Alexander Brown (1764-1834), an Irish linen merchant, settles in Baltimore and creates the first investment bank in the United States. In 1808, the company organizes the first nationwide public offering for the Baltimore Water Company.
John O’Donnell brings the first Asian immigrants to the US in 1785 as sailors on his ship that carries a cargo of Chinese goods. His statue in O’Donnell Square has been recently removed.
Gustav Brunn, German immigrant, rescued from a concentration camp, arrives in Baltimore with a spice grinder. He develops a popular seafood seasoning mix, names it after a Chespeake Bay steamer, and sells the formula for Old Bay to McCormick & Co.
Gangs from the Know Nothing Party and Southern sympathizers riot in Baltimore during elections. In 1857 fighting kills 17 gang members and injures 67 in the most intense violence of the Know Nothing era. Riots in “Mobtown” make national headlines.
In 1850 Baltimore, America’s third largest city, is a singular urban mix of immigrants, free and enslaved Blacks, white leadership and energetic industry. As a border state it is an example of the country’s divisions and challenges before the Civil War.
Jacob R. Thomas, a Carroll County farmer, assembles a wheat reaping machine and tries it out locally. It doesn’t cut well, but the first experiment with a mechanical reaper ushers in the age of agricultural machinery.
MD builds the beginning of an interstate road, a toll road from Baltimore to Cumberland and first federal project. Federal govt. funds next road segment west to Ohio.
A mud machine driven by horse power dredges Baltimore harbor for 13 years. Irish immigrants do the hard labor, becoming the early working poor.
The Methodist Episcopal Church, the first established church in the US, is formed at the Lovely Lane Meeting House in Baltimore.
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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