moved next door to 227 Holliday while he was in the process of reconstructing both addresses such that once rebuilt, it would be a single four-story structure business.  Unfortunately, on January 10, 1907, shortly after the roof had been joined across both portions and without warning the 3rd floor of 229 gave way, caved in, resulting in two men hurt and one worker buried dead beneath the debris of brick and mortar.   Just one year later and four years after the Great Baltimore Fire, in the early morning of January 24, 1908, a devastating fire started at J. Regester's Sons Bell Foundry which, as the Baltimore Sun reported, resulted in the death of three firemen and ruined plant - the Hollingsworth's machine shop suffered serious water damage and burned window sashes.

"Hollingsworth Bldg."
(1914 Sanborn Insur. Map)

  By 1932, his business at this location had grown to the point of being incorporated as the William Hollingsworth Machine Company, but its founder unfortunately died in 1941 without history crediting him with the notoriety of being the brains behind one of the earliest pioneers in modern automobile history.  Getting back to our original hint to this part of Baltimore's past, the Hollingsworth ghost ad is at least 70 years old.

(References Courtesy of: Baltimore Sun Newspapers, The Antique Automobile, Vol. 33, Encyclopaedia Britannica, American Machinist Journal)

Baltimore Inventors/Inventions: The Famous and Not So Famous

Ottmar Mergenthaler
(1854-1899)

   Baltimore has had its share of creative and ingenious minds even prior to 1790 when the United States officially began recognizing patents as legally proscribed by the signing of the Constitution in 1785 and, as such, there have been some famous and not-so famous inventors that Baltimore is proud to call its own.

Mergenthaler Linotype - 1886
(Courtesy: U.S. Patent Office)

   One of the earliest documented Baltimore inventions is the Baltimore "Mud Machine", a horse-powered dredger that scooped mud from channels in the Port of Baltimore.  Invented in 1783 by two of three Quaker Ellicott brothers, Andrew and John Ellicott who owned the largest gristmill and flour export business on the east coast of the United States, as a solution for clearing and deepening the departure channels for the many boats from their warehouse and wharf at Pratt and Light Street.

   In 1886, Ottmar Mergenthaler (1854-1899) of Baltimore, designed a "Machine for Producing Type Bars" for Printing Purposes, which went on to be known as the first Linotype Machine.  His company went on to become the Mergenthaler Linotype of New Jersey and New York where numerous improvements were made to this important invention of the U.S. printing industry.

Bates Hoist Machine (1871)
(Courtesy: U.S. Library of Congress)

   From his Iron Foundry and Machine Shop at 1512 Fleet Street, James Bates (1816-1896) invented his "Hoist Machine" (currently in the Baltimore Museum of Industry) which was patented in April 1871. Although Elisha Otis was said to have invented the first passenger elevator ten years prior, this Baltimore inventor's idea for a hand ratchet hoist made it unnecessary to wind a rope upon any drum or cylinder.

Elijah Bond's
"Toy or Game" - 1891
(Courtesy: U.S. Patent Office)

   By the end of what is known as the Victorian Era, between 1891 and 1892, when spiritualism was nearly fifty years mature and popular within the U.S., a total of three Baltimore inventors filed patents for their "talking boards."  It turns out that the Ouija Board, invented by Isaac and William Fuld of Baltimore, was not (as some Baltimore-based blogs have postulated) the first of the lot.  Elijah J. Bond of Baltimore invented his "Toy or Game," filed for patent in May 1890 and receiving U.S. Patent No. 446,054, for a psychograph/game rendition having a suspicious likeness to the model later made famous by the Fulds.  The other Baltimore inventor by the name of Moritz Schirman patented his "Talking Board" (Patent No. 520,616) from a 1892 filing.

Joseph Shapiro
Cake Cone Design - 1920
(Courtesy: U.S. Patent Office)

   In January 1894, while the world was still opening chewing gum having the form of flat sticks, George M. Harsh of Baltimore, filed and shortly afterwards patented his "Design For a Tablet of Chewing-Gum," (Patent No. 23,096).  The design consisted of a circular disk or tablet having a diametrical ridge or bead extending across one side and dividing the surface into two equal parts; the surface of the reverse side being plain.  The "Chiclets" tablet came into production 11 years later, possibly as a candied perfection to this Baltimore invention.

