Baltimore, Maryland

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City of Baltimore
—  Independent city  —
Baltimore skyline from the Inner Harbor

Flag
Seal
Nickname(s): Charm City,[1] Mobtown,[2] B'more,[3] The City of Firsts,[4][5] Monument City,[6] Ravenstown[7]
Motto: "The Greatest City in America",[1]

"Get in on it."[1]

"The city that reads."[8]
Location of Baltimore in Maryland
City of Baltimore is located in USA
City of Baltimore
Location of Baltimore in the United States
Coordinates: 39°17′N 76°37′W / 39.283°N 76.617°W / 39.283; -76.617Coordinates: 39°17′N 76°37′W / 39.283°N 76.617°W / 39.283; -76.617
Country  United States
State  Maryland
Founded 1729
Incorporation 1797
Named for Cecilius Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore
Government
 • Type Independent city
 • Mayor Stephanie C. Rawlings-Blake (D)
 • Baltimore City Council
Council members
 • Houses of Delegates
Delegates
 • State Senate
State senators
 • U.S. House
Representatives
Area[9]
 • Independent city 92.052 sq mi (238.4 km2)
 • Land 80.944 sq mi (209.6 km2)
 • Water 11.108 sq mi (28.8 km2)  12.07%
Elevation[10] 33 ft (10 m)
Population (2010)[11][12]
 • Independent city 620,961
 • Density 6,745.76/sq mi (2,604.7/km2)
 • Metro 2,690,886 (20th)
 • Demonym Baltimorean
Time zone EST (UTC-5)
 • Summer (DST) EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP Code 21201–21231, 21233–21237, 21239–21241, 21244, 21250–21252, 21263–21265, 21268, 21270, 21273–21275, 21278–21290, 21297–21298
FIPS code 24-04000
GNIS feature ID 0597040
Website www.BaltimoreCity.gov

Baltimore is the biggest city in the U.S. state of Maryland. In 2010 it had about 620,961 people living there.[12] It is not in any county, so it is called an independent city. It is next to the Chesapeake Bay and used to be an important port for trade by ships. There is still some shipping but the Inner Harbor is now mostly famous for shopping and restaurants, and also for the National Aquarium, which is one of the best in the United States. Other museums in Baltimore are the Walters Art Museum, the Baltimore Museum of Art, and the American Visionary Art Museum.

Baltimore is home to the Ravens (football) and Orioles (baseball), both professional sports teams. Its main newspaper is the Baltimore Sun. There is a place for horse races in the city called Pimlico. There are many colleges and universities in Baltimore, like Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, Loyola College, Maryland Institute College of Art, and Morgan State University.

The city was made in 1729 and is named after the British Lord Baltimore who started the colony of Maryland. The mayor of this city is Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. She is the second woman to be the mayor of Baltimore, the first was Sheila Dixon. Many governors of Maryland were mayor of Baltimore first. One famous thing that happened in Baltimore was in the War of 1812, when the British attacked the city and Francis Scott Key wrote a song about it called "The Star-Spangled Banner". It is now the national song of the United States.

Some famous people from Baltimore are the Supreme Court judge Thurgood Marshall, the poet and writer Edgar Allen Poe, the baseball player Babe Ruth, the singer Billie Holliday, and the movie director John Waters. Some famous neighborhoods are Fells Point, Canton, Little Italy, (Federal Hill), Mount Vernon, Bolton Hill, Hampden, and Charles Village.

Contents

[change] History

In 1706, the colony of Maryland's General Assembly created the Port of Baltimore at Locust Point. It was built for tobacco trading. The Town of Baltimore was founded on July 30, 1729. It was named after Cecilius Calvert, the British Lord Baltimore. Calvert was the first Proprietary Governor of the Province of Maryland..[13] Baltimore grew quickly in the 1700s as a granary (place for storing cereals and grains) for the sugar plantations in the Caribbean.

Battle Monument in honor of the Battle of Baltimore.

