Topic

1910s

New streetcar tracks, city maps and views from Emerson Tower show different sides of Baltimore in the 1910s.

43 stories

A detailed bird’s-eye drawing of Baltimore with harbor piers and boats in the foreground and downtown streets extending into the distance.

Baltimore Rebuilt, Seen From Above in 19124 min readBest Of

Seven years after the fire, Baltimore’s skyline concealed repaired skyscrapers, an interrupted Custom House and a reshaped waterfront.

AI-colorized historical photograph of Hubert Latham in a cap and flight clothing, seated at the steering wheel of an Antoinette monoplane.

The Day Hubert Latham Flew Over Baltimore and Half a Million People Looked Up7 min read

The whistles blew, the City Hall bell tolled, and a sick man on St. Paul Street paid $500 just to see Hubert Latham’s monoplane circle past his window.

AI-colorized photograph of three-year-old Alma standing barefoot beside her seated mother and a wooden washtub in Biloxi, Mississippi, 1911.

Shipped South to Shuck Oysters: Lewis Hine’s Baltimore Children on the Gulf Coast8 min read

Lewis Hine’s caption says Bessie, 4, and Marietta, 7, shucked oysters in a Biloxi cannery in 1911. In 1900, their family lived on North Front Street in Baltimore.

AI-colorized version: Orthopedic patients gather outside a Fort McHenry ward; several use crutches and one is seated in a wheelchair.

When Fort McHenry Became a Hospital for Wounded Soldiers4 min read

A wounded man watched Fort McHenry’s new library taking shape, then offered to help, though he had only his left hand to offer.

Workers laying streetcar tracks at Howard and Saratoga streets, looking north, June 23, 1914.

Laying Streetcar Tracks at Howard and Saratoga in 19141 min read

Track work filled Howard and Saratoga in June 1914. That spring, United Railways announced plans to put concrete beneath its track ties while keeping streetcars running.

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Portrait of Thomas F. McNulty with a large mustache and white bow tie, 1914

Tom McNulty, Baltimore’s Singing Sheriff9 min readBest Of

Tom McNulty, the campaign singer in our logo, challenged a zero-vote return in 1911 and became Baltimore’s sheriff two years later.

Babe Ruth and his father standing behind the long wooden bar of the family saloon, decorated with garlands

Babe Ruth’s Baltimore: From Emory Street to Center Field10 min read

The rowhouse where Babe Ruth was born, the school where he learned the game, his 1914 Orioles contract and the 1918 fight outside the family saloon that ended in his father’s death.

Weathered clapboard double house with dormer windows and wooden steps on South Chapel Street in Fells Point

The Haunted House on Aliceanna Street, 19195 min read

By the Sun’s 1919 account, at least a half-dozen families moved into a house on Aliceanna Street and moved right back out, and the neighbors blamed a ghost.

View of the corner of Baltimore and Liberty Streets. It was named McLane Place for Robert McClane, who was mayor of Baltimore at the time of great 1904 fire, and subsequently committed suicide. The name change did not last, and the location is now the crossing of Baltimore and Liberty Streets again. The monument to the left is that of John Mifflin Hood (1843-1906), a lieutenant in the Confederate Army, later president of Western Maryland Railroad (1874-1902). The sculpture was relocated to Preston Gardens in 1963. The store on the right is Baltimore Bargain House (later American Wholesale Corporation), a firm established by Jacob Epstein (1864-1945). Also in view is an early billboard advertisement boasting, "Pays to advertise with electric signs. Get yours now."

McLane Place on a 1914 Baltimore Postcard1 min read

A 1914 postcard shows Baltimore and Liberty streets when the intersection was known as McLane Place.

Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Tower's clock faces viewed from below against a blue sky.

Above the Rooftops: A Panorama From Emerson Tower, Around 19134 min readBest Of

In 1911, Henry B. Gilpin climbed a giant medicine bottle above Baltimore. A later panorama shows the city spread out below.

The German merchant submarine Deutschland off Baltimore in July 1916, crew on deck and a tug pouring smoke alongside

The German Submarine That Docked at Locust Point in 19168 min readBest Of

In July 1916, a German cargo submarine called the Deutschland crossed the Atlantic and tied up at a pier in Locust Point, hidden behind barges and barbed wire. Thousands of Baltimoreans came to look anyway.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Baltimore Liberty Loan Visit in 19181 min read

Film shows Theodore Roosevelt in Baltimore for the fourth Liberty Loan campaign on September 28, 1918.

An Old Streetcar Map of Central Baltimore1 min read

A map of central Baltimore shows streetcar lines and includes insets for Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Hospital.

Photograph of the Inspection of Bananas in Baltimore, Maryland (1910)

Banana Inspection in Baltimore Around 19101 min read

An old photograph shows bananas being inspected in Baltimore around 1910.

Baltimore Street Names in a 1914 Newspaper Account6 min read

A 1914 Baltimore Sun article traces street names to royal figures, landowners and the towns that became Baltimore.

Circa 1912. "Baltimore from the Emerson tower." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company.

A view across Baltimore’s rooftops from Emerson Tower, around 1912.

Annapolis, Maryland, 1917. "Graduation exercises, U.S. Naval Academy." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative.

Naval Academy Graduation in 19171 min read

A Harris & Ewing photograph records graduation exercises at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis in 1917.

The Elks Parade on Baltimore Street in 19161 min read

A photograph shows the 1916 Elks parade on Baltimore Street, viewed from Holliday Street.

1912 photo of the Fifth Regimental Armory

The Fifth Regiment Armory Lit Up in 19121 min read

A nighttime photograph shows Baltimore’s Fifth Regiment Armory in 1912, the year it hosted the Democratic National Convention.

advertisement for the American Radiator Company - September 11th, 1913

An American Radiator Company Advertisement From 19131 min read

The American Radiator Company placed this advertisement in the Baltimore Sun on September 11, 1913.