   According to the New York Times, at the turn of the 20th Century, when eating was still a formal affair, ice cream was served as a delicate sliver on a plate and savored with a teaspoon.  During the 1904 World's Fair in St. Louis, that changed when it is said the first waffle was rolled into a cone allowing the ice cream eater to walk-about.  While there are many such stories on the first to invent an ice cream cone, a Baltimore inventor by the name of Joseph Shapiro invented a design for a cake cone, filed for patent in April 1920, which was likely the first ornamental design of its kind.

   In the 21st Century, the origin of one of the more modern inventions was that of Robert D. Morrow of Baltimore who, as a 38-year-old electronics engineer working at the Martin Company, designed and invented his "Video Tape Recorder Using Amplitude Modulated Carrier and Saturated Tape."  He, along with Andrew S. Hegeinan, received a patent (No. 3405232) in May 1965 and (according to a June 5, 1965 Baltimore Sun article) it was available at market by the Christmas of 1966 as a home TV recorder at the price of $400.

Faded Hints of the Past Series: Border State Savings Bank

North-facing, Backside of
4 Park Avenue,
Photographed: 11 Sept 2013

   I realized that evidence from Baltimore's history is slipping away in front of our very eyes - we go about our business and daily lives not realizing that those remaining ties to the past are unraveling by the day.   A new investigative series of the Charm City History blog will be known as "Faded Hints of the Past" which will capture the slightest remnants of markers, fading painted (or ghost) ads , cornerstones, doorplates, or any other descriptor that provide small clues that offer a small window into a piece of Baltimore's past.

(Photo credit: Google street view)

   We begin with a building situated at 100 Park Avenue, the downtown Baltimore corner of W. Fayette Street.  While standing on Marion Street and next to the old SS Kresge building, one can look south upon the back side of its plain, exterior brick wall.  Almost obscured by the elements from numerous years, one can barely make out the white background, dark letter painted painted ghost ad on the north-facing, backside, of this late 19th-century four-story brick building - it reads "BORDER STATE SAVINGS BANK".

   Currently, occupied by the Barenburg Eye Associates, we set out to determine whether this ghost ad clue had anything to do with the beautifully architected corner building with a victorian-styled roof, adorned with a single conical dome, upon which it is painted.

Border State Savings Bank ad, 1892,
announcing an impending relocation.

  As it turns out, a single legal notice appeared in the "Special Notices" section of the Baltimore Sun on July 17, 1875 announces to its readers:  "Save Your Money in the Border State Savings Institute of Baltimore City.  This institution, incorporated during the year 1874 for the purpose of a SAVINGS BANK for the receipt of deposits of money and allowing interest on the same, has opened an office at No. 646 West Baltimore Street."  [The location is currently occupied by the buildings of the University of Maryland School of Dentistry]

  Shortly after its incorporation, it moved to a three-story brick building at the southeast corner of S. Poppleton and W. Baltimore Streets which was demolished and replaced by a building that is part of the University of Maryland, BioPark campus.  By 1892, according to an ad in the Directory of Charitable and Beneficient Organizations, the Border State Savings Bank was preparing for a move further west in Baltimore.

1907 Advertisment
(Courtesy: MD State Archives)

Henry F. Brauns
(Photo Courtesy:
BaltimoreArchitecture.org)

  The American Architect and Building News (Apr-Jun 1892) announced that an architect had been chosen for the location of the Border State Savings Bank's first owned-building.  Henry F. Brauns (1845-1917) who, according to a biography on the BaltimoreArchitecture.org website, was a Baltimore-based architect responsible for numerous building in the city. His   Prior to this building, he architected the William Knabe & Company piano factory building (1869) which was once at the present SW corner of M&T Stadium, and the G.W. Gail & Ax Co. tabacco warehouse (1871) at the NE corner of Barre and Charles Sts. Following his work with Border State, he went on to architect the Mount Royal Pumping Station (1897) at North Ave and McMechen (destroyed for I-83 construction) and the Northern District Police Station (1899) building currently at 3355 Keswick Road which are all characteristically similar in Victorian/French Renaissance design.  Nearing the end of his life, he was also responsible for the Browns Arcade building at 322-328 N. Charles Street (1904).