Baltimore was important in the time leading up to the American Revolution. Leaders like Jonathan Plowman Jr. got the city to refuse to pay taxes to Britain. Merchants (people who buy and sell things) signed agreements to not trade with Britain.[14] The Second Continental Congress met in the Henry Fite House from December 1776 to February 1777. This made Baltimore the capitol of the United States during this time.[15] In 1796, after the war, the Town of Baltimore, nearby Jonestown, and an area called Fells Point were incorporated as the City of Baltimore. (This means that these areas all merged together and became the City of Baltimore.) The city was a part of Baltimore County until 1851. It then became an independent city.[16]

During the War of 1812, the Battle of Baltimore happened in the city. The British attacked Baltimore on the night of September 13, 1814. This was right after they burned Washington D.C.. United States soldiers from Fort McHenry defended the Inner Harbor. Francis Scott Key watched the battle from a British ship in the harbor. He wrote the poem "The Star-Spangled Banner" about the attack. In 1931, "The Star-Spangled Banner" became the official National Anthem of the United States.

The Sixth Regiment fighting railroad strikers, July 20, 1877[17]

After the Battle of Baltimore, the number of people who lived in the city grew quickly. The National Road (now part of U.S. Route 40) and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) connected the city with big markets in the Midwest. This made Baltimore a very important shipping and manufacturing center. Baltimore was nicknamed "the Monumental City" by President John Quincy Adams in 1827. During an event, Adams gave a toast and said: "Baltimore: the Monumental City – [m]ay the days of her safety be as prosperous and happy, as the days of her dangers have been trying and triumphant."[18] In 1835, the Baltimore bank riots happened. These were one of the worst riots of the antebellum South. (The antebellum period is the time right before the American Civil War.)[19]

During the American Civil War, Maryland did not secede from the Union. (That is, Maryland stayed a part of the Union and did not join the Confederacy.) When Union soldiers marched through the city at the start of the war, some people attacked the soldiers. This started the Baltimore riot of 1861. Four soldiers and 12 civilians were killed. After the riot, Union soldiers occupied (stayed in) Baltimore. During the war, Maryland was governed directly by the federal government and the state government did not have any power. This was to keep the state from seceding (leaving the Union). After the war ended in April 1865, Maryland began governing itself again.

During the 1870s there was an economic depression called the "Panic of 1873." After the Panic, the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad company decided to pay its workers less. This caused the Great Railroad Strike of 1877. These strikes stopped train service in Cumberland in western Maryland. On July 20, 1877, the Maryland Governor, John Lee Carroll, ordered the Maryland Army National Guard to stop the strikes. People who supported the railroad workers attacked the national guard soldiers. Soldiers from the 6th Regiment fired their guns at the crowd. 10 people were killed, and 25 people were hurt. This started a riot. Trains were damaged and parts of Camden Station were burned. US Army soldiers came to Baltimore to protect the railroad and end the strike. The riot and strike ended on July 21–22, 1877.[20]

After the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, a lot of the city was destroyed. This is a view of downtown looking west from Pratt and Gay Streets.

The Great Baltimore Fire started on February 7, 1904. It burned for 30 hours and destroyed 1,500 buildings. More than 70 blocks of downtown burned to the ground. The fire caused about $150 million of damage (US$ 3,546 million in 2012.)[21][22]

The city grew bigger by annexing (absorbing) suburbs from nearby counties. The last suburb was added in 1918. The city added parts of Baltimore County and Anne Arundel County.[23] In 1948, the state constitution was amended (changed). It now required a special vote by citizens before an area could be added to the city. This stopped the expansion (growth) of the city.[24]

In 1950, the city was 23.8% black. By 1970, it was 46.4% black.[25] After Martin Luther King, Jr. was murdered in Memphis, Tennessee on April 4, 1968, the Baltimore riot of 1968 started. It lasted until April 12, 1968. The riot cost the city about $10 million (US$ 61 million in 2012). During the riot, 11,000 Maryland National Guard soldiers and US Army soldiers tried to protect the city.[26] It is possible to see some effects of the riots today. Parts of North Avenue, Howard Street, Gay Street, and Pennsylvania Avenue are barren, empty, and not taken care of.[27]

