Everyman Theatre Building - An Immoral Past

  Congratulations are in order to the Everyman Theatre, founded in 1990, which opened doors in its new location at 315 West Fayette Street, downtown Baltimore.  Unlike the rather short theatrical history of its current occupant, the Beaux-Arts (French) style building has seen a bit more of a sorted past by previous ones.

  The building was contracted in Feb 1911 for construction as the Empire Theatre by Cramp & Co. of Philadelphia, PA with a planned mid August opening. Designed by Baltimore architect, Otto Simonson and William McElfatrick of New York as consulting architect, it was publicized to be completely fireproof with seating for 2,000, a basement beer hall, pool rooms, and a soda parlor.

Empire Theatre, circa 1915
(Postcard Courtesy: Theatre Talks LLC)

  According to Baltimore Sun newspaper accounts, two rather serious accidents delayed its construction: 1) in May, when a 92-foot crane snapped while lifting an eight-ton girder into place, taking with it an entire section of wall, resulting in two badly injured men, and 2) later in July, when a young Curtis Bay construction worker was severely injured from a misstep while walking on an iron beam 20 feet in the air.

  Despite these mishaps, the Empire Theatre had its first opening on Christmas day, 1911, as a burlesque venue - the opening show entitled "Follies of the Day."  While burlesque was a quite common public event of the day, apparently the Empire Theatre's original marquee sign (depicted partially in the early postcard photo, left) did not morally sit well with officers of an interesting group known as the "Society for the Suppression of Vice."

  According to a March 1912 Baltimore Sun article, the Empire's marquee consisted of a "shocking" figure of a "lady" having three electrical lit legs to give an alternating impression of a kicking movement.  A complaint was brought forward that eventually made it to the State Attorney's office for a decision which stated that "the highest of these [legs] protrudes out somewhat above the bottom of the skirt of the figure."  Eegads! The complaint was dropped given the Attorney determined it wasn't so improper and, most importantly, the "lady" couldn't be arrested for 'kicking.'

Everyman Theatre, circa 2012
(Photo Courtesy: WBJC.com)

  The Society was essentially non-existent by 1900, and neither burlesque or vaudeville hasn't been performed at this location since 1915.  The Everyman Theatre's marquee, being much less shocking, should stand the test of current day any morality police - either way, let's hope this venue will last for a very long time.

(Note: Article sources are courtesy of The Baltimore Sun.) 

"Drop the Monkey" - Early Elevator Testing Methods

   In trying to determine the "when" and "wheres" for the earliest use of a passenger elevator in the Baltimore City, I ran across some quite odd practices for how passenger elevators were tested by designers in the late 1800's and early 1900's providing safety assurances to building architects, owners, inspectors, and the riding public.  

   Many of the earliest passenger elevators in Baltimore were hydraulic and designed with safety features consisting of attached air cushions (air tight walls of concrete and sheet iron fitted with release compression valves) invented by Franklin T. Ellithorpe.  Mr. Ellithorpe made a practice of proving the safety of his invention, sometimes risking life and breaking limbs in doing so even until the mid 1920s.

  According to several early Baltimore Sun newspaper articles, it became a common practice to free-fall drop elevator cars containing seemingly perishable items and even life forms.

•  When passenger elevators were installed in the Equitable building (late 1800s), the safety air cushion was tested by a drop from the ninth floor of an elevator car containing: "a glass of water and a number of eggs placed on the floor of the car."
• By 1900, tests became more stringent such that a new Courthouse had a rather unsuccessful safety air cushion test drop from the top floor with an elevator car containing: "a dozen eggs and four glasses of water."  Result: 4 eggs broken and while water was spilled, no glasses were broken. 
• Also in 1900, the Calvert Building had a successful safety air cushion test drop of nearly 200 feet (12th floor) with an elevator car containing: "15 eggs, several glasses of water and two incandescent electric light bulbs."  Result Reported: spilled water from one glass, eggs broken by falling plaster, but no electric light bulbs broken.

  From that point in time, there had been several accidents, crushing deaths, and near deaths not only in Baltimore but in other major cities and it became apparent that stricter testing was necessary.

• In 1902, the Baltimore Sun's special dispatch to Washington DC reported on the U.S. Patent Office building's successful safety air cushion test drop of 50 feet with an elevator containing: "a live monkey, a half dozen eggs and two dozen light globes."  Result: Monkey frightened but unhurt, no light bulbs broken, one cracked egg.
• Apparently, a testing in Baltimore required a little higher class of testing so in1905, the Calvert Building underwent a repeated safety air cushion test drop from the same height with an elevator car only this time it contained: "six long-stemmed wineglasses filled with water and a half dozen eggs in glasses."  Result Reported: fully successful with no injuries to the contents.