   Since its opening in 1874, the Border State Savings Bank advertised the "acceptance of $1.00 and upwards received on deposit." Small deposits rack up and as reported in the Annual Reports of the Comptroller of the Treasury, MD Comptrollers Office, the Border State Savings Bank held an average end of year deposit amount anywhere from $222,000 ten years after its establishment to near $900,000 by the time it ceased to exist around 1912.

Baltimore Florists' Exchange - An American First

Florists' Exchange Building,
Corner of Franklin and St. Paul Streets
Aug 2013

   The now abandoned building at 17 E. Franklin (southwest corner of Franklin and St. Paul Streets) was built on a lot that was once owned by the Safe Deposit and Trust Company.  The lot was purchased for $6,000 by the Baltimore Florists' Exchange building committee in January 1906 for the purpose of erecting their own building sizable enough to accommodate its cadre of 40 members that was too large for its 505 North Eutaw Street location.

   Architect J. Edward Laferty was commissioned and construction was completed during the late summer of 1906 by William H. Porter & Son for the sum of $15,000 according to Baltimore Sun articles of the time such that by November 13-16, the Gardeners' Club was able to hold its annual chrysanthemum and horticultural exhibition on the first and second floors. In addition to photographic representations, live palms and ferns were shown, but the most of the exhibition was devoted to public showing of chrysanthemums, roses, and evergreens.  Contests for "best in vase," "best brides' hand bouquet," "best distinct design," "best
basket," and "best wreath"where judged and yielded prizes of $1 to $10.

   The Florists' Exchange roots had been planted as early as 1889 during a time when Baltimore had a plentitude of hobby and interest clubs.  In the area of horticulture, there existed a Florists' Club, Gardeners' Club, and a Maryland Horticultural Society of which an Annapolis florist by the name of Edwin A. Seidewitz had been on the Executive Committee.

   While the many Baltimore clubs served their purpose of bringing people of the day together having a common interest in cultivating or appreciating flowers, Mr. Seidewitz, who had become a well respected florist in Baltimore realized a more specialized need for florists within the trade. Unlike the He conceptualized the idea of a mutual florists' association where local floral dealers could conduct wholesale business by distributing their stock amongst each other regardless of the size of their dealership.

   As a result of this idea, the Baltimore Florists' Exchange was formed having elected the man to conceptualize it as its President.   By February 1890, the Exchange was incorporated and located its first offices in the basement of a building at 120 N. Liberty Street (and later the 505 N. Eutaw Street location) as a depot for cut flowers exclusive to dealers.  It was said to be the first organization in America dedicated to the exchange of trees, plants, flowers, and seeds in addition to the general sharing of horticultural knowledge among horticulturalists and tradesmen who bought and sold flowers.

The hall space inside the
Florists' Exchange

   The building's upper floor was at times used by the Gardners' and Florists' Clubs, often interspersed by meeting locations for everything from lectures on the writings of Edward FitzGerald by the Baltimore Progressive Thought Center (The Sun, April 1908) to a temporary meeting location for the First Spiritual Church (The Sun, Sep 1908), Royal Order of the Moose (The Sun, Jan 1909), National Union (The Sun, June 1909), Knights of Phythia (The Sun, Dec 1909), Retail Grocers' Association (The Sun, Oct 1916), International Bible Students' Association (The Sun, Jul 1917).

   In the preparation of this article, it was perplexing that, beyond 1918, no public documentation exists on the building or the Florists' Exchange itself until May 1942 when it was sold into private hands in the amount of $25,000.

   Perhaps, for historical completeness, we have to pick up with the life of Mr. Seidewitz.  Things were well for Mr. Seidewitz who had become an accomplished Baltimore florist, considered one of the "livest" men in the organization he became President of the Rotary Club, and one of the most prosperous citizens of Baltimore.  By April 1890, he married Adele Wattensheidt and the next year cited in the "Annals of Horticulture" as having registering the introduction of 33 new varieties with the American Chrysanthemum Society: one was called the Adele and the other the Lord Baltimore. Though born in Baltimore County in 1866, he was a resident of Annapolis and eventually served as Mayor of that city from July 1899 to 1901.