During the 1970s, Baltimore's downtown area, called the "Inner Harbor," was run down and neglected. It was full of empty and abandoned warehouses. The city began trying to redevelop the area. The Baltimore Convention Center was opened in 1979. Harborplace, a shopping and restaurant area, opened in 1980. The National Aquarium in Baltimore (Maryland's largest tourist destination) and the Baltimore Museum of Industry opened in 1981. In 1992, the Baltimore Orioles baseball team moved from Memorial Stadium to Oriole Park at Camden Yards near the harbor. Six years later the Baltimore Ravens football team moved into M&T Bank Stadium next to Camden Yards.[28]

The National Register of Historic Places lists 280 historical properties in Baltimore city.

[change] Geography

A view of the harbor, looking east.
City plan of Baltimore from 1852. The plan is by Fielding Lucas, Jr. of Baltimore.

Baltimore is in north-central Maryland. It is on the Patapsco River, close to where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay. It is located on the fall line between the Piedmont Plateau and the Atlantic Coastal Plain. (The fall line is a phrase in geology that means that this is a place where two different kinds of earth meet.) The fall line splits Baltimore into a "lower city" and "upper city."

At the harbor, the city is at sea level. The highest point is near Pimlico in the northwest. There the elevation is 480 feet (150 m).[29]

According to the 2010 census, the city has a total area of 92.052 square miles (238.41 km2). This is 80.944 square miles (209.64 km2) of land and 11.108 square miles (28.77 km2) of water.[9] The total area of Baltimore City is 12.07% water.

[change] Climate

Baltimore is in the humid subtropical climate zone (Cfa.) This is according to the Köppen climate classification

July is usually the hottest month of the year. The average temperature in July is 81.7 °F (27.6 °C). Summer is usually very humid. The highest temperature on record is 107 °F (42 °C) in 1936.[30]

January is the coldest month of the year. Sometimes wind from the subtropics brings springlike weather during winter. At night, winds from the Arctic make temperatures drop into the teens (in Fahrenheit; less than -7 °C.) Some nights the temperature drops to the single digits (less than -12 °C.) The coldest temperature on record is −7 °F (−22 °C) from 1934.[30]

Downtown Baltimore and the parts of the city that are on the coast are usually warmer than other parts of Baltimore. This is because of the urban heat island effect. Also the Chesapeake Bay acts to moderate the effects of temperature. This means that the water helps keep the temperature from changing greatly.

Baltimore gets a lot of rain during the whole year. There is no "rainy season" or "dry season." This is normal in most cities on the East Coast of the United States. Every month, about 3–4 inches (76–100 mm) of precipitation (rain, snow, sleet, etc.) falls in Baltimore. The total rainfall yearly average is around 42 inches (1,100 mm). There are usually about 105 sunny days in a year. There are lots of rain showers and thunderstorms during spring, summer, and fall. In the winter, there are longer but lighter rain showers, and less sunshine and more clouds. It sometimes snows in the winter. The average snowfall is 20.8 inches (53 cm).[31]


