The Enoch Pratt Free Library, is the oldest U.S. free circulating library. It opens in Baltimore as a “library for all, rich and poor, without distinction of race or color.”
The library inspires Andrew Carnegie to create the nationwide Carnegie Library system. Carla Hayden, a recent Pratt Library Director, is now the Librarian of Congress.
Currently the Enoch Pratt Library has 22 branches in Baltimore City and an annual budget of $43 million.
The General Assembly makes new (old) flag official in 1904. Based on heraldic crests in the George Calvert family it is now the most popular and most recognized state flag. The flag was used by both sides during the Civil War conflict. A full description of the flag’s history is on Maryland Secretary of State’s website.
Baltimore’s Battle monument, designed by Maximilian Godefroy, is the first stone monument and the first public war memorial in the US. In 1822 the statue of Lady Baltimore is hoisted atop the monument.
The Maryland and New York Iron and Coal Company is incorporated in 1837. Within three years, two blast furnaces, a puddling furnace and a rolling mill make the Mount Savage Iron Works the largest in the US. It makes the rails for the B&O railroad.
We acknowledge the enduring presence of many American Indian tribes who once lived in Maryland and who now, having lost their lands, live in a diaspora. Read more.
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