Baltimore invents red lining
Mortgage lending practices in the 1930s reinforce segregated neighborhoods in Baltimore as red lining makes home ownership by African Americans difficult.
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Urban
Columbia family is first to control its eco-friendly yard
A Columbia couple initiates a suit that becomes the first law in the country in 2023 that limits Homeowner Association’s control over eco-friendly yards.
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City of Columbia
“Columbia, Maryland, is the best place to raise a family in the country.” Jim Rouse creates a carefully planned city for “joyous living” in 1967.
Greenbelt, largest and most successful of the New Deal towns
Greenbelt opens in 1937 and becomes the largest and most successful of New Deal “greenbelt” towns. It becomes a model for others suburbs.
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Enoch Pratt Free Library opens
In 1886 the Pratt Library is the first public library to open for all “without distinction of race or color”. The Pratt inspires the nationwide Carnegie Library system.
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Baltimore earns the label of “Mobtown”
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.
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Baltimore City is unique in the U.S. at 1850
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.
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Gaslight installed on Baltimore streets
Baltimore is first US city to light streets with gaslight in 1817 after Rembrandt Peale uses the innovation to light his museum galleries.
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Rembrandt Peale builds the first museum
Rembrandt Peale opens the first purpose-built museum in the US in August, 1814. As a fine arts gallery, it is short-lived, becoming city hall, a school for “colored” children, city water offices and now Baltimore’s Community Museum.
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Baltimore riots over the War of 1812
Congress declares 1812 War. Large Baltimore mob attacks publisher of strong anti-war newspaper. Revolutionary war vet and 2 rioters are killed; many injured including Robert E. Lee’s father. Baltimore becomes known as “Mobtown.”
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