Climate data for Baltimore (Inner Harbor)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °F (°C) 44.1
(6.72)		 47.3
(8.5)		 56.8
(13.78)		 67.8
(19.89)		 77.2
(25.11)		 86.0
(30)		 90.6
(32.56)		 88.2
(31.22)		 80.9
(27.17)		 69.7
(20.94)		 58.7
(14.83)		 48.5
(9.17)		 68.0
(20)
Average low °F (°C) 29.4
(-1.44)		 31.3
(-0.39)		 39.0
(3.89)		 48.2
(9)		 58.2
(14.56)		 67.7
(19.83)		 72.7
(22.61)		 70.8
(21.56)		 63.7
(17.61)		 51.6
(10.89)		 42.1
(5.61)		 33.5
(0.83)		 50.7
(10.39)
Precipitation inches (mm) 3.05
(77.5)		 2.90
(73.7)		 3.90
(99.1)		 3.19
(81)		 3.99
(101.3)		 3.46
(87.9)		 4.07
(103.4)		 3.29
(83.6)		 4.03
(102.4)		 3.33
(84.6)		 3.30
(83.8)		 3.37
(85.6)		 41.88
(1,063.8)
Snowfall inches (cm) 6.8
(17.3)		 8.0
(20.3)		 1.9
(4.8)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0
(0)		 0.4
(1)		 3.1
(7.9)		 20.2
(51.3)
Avg. precipitation days (≥ 0.01 in) 10.8 9.3 10.4 10.2 11.5 10.0 10.0 9.1 8.4 8.2 8.9 9.7 116.5
Avg. snowy days (≥ 0.1 in) 3.7 2.7 1.3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 .5 1.5 9.7
Sunshine hours 155.0 166.7 213.9 231.0 254.2 276.0 291.4 263.5 222.0 204.6 159.0 145.7 2,583.0
Source: NOAA,[32] HKO[33] idcide,[34] intellicast,[35]

[change] Cityscape

A day time panorama of Baltimore's Inner Harbor, seen from Federal Hill.
A night time panorama of Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

[change] Media

Baltimore's main newspaper is The Baltimore Sun. In 1986, the newspaper was sold to the Times Mirror Company.[36] This company was bought by the Tribune Company in 2000.[37] Today, The Sun is still a Tribune newspaper.

Up until 1986, Baltimore was a two-newspaper town. (This was very common for US cities.) The other main newspaper was the Baltimore News-American. The News-American went out of business in 1986.[38]

The Baltimore Examiner was started in 2006 to compete with The Sun. It was owned and run by a company that also published newspapers like The San Francisco Examiner and The Washington Examiner. The Examiner was a free newspaper that was paid for by advertising. (The Sun is not free.) The Examiner was not able to make money, and it stopped being published on February 15, 2009.

According to Nielsen Market Research, Baltimore had the 26th-largest television market in 2008-2009. It was the 27th-largest market for 2009-2010.[39] Arbitron listed Baltimore as the 22nd-largest radio market in Fall 2010.[40]

[change] Sister cities

Baltimore has eleven sister cities. These were picked by Sister Cities International.[41][42]

