In Defense of Baltimore's Port, A National Anthem Was Born

During the War of 1812, Baltimore defended its greatest asset, the port/harbor, against the British Royal Navy. Fort McHenry, constructed in the form of a five pointed star at the tip of the Locust Point Peninsula, was bombarded by Royal Navy artillery on September 13th, 1814 at 6 AM. The Royal Navy's munitions outweighed the Americans in quantity and capability, but for twenty five hours the Americans protected the Port of Baltimore and held off the British insurgency.

It was a significant accomplishment in many regards, the Royal Navy was daunting and powerful. Secondly, just weeks before British military had burned, looted, and overtaken Washington D.C. It was clear the British were powerful if they were able to defeat the American forces protecting our capitol.

Not only did the British want to strike a demoralizing blow to the Americans by taking the Port of Baltimore, but they also believed the Baltimore port harbored and manufactured privateers. These were the ships that attacked and looted enemy ships during wartime, something the British Navy no longer wanted to tolerate.

The Royal Navy pounded Fort McHenry for twenty five straight hours, staying out of the reach of American cannons, but keeping the fort within the reach of their assault. More than 1,800 cannonballs were fired at Fort McHenry, but its people and structure remained strong. On the morning of September 14th, the tattered and beaten flag that flew during battle was replaced by a new American flag that flew in the faces of the British, letting them know that we stood against their best and were still standing.

The American Francis Scott Key witnessed the entire battle while captive on one of the Royal Navy ships. He later wrote the poem, "Defence of Fort McHenry" which became the lyrics to our National Anthem "The Star Spangled Banner."(Star-Spangled Banner and the War of 1812". Encyclopedia Smithsonian. http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmah/starflag.htm. 2008-03-10.)

Baltimore; A Major Port of Entry For the City's Jewish Immigrant Community

Growing up in Baltimore I never thought it to be strange that significant representations were made by immigrants of many European countries. I remember going to the German heritage festivals, the Greek friends i went to school with that lived in Greektown, the Italians in Little Italy, but some of my closest friends growing up were Jewish. Many of them lived along the west side of the beltway from Glyndon (north) to Pikesville and Randallstown. The Jewish people I encountered were not orthodox, however they had a great sense of tradition, community, and pride in their heritage. I would occasionally join my friends in synagogue and enjoyed the belief system they used in every day life.

I came across some information on the migration of Jewish people to Baltimore and am taking an opportunity to enlighten myself and others about some of their historical journey. While much of the immigrant population arrived in Baltimore around the turn of the twentieth century, the first wave of Jewish immigrants began to arrive in Baltimore during the mid 1800's. The impetus of this migration was predominately due to persecution of the Jewish people in Bavaria, which is the southern part of present day Germany. There were also anti-Semitic riots throughout Europe in 1819 and 1848. However, not all European Jews were escaping persecution, but rather looking to benefit from economic opportunities in Baltimore.

Early Jewish settlements were primarily in Eastern Baltimore near the Inner Harbor, this came as a surprise to me as I stated earlier my experience with Jewish communities was entirely on the west side.

Approximately 50 years later around the turn of the twentieth century, a wave of Eastern European and Russian Jews migrated to Baltimore. They also settled into neighborhoods in East Baltimore, but during this time the German Jews previously settled in East Baltimore began to move into Northwest Baltimore. By 1903, all German Jewish synagogues had moved uptown and into the northwest part of Baltimore. Additionally, it is said that German Jewish religious practice became more liberal in comparison to that of the Russian and Eastern European Jewish religious practices.

Today, the predominant groups of Jewish immigrants coming into Baltimore are primarily of Iranian and Russian descent. (The Immigrant Experience. The Jewish Museum of Maryland. 2005. pages 4-5)

Port of Baltimore, a Point of Entry for European Immigrants and the Woman who Eased Their Transition

I came across a unique entry regarding European immigrants and their entry into the United States in the mid nineteenth century. A woman named Mrs. Koether (her first name I was unable to locate), a lady of German descent and also an immigrant, was contracted by several steamship lines to operate a large boardinghouse at the Locust Point Pier 9 to house the immigrants during their transition. Mrs. Koether ran this boardinghouse for 50 years from 1869-1929, and it was reported that she housed nearly 40,000 immigrants on an annual basis. That means Mrs. Koether had the great fortune of seeing almost 2,000,000 bewildered and bright eyed faces coming through her doors fresh off the boat...I get the feeling Mrs. Koether could write an extensive novel based on her experiences and story's from this lifetime of service for these people.