Hotel Junker
22 E. Fayette Street

   Unfortunately, Mr. Seidewitz became a cruel victim of a form of bullying by Baltimore Society during the War I period. According to the book "The Illusion of Victory: America in WWI" by Thomas J. Fleming, it all began one night at the Hotel Junker (currently at 22 E. Fayette St.), "shortly after war was declared, the florist met some officers from several German ships that had been trapped in Baltimore's harbor since 1914. They were in a gloomy mood, lamenting their long separation from friends and family and the prospect of internment as enemy aliens until the war ended. Seidewitz bough them beer, and they drank together.  Touched by their plight, the florist kissed one of them on the forehead in an attempt to comfort the man. Word soon swept Baltimore that Seidewitz had "kissed a German." His floral business collapsed. He was expelled from the Rotary Club, after directors refused to let him speak to the members in his own defense."

   Apparently, according to those that knew him intimately, he was said to have suffered for some time with mental and nervous disorders since the United States entered the war, and that conditions had preyed on his mind.  Saddest of all, was his fate when at 52 years old Edwin, on August 24, 1918 he decided upon suicide with a revolver while his family was downstairs in their home on Old Pimlico Road.  It would appear that with his life, so went the Baltimore Florists' Exchange.  Its success, however, having been demonstrated by florists in Baltimore, precipitated similar exchange organizations in Philadelphia, Boston, and Chicago.

(Sources: Baltimore Sun Newspaper articles; Annals of Horticulture; "The Illusion of Victory: America in WWI" by Thomas J. Fleming; 

Historical Impressions of Baltimore (1849-1981)

   Recently, it was my one year anniversary of being back in Baltimore City as a resident and I decided to provide some updated thoughts about the City, I decided to set out to capture some of the good and the bad impressions from the famous and not-so-famous over Baltimore's earlier years.  Brace yourself for the bad, it ain't too pretty.  Mid-nineteenth Century literary personalities were candid and cold in capturing their thoughts about Baltimore at the time.

North Point Battle (1814) Monument

   Robert Baird (1798-1863), an American clergyman and author, wrote in his book "Impressions and Experiences of the West Indies and North America in 1849" that "unquestionably the town of Baltimore is finely situated, and the ladies of Baltimore are very beautiful." Of the 1814 Battle Monument, he stated it "appeared to me a work too elaborate in its design, wanting in simplicity, and displaying little taste."  He had higher favor upon Baltimore's Washington Monument stating that it "is worthy of the state that reared it, and of the great man whose patriotic services it is designed to commemorate." Oddly enough, he found it necessary to point out "of late years, several instances have occurred of persons throwing themselves from the top of the Washington Monument at Baltimore.  In the majority of instances, these victims of madness or of misery have been females."

   George Rose (1817-1882), who according to Wikisource was a dramatist, novelist, and humorous entertainer of London, and wrote under the name of "Arthur Sketchley" in his book "The Great Country: or Impressions of America" of 1868 provided some stark commentary on Baltimore.  "Baltimore takes its name from Lord Baltimore, and is one of the most uphill cities I ever visited.  A line of the great national anthem, "Yankee Doodle" - I am quoting from memory -- states that "Baltimore is the dandy."  I do not know what the American laureate of that day may have meant by this expression, but am happy to endorse the statement as far as saying that the city is well built and very clean.  In spite of its title the City of Monuments, I did not think much of the public buildings.  The Catholic cathedral struck me as a marvel of ugliness; though it boasts the finest organ in America.  I do not think that, rich though Baltimore be in monuments, they would repay the trouble of visiting them.  As national works, they are doubtless very great but, artistically, the less said about them the better."

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

   A February 1874 article in the Baltimore Sun accounted what English Victorian era author Charles Dickens (1812-1870) wrote of Baltimore in his second visit to America: They are very handsome women," he says of the Baltimore ladies, "with an Eastern touch to them, and dress brilliantly I have seen so fine an audience. They are bright responsive people." Owing to the times, he further writes "It is remarkable how the ghost of slavery haunts the town..."  Commenting on the contrast and the comparative state of black americans at that point in Baltimore history, "I strongly believe that they (the negroes) will die out of the country fast.  It seems looking at them, so manifestly absurd to suppose it possible that they can even hold their own against a restless, shifty, striving, stronger race."

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
(1840-1893)

   By May 1891, a beautifully dressed, white-bearded, 50 year old visitor by the name of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the world famous Russian composer commented that "Baltimore is a pretty, clean town" in his diary during a one day tour of Baltimore and its Peabody Institute.