[change] References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Donovan, Doug (May 20, 2006). "Baltimore's New Bait: The City is About to Unveil a New Slogan, 'Get In On It,' Meant to Intrigue Visitors". The Baltimore Sun. http://www.redorbit.com/news/business/511672/baltimores_new_bait_the_city_is_about_to_unveil_a/index.html. Retrieved November 28, 2008. 
  2. ↑ Smith, Van (October 6, 2004). "Mob Rules". Baltimore City Paper. http://www.citypaper.com/arts/story.asp?id=9176. Retrieved January 24, 2009. 
  3. ↑ Kane, Gregory (June 15, 2009). "Dispatch from Bodymore, Murderland". Washington Examiner. http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/gregory-kane/Dispatch-from-Bodymore-Murderland-48061142.html. 
  4. ↑ "Baltimore Heritage Area". Maryland Historical Trust. February 11, 2011. http://mht.maryland.gov/heritageareas_baltimore.html. Retrieved March 30, 2011. 
  5. ↑ "Baltimore: A City of Firsts". Visit Baltimore. http://baltimore.org/about-baltimore/baltimore-firsts/. Retrieved March 30, 2011. 
  6. ↑ "Best Monument". 2005 Baltimore Living Winners. Baltimore City Paper. September 21, 2005. http://www.citypaper.com/bob/story.asp?id=10574. Retrieved September 19, 2007. 
  7. ↑ "Ravenstown". Baltimore Ravens. http://preview.baltimoreravens.com/Ravenstown/Ravenstown.aspx. Retrieved June 7, 2008. 
  8. ↑ "More Literate than Akron". Baltimore City Paper. August 18, 2004. http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=8702. Retrieved February 10, 2010. 
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 2010 Census U.S. Gazetteer Files: Counties. U.S. Census Bureau, Geography Division (March 02, 2011). Retrieved 2011-03-18.
  10. ↑ "USGS detail on Baltimore". http://geonames.usgs.gov/pls/gnispublic/f?p=gnispq:3:::NO::P3_FID:0597040. Retrieved October 23, 2008. 
  11. ↑ "Annual Estimates of the Population of Metropolitan and Micropolitan Statistical Areas: April 1, 2000 to July 1, 2009". US Census Bureau. October 20, 2003. http://www.census.gov/popest/metro/tables/2009/CBSA-EST2009-01.csv. Retrieved March 31, 2010. 
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "U.S. Census Bureau Delivers Maryland's 2010 Census Population Totals". U.S. Census 2010 press release. February 9, 2011. http://2010.census.gov/news/releases/operations/cb11-cn20.html. Retrieved 2011-03-18. 
  13. ↑ Krugler, John D (2004). English and Catholic: the Lords Baltimore in the Seventeenth Century. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 74. ISBN 0801879639. http://books.google.com/books?id=Lo5Bbf1AqYAC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
  14. ↑ Hezekiah Niles (1876). Principles and Acts of the Revolution in America. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co.. pp. 257–258. http://books.google.com/books?id=3VwsAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA257&lpg=PA257&dq=baltimore+non-importation+agreement&source=bl&ots=6nmmmIpYJt&sig=8l1oiPSZdX0sZEaaW7akacYLsf0&hl=en#. 
  15. ↑ "Henry Fite's House, Baltimore". U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian. http://history.state.gov/departmenthistory/buildings/section4. Retrieved 2011-03-23. 
  16. ↑ "Baltimore, Maryland—Government". Maryland Manual On-Line: A Guide to Maryland Government. Maryland State Archives. October 23, 2008. http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/36loc/bcity/html/bcity.html. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
  17. ↑ "The Great Strike". Catskill Archive. Timothy J. Mallery. http://www.catskillarchive.com/rrextra/sk7711.Html. Retrieved 2008-10-26. 
  18. ↑ "Baltimore, October 17". Salem Gazette (Salem, Massachusetts): p. 2. October 23, 1827. http://docs.newsbank.com/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info:sid/iw.newsbank.com:EANX&rft_val_format=info:ofi/fmt:kev:mtx:ctx&rft_dat=10C5DE501F137990&svc_dat=HistArchive:ahnpdoc&req_dat=0F418C809CE5EA70. Retrieved 2008-10-27. 
  19. ↑ "The Baltimore Bank Riot". University of Illinois Press. http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/34gcw3dk9780252034800.html. Retrieved 2010-01-05. 
  20. ↑ Scharf, J. Thomas (1967). History of Maryland From the Earliest Period to the Present Day. 3 (2nd ed.). Hatboro, PA: Tradition Press. pp. 733–42. 