As it turns out, in 1913 the federal government began to construct three buildings that would assume the responsibility of Mrs. Koether's boardinghouse. Yet just as the buildings were completed, World War I was underway and the port was closed to immigrants. (Stolarik, Mark M. and Dean R. Esslinger. Forgotten Doors: the Other Ports of Entry to the United States. Pg 69-72. New Jersey. Associated University Press, Inc. 1988)

Port of Baltimore and The B & O Railroad: A Symbiotic Relationship

In the decades following the Civil War, the expansion of the Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad assist in making Baltimore the sixth largest seaport on earth. The Baltimore & Ohio (B&O) Railroad was started by George Brown and Phillip Thomas. The intention was to provide a more efficient and expedited method of transport people and goods to the Midwest in lieu of the Erie Canal. Baltimore is the westernmost seaport along the east coast, and Baltimore business leaders seized the opportunity to make the metro area and make it a commerce hub. Location for cargo distribution to the northeast, southeast, and west was at a greater advantage than other eastern seaports. By the turn of the twentieth century Baltimore was the second largest point of entry for European immigrants.

In 1867 The B&O Railroad signed an agreement with North German Lloyd Steamship Line allowing immigrants a one way ticket to the port of entry in Baltimore, and then take them west on the train. The additional benefit is that the ship would return to Europe with Maryland tobacco and lumber. Numbers of immigrants coming through the port of Baltimore and using the B&O rail grew exponentially in the decades from 1850-1880.

(Stolarik, Mark M. and Dean R. Esslinger. Forgotten Doors: the Other Ports of Entry to the United States. New Jersey. Associated University Press, Inc. 1988)

(both images courtesy of http://freepages.genealogy. rootsweb.ancestry.com/ ~gnatowski/baltimore/town/home.htm)

Baltimore Ship Building and the Slave Trade

Isn’t it ironic that in the Baltimore shipyards, skilled and unskilled Black workers, were essential to the building of the very ships in which the illegal slave trade depended?


Ex-slave and abolitionist Frederick Douglass worked as a caulker in a Baltimore shipyard in the 1830s and commented on this curious fact: "Until a very little while after I went there [to the shipyard], white and black ship-carpenters worked side-by-side, and no one seemed to see any impropriety in it. All hands seemed to be very well satisfied. Many of the black carpenters were free men. Things seemed to be going on very well." (Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself Edited with an Introduction by David W. Blight (Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin’s Press, 1993), p. 91.) Another caulker and black leader, Isaac Myers, led a group of black entrepreneurs in opening and operating the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Drydock Company in 1868. It was one of the earliest and largest black-owned businesses in America.

In 1800, there were thirty five shipbuilders at the Port of Baltimore. Half of these shipbuilders were using 5-6 black slaves for caulking and various other stages of the shipbuilding process. Englishman Alfred Pairpont described the shipbuilding docks at the Port of Baltimore, "it seemed, at first, as if I had been transplanted to some unknown land," when referring to the masses of African slaves involved in shipbuilding. (Phillips, Christopher. Freedom’s Port: The African American Community of Baltimore, 1790-1860. Urbana and Chicago. University of Illinois Press. 1997)


The Baltimore Clipper is not only an emblem of Maryland, but its an emissary to the world. Since the first true Baltimore Clipper emerged soon after the Revolutionary War, its expansion can be traced as Maryland, and its maritime expenditures, develops from a British colony to a representative U.S. state. However, the Clippers went into use as shipping vessel for enslaved human cargo when the slave trade was banned in 1808. Therefore, they were looked down upon for both their use in this controversial issue and for going against the laws of the United States. Thus the Baltimore Clippers faded away to be replaced by larger ships capable of carrying greater cargoes with the same speed that the Clippers were so famous for. (Klima, Jennifer: The Baltimore Clipper. Maryland State Archives. 1998)

Photo courtesy of the Maryland Historical Society. Ringold Brothers Skipjack

Baltimore Foundations: The draw to colonize in Baltimore

The earliest foundations of Baltimore are based upon the laws of demand. The demand to have a location on the inner reaches of the Chesapeake Bay to distribute commodities via ships. The Port of Baltimore was established twenty four years before Baltimore became a city. Prior to settlement by the Europeans, the area where the Port of Baltimore lies was inhabited by Powhatan Indians, who also enjoyed the bounties of the Chesapeake and surrounding lands.

The roots of trade in the Baltimore region lie within the tobacco industry, the lands on the western and eastern shores were conducive to growing the crop and the ease of transport via the Chesapeake Bay made the area desirable for cultivators. Not only did this benefit commerce but a labor force was needed to accomplish agriculture on this scale. The need for slaves and indentured servants initiated early surges of population growth in what would be the Baltimore region. (Olson, Sherry H.)