Ghosts of BaltimoreThe lost and untold stories of Baltimore

Try an address, a neighborhood, a name or a year, like “Fells Point” or “1904.”

Not sure where to start?
Best OfThe stories readers come back toAtlasOur stories, on a map
Faces & Places of Yesterday

Payday on Baltimore’s Waterfront

Dockworkers gather beside a small waterfront building while the steamship Bodo and horse-drawn wagons fill this Baltimore photograph, copyrighted in 1905.

1 min readUpdated
Dockworkers gathered beside a waterfront building, with the steamship Bodo and horse-drawn wagons behind them.
Payday for Baltimore stevedores, copyright 1905. Detroit Publishing Company collection, Library of Congress; image via Shorpy.

The Detroit Publishing Company photograph is titled “Pay day for the stevedores, Baltimore, Md.” and carries a 1905 copyright date. Stevedores are the dockworkers who load and unload ships. Here, a group gathers around the open doorway, with several men turning toward the camera.

The steamship Bodo fills the background, with horse-drawn wagons along the pier.

We use AI to help research, write and edit stories across our sites. Here’s how we use AI.Suggest a correction

Filed underFaces & Places of Yesterday

Topics1900s · Baltimore Harbor · Photography

Like what you found here?

Get new Ghosts of Baltimore stories by email.

More stories like this

Gutted brick walls and heaps of rubble left by the Great Baltimore Fire, with surviving buildings behind themThe Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, From the Hurst Building to Jones FallsJohns Hopkins Hospital’s domed buildings behind a lawn and fence, with a streetcar and overhead wires in front.Johns Hopkins Hospital: Its Design and Early ImagesBest OfEmerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower's clock faces viewed from below against a blue sky.Above the Rooftops: A Panorama From Emerson Tower, Around 1913Best Of