  21. ↑ "A Howling Inferno: The Great Baltimore Fire". Virtually Live@Hopkins (Johns Hopkins University). January 12, 2004. http://www.jhu.edu/news/audio-video/fire.html. Retrieved 2011-03-17. 
  22. ↑ Peter B. Petersen (2009). "Legacy of the Fire". Fire Museum of Maryland. http://www.firemuseummd.org/thegreatbaltimorefireof1904.htm. Retrieved 2011-03-18. 
  23. ↑ George P. Bagby, editor (1918). The annotated code of the public civil laws of Maryland, Volume 4. King Bros., Printers and Publishers. p. 769. http://books.google.com/books?id=4nVKAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA769&lpg=PA769&dq=Baltimore+City+line+1918&source=bl&ots=wBtqWNI1kf&sig=qM56YBHhPt3zxF4QKj-n3otbnuE&hl=en&ei=cOiJTfn-NMe2twfxkuX1DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CBwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=Baltimore%20City%20line%201918&f=false. 
  24. ↑ Duffy, James (December 2007). "Baltimore seals its borders". Baltimore Magazine: pp. 124–27. 
  25. ↑ Short, John R (2006). Alabaster cities: urban U.S. since 1950. Syracuse University Press. p. 142. ISBN 0-8156-3105-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=vhc9YTPkYwYC&pg=PA142&dq&hl=en#v=onepage&q=&f=false. 
  26. ↑ "Baltimore '68 Events Timeline". Baltimore 68: riots and Rebirth. University of Baltimore Archives. http://archives.ubalt.edu/bsr/timeline.htm. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  27. ↑ "Recalling Baltimore's 1968 riots". The Baltimore Sun. April 3, 1998. http://articles.baltimoresun.com/1998-04-03/news/1998093147_1_baltimore-riot-gay-street-east-baltimore. Retrieved 2011-01-19. 
  28. ↑ "Who We Are". Maryland Stadium Authority. http://www.mdstad.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=12&Itemid=26. Retrieved 2008-10-26. 
  29. ↑ "Highest and Lowest Elevations in Maryland's Counties". Maryland Geological Survey. http://www.mgs.md.gov/esic/fs/fs1.html. Retrieved 2007-11-14. 
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Average Monthly High and Low Temperatures for Baltimore, MD (21211)". The Weather Channel. http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/wxclimatology/monthly/graph/USMD0018. Retrieved 2007-10-21. 
  31. ↑ NOAA, "1981-2010 Climate averages". http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/climate/LWX_1981-2010_Normals_Website_pdf_version.pdf. 
  32. ↑ "The New 1981-2010 Climate Normals" (PDF). National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. August 2011. http://www.erh.noaa.gov/er/lwx/climate/LWX_1981-2010_Normals_Website_pdf_version.pdf. Retrieved 2011-08-08. 
  33. ↑ "Climatological Normals of Baltimore". Hong Kong Observatory. http://www.weather.gov.hk/wxinfo/climat/world/eng/n_america/us/Baltimore_e.htm. Retrieved 2010-06-14. 
  34. ↑ "Average Temperatures for Baltimore, MD (Inner Harbor)". NOAA. http://www.idcide.com/weather/md/baltimore.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-22. 
  35. ↑ "Climatological Data for Baltimore, MD (Inner Harbor)". NOAA. http://www.intellicast.com/Local/History.aspx#chart. Retrieved 2010-11-22. 
  36. ↑ "The Times Mirror Company—Company History". fundinguniverse.com. Funding Universe. http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company-histories/The-Times-Mirror-Company-Company-History.html. Retrieved 2008-11-25. 
  37. ↑ Smith, Terence (March 21, 2000). "Tribune Buys Times Mirror". pbs.org (MacNeil/Lehrer Productions). http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/media/jan-june00/tribune_3-21.html. Retrieved 2008-11-25. 
  38. ↑ "The Baltimore News American Photograph Collection". University of Maryland: Libraries. December 18, 2009. http://www.lib.umd.edu/RARE/MarylandCollection/NewsAmerican/Index.html. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  39. ↑ "Local Television Market Universe Estimates". nielsen. http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/2009-2010-dma-ranks.pdf. Retrieved 2011-03-16. 
  40. ↑ "Arbitron Radio Market Rankings: Fall 2010". Arbitron. http://www.arbitron.com/home/mm001050.asp. Retrieved 2011-03-16. 
  41. ↑ "Sister Cities". Visit Baltimore. http://baltimore.org/visitors/international/sister-cities. Retrieved March 30, 2011. 
  42. ↑ "Sister City Committee". Baltimore-Luxor-Alexandria Sister City Committee. http://www.baltimoreegypt.org/. Retrieved March 30, 2011. 
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