  Interestingly, as noted in a Baltimore Sun article in 1913, Mr. F.T. Ellithorpe continued these tests and actually was the test occupant in a 372 foot drop test in Philadelphia public building elevators.  It was further noted that planned testing for the largest skyscraper at that time, New York City's Woolworth Building, was to be tested in the similar manners as Baltimore's Calvert and Equitable buildings by Mr. Ellithorpe - perhaps he chickened out for the Wooolworth's 676 foot drop?

  Oh by the way, I'm still trying to determine when and where in Baltimore the first passenger elevator was set into operation.  Earliest accounts seem to suggest it that it was the Carrollton Hotel erected in 1872 that the distinction of first passenger elevator for its guests and the Banking House of John A. Hambleton & Co., erected in 1874, for commercial purposes.  The latter is depicted in this blog post.

(Note: Article sources are courtesy of The Baltimore Sun.) 

"Born in Baltimore, Raised Everywhere"

    In the 1872 book, Umbrellas and Their History, written by William Sangster, it was noted that the umbrella's general use in France and England was adopted from China about the middle seventeenth century.  Charm City has the great distinction of being the first city in America that manufactured this now common clothing accessory, which by the 1800's, was referred to as a "bumbershoot."

   The Beehler Umbrella House (later to be known as the Beehler Umbrella Company) was established in 1828 in Baltimore by Francis T. Beehler a woodcarver from Heidelberg, Germany and a long family line of scientists.  Until 1881, Baltimore City directories indicated that he was a whipmaker but by 1883, he was listed as an umbrella maker.   The company's motto "Born in Baltimore, Raised Everywhere" understated the First in America distinction. It produced whalebone and ivory handled umbrellas, parasols, canes, and whips from an E. Baltimore Street location.

    In 1877, the business was succeeded by his son, C.E. Beehler and by 1882 it was located at 121 W. Lexington St. later moved to 222 W. Lexington Street where oversized golf umbrellas also began to be manufactured. The Baltimore Sun stated in a 1908 article that his grandson, William H. Beehler was operating the business at that time.  The early morning of September 12, 1922 brought a fire fueled by several thousand yards of silk to that location.

    A Baltimore Business Journal article from 1999 wrote that "by the time Beehler retired at 86 in 1971, the company looked much the same as it did in the 19th Century - with its proud retail store [at 222 W. Lexington Street] on the first floor, his office on the second and the factory on the third and fourth floors.   The business continued until closing in 1976.

Knickerbocker Ice Company in Baltimore

    As I am a recent transplant from Manhattan to the Charm City, I thought that for my first blog entry, it was fitting to highlight a little bit of New York that was once a very important business in Baltimore.  As I was sightseeing with a friend from Toronto this holiday season, I was slightly perplexed to encounter a historical photograph of the Inner Harbor containing a historical remembrance of a now bygone company that was uniquely attributed to New York City.

    The Knickerbocker Ice Company, incorporated in 1855 and headquartered in New York City, operated in Manhattan from a pier at West 20th Street on the Hudson River as well as Washington, Philadelphia, and Baltimore during the period of 1895-1899.  Most of the natural ice during this time was 'harvested' from upstate New York east of Rockland Lake and brought by barge down the Hudson River to New York City where it was further distributed by either boat or train to its Philadelphia location.  This location controlled the natural ice output to southern cities such as Baltimore and Washington.  The years of 1890, 1906, and 1913 were extremely warm and caused equal extremes in price fluctuations and a great deal of public distrust and disgruntlement over the ice trade and access to this valuable commodity.

    In Baltimore, the Knickerbocker Ice Company was located in the Inner Harbor at the foot of Federal Hill (as visualized in the colorized postcard, above, and a black and white photograph circa 1906, right, courtesy of the Detroit Publishing Company). It owned several ice industry railroad tracks along the edge of Baltimore's Inner Harbor which were often leased to other local businesses.

    The Knickerbocker Ice Company (at large) was sold in 1896 and The Sun reported on July 7, 1899 that it was to be merged with the Consolidated Ice Company to form the American Ice Company.  As it turned out, the American Ice Company succeeded in attaining monopoly control of the market and the establishment of "the ice trust." According to a May 1933 Fortune article, "Water Still Freezes," within three years from the time the trust was estabilished, it would be on the brink of bankruptcy but successfully revitalized itself by the early1920s virtually all of its business was in manufactured ice.  By the early years of the twentieth century, refrigeration cooling systems and their "plant ice" replaced natural ice production such that this unique trade commodity became vastly less valued.

    While there are no visible signs of the Knickerbocker Ice Company in Baltimore to this day, it is interesting to note that the American Ice Company of Baltimore ice manufacturing plant (listed in both the National Register of Historic Places and the Maryland Historic Trust) can be found at 330 W23rd Street, Baltimore, Maryland.