   At the turn of the 20th Century, the Baltimore Harbor, as in the case of New York City's Hudson riverfront, was lined with commercial property buildings and wharfs, becoming virtually inaccessible to the common citizenry. There was of course, Federal Hill, one of the only vantage points from where all the industrial city could be seen in near full panorama.  The Kent News of Chestertown, Maryland in August 1898 described it this way: "Every visitor to Baltimore is astonished that the foulness of the harbor if that great city is allowed to continue.  Its offensiveness, its unsightliness, its menace to health--all reflect upon the city authorities."

James W. Rouse, City Planner,
(1914-1996)

   The northwest branch of the Patapsco River took some heavy use and abuse over the several hundred years of development.  Thanks to the genius of men like Mr.James W. Rouse, master city planner, Baltimore's "Inner Harbor" emerged from a dark period with a renaissance opening of Harborplace in 1988.

   In 1913, Dr. Werner Hegemann, the German expert on city planning commented on Baltimore during his visit as captured in the Baltimore Sun. He was enthusiastic over Broadway and could not get enough of the view he got of it as he looked south. Over and over again, he would say "Let me get another look at this beautiful street!"  In East Baltimore, the cleaning of the white marble steps in front of the homes by the housewives or the housemaids.  He was surprised and delighted that were so many marble steps in front of even the modest homes in Baltimore.

   A witty English visitor to Baltimore in 1925 commented in The Sun, "If a Baltimore man asks you to dinner and says that his house is the one with the white marble steps in front, you will know that he has not asked you to dinner, for every house has white steps in front of it." Even the "poorer people have wooden steps and are always painting them white."

   The downtown city streets and its slums webbed out toward the city's northwest perimeter. As late as June 1948, Richard Feldman, a Government official from the Union of South Africa was quoted in the Baltimore Sun as describing their condition being quite strikingly worse than conditions in slums of his own country and in English cities like London and Manchester. "Even 'darkest Africa' was never like this.  I have not seen anything anywhere quite so shockingly bad as I saw this morning." On a brighter note, he expressed delight over the housing projects known as McCulloh and Gilmor Homes.

Today, decades after these comments were made in the 1980's regarding Baltimore's architecture, city planners might want to take a step back to note how well Baltimore has developed over the years.

In February 1981, Paul Goldberger, New York Times architecture critic while not seeing an ideal city he did have high praise for Baltimore as noted in The Sun.  "I hadn't been here for a decade, and my impressions of Baltimore are so positive that I'm a little suspicious. The hills are wonderful...I loved Roland Park too-there's a fabulous fabric of city here."  Of the Charles Center buildings, Mr. Goldberger described the Morris Mechanic Theatre as a "wowed-look-at-me-I'm-funny" building. He praised Mount Vernon square for its cruciform plan incorporating "an extraordinary balance."

Historic Charles Street,
Baltimore MD

  In July 1980, a group of six architects from across the world converged on Baltimore to give the following Baltimore Sun captured commentary: "I was impressed with such an enormous investment of energy and people in the Inner Harbor area, but I felt a kind of disproportion," stated Abu Aldenberg of the Netherlands.  Mr. Drazen Juracic of Yugoslavia commented, "The big mistake in the design concept of the Inner Harbor is that it's not linked to Charles Street" which he thought were "extraordinarily beautiful," reflecting Baltimore's rolling topography.  Mr. Fumio Okuyama of Japan found little harmony between old and new architecture in the city and pointed to lack of green spaces downtown.

  As Earl Arnett of the Baltimore Sun once aptly stated "...perspectives on the visual attractions of our city have always been a mixed bag--perhaps because the city is a mixed bag.  Like America itself, Baltimore is a curious mixture of beauty, richness and poverty--still a bit unsure of itself in a new land whose vastness and significance is not yet fully comprehended."

(Sources: Baltimore Sun Newspaper articles)

The Cost of Breaking the Law in Baltimore - 125 to 200 Years Ago

Baltimore City Hall (c1900)
Detroit Publishing Company
(Courtesy: Shorpy.com)

   One would be surprised as to what you might get arrested for in violation of Baltimore City Ordinances between 125 and 200 years ago in Baltimore City.   Public law in early Baltimore City was written and enacted in response to the pressing issues of the day (health, safety, wrongs against individuals and public property) as was the case in many developing cities within the United States and around the world.  Current Baltimore City laws and ordinances have citations deriving from City Code as far back as 1879.

   What follows is a collection of offenses from the period of 1801 to the 1870s, along with associated fines for violating the ordinance or code.  It has been determined from actual Baltimore City Ordinance of the period or from court judgments and/or arrests as noted in Baltimore Sun legal articles.  So as to impress upon today's reader the magnitude of the fine, each of the fines for offense are indicated by value in today's U.S. dollar.

1801 (as noted in Ordinances of the Corporation of the City of Baltimore)

• Driving a carriage, caravan, wagon, sleigh, cart, etc in the middle (as opposed to the right side) of the street - FINE, $14
• Cock fighting of any kind within the City Limits - FINE, $271
• Gun or pistol which is willfully and needlessly shot or discharged within the City - FINE, $68
• Bringing damaged coffee, hides or other damaged or infected articles into the city limits, by land or water - FINE, $4,070
• Operating the performances or exhibitions without a license (See below, for license cost): - FINE, $13,565

Licenses were required for the following: Circus or theatrical exhibition - $109 / performance; Rope or wire dancing, or puppet shows - $136 / week; Musical parties for gain - $68 / week; All other public exhibitions - $27 / week

1840s (as noted from Baltimore Sun Public Notice, Court Judgments)

• Washing salt sacks in a tub placed under a pump in public - FINED, $37 plus costs
• Throwing rubbish into the street and permitting it to remain there - FINED, $22 plus costs
• Permitting wood to remain upon a wharf longer than 2 days - FINED, $5.50 daily / foot of ground



Baltimore Police from the Mid 1800s

• Purchase or sale of wood without a license - FINED, $44 / each cord sold

1850s (as noted from Baltimore Sun, Public Notice of Court Judgments)

• Throwing stones in public - FINED, $27
• Running wagons without license numbers - FINED, $27-$50
• Improper conduct in the presence of ladies - FINED, $121
• Throwing a nuisance in the street - FINED, $27

1860s (as noted from Baltimore Sun, Public Notice of Court Judgments)

• Allowing a ten-pin alley to be used after 11 o'clock at night - FINED, $252
• Exposing unsound meats for sale - FINED, $504
• Bathing in the Jones Falls - FINED, $17
• Boys were arrested for jumping upon one of the Philadelphia Railroad cars while in motion - FINED, $17
• Running against and breaking a city lamppost - FINED, $85
• Throwing nauseous liquors on the street - FINED, $85
• Immoderate driving in the street - FINED, $85 plus costs
• Gambling on Sunday - FINED, $85 plus costs
• Permitting gambling on premises - $510 plus costs
• Carrying on a distilling business on McElderry's wharf without a license - SENTENCED TO PAY FINE OF $3,236 AND IMPRISONED  UNTIL PAID.  [Of interest: Within 6 months, the convicted, Thomas Carr, received a pardon from the President of the United States, which remitted the fine and he was immediately released]

1870s (as noted in Ordinances of the Corporation of the City of Baltimore or Baltimore Sun)

• Killing or attempting to kill, or in any manner injure or molest sparrows, robins, wrens, or other small insectivorous birds in the city of Baltimore, to include their birdhouses - FINE, $85 per offense
• Playing cards on Sunday - FINED, $24
• Carrying a concealed razor on his person - FINED, $72

These are in interesting contrast to EXISTING ordinances within the City of Baltimore:

• Tossing, throwing, flinging any object capable of being thrown or used as a projectile (excluding paper wrappers) on the playing field or arena, official or any member of the team at a sporting event - FINE, up to $1000 or imprisonment up to 12 months (misdemeanor)
• Playing, singing, or rendering the "Star Spangled Banner" anywhere publicly in the City of Baltimore, except in its entirety in composition, separate from any other melody. Likewise, it cannot be played for dancing or as an exit march. - FINE, not more than $100 (misdemeanor)
• Sell, give away or dispose of a "toy cartridge pistol" within the City Limits of Baltimore - FINE, $10.  
• To discharge or fire a "toy cartridge pistol" - FINE, $2.
• Unauthorized by any person not of the Department of Public Works within the City Limits of Baltimore to remove recyclable materials from designated containers without approval from the owner or operator of the recycling operation - FINE, up to $500 (misdemeanor)

"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)