What was 1950s Baltimore like? Great photos and stories from Baltimore in the 1950s.
In 1950, the city’s population topped out at 950,000 people, of whom 24 percent were black. Then the white movement to the suburbs began in earnest, and the population inside the city limits steadily declined and became proportionately more black.
1950s Eastern Avenue in Highlandtown
This photo shows Highlandtown way back in 1950. You’re looking at the 3400 block of Eastern Ave. Click on it for some amazing details. Here’s the same area on Google Street View today.
Gunther Beer 1954 Orioles Schedule
What a cool find! This is the Orioles’ inaugural schedule for the Major Leagues in 1954. Source: Digital Maryland
The Aurora Theatre in 1953
This is a view of the Aurora Theatre sometime in the 1950s. And, after doing a little digging, we see that The Tall Texan, with Lloyd Bridges — the Big Lebowski’s real life dad — was released...
Polytechnic vs. Forest Park High Football Game
Here’s an old picture of a football game between Baltimore Polytechnic Institute and Forest Park High School at Memorial Stadium. Source: Kilduffs
Read’s Drug Store, a Part of the Civil Rights Movement
Read’s Drug Store was a Baltimore based chain of drug stores founded in the 1800’s by William Read. The downtown store was one of the first stores involved in the country’s very first anti-segregation sit-in during...
Century Theatre on West Lexington
Here’s a picture of one of the many popular Century Theatres located in Baltimore before the 1950s.The theatres lined the blocks of Lexington, Charles and Cathedral St.Unfortunately, the theatres were torn down in the 1960s and...
Catonsville Home for $57 Monthly Payments
This is an ad that we dug up in The Baltimore Sun from January 7th, 1951.
Ellicott City Trolley (1955)
Here are a couple cool old photos that we dug up on Shorpy. It’s a vintage 1910s streetcar running in 1955. Source: Shorpy Source: Shorpy
What Was The First Flight to Land at Friendship (BWI) and Who Was the First Passenger?
Now this is some excellent trivia for you. The first flight to use the airport was Eastern Air Lines en route from Atlanta to Newark, landing just after midnight on July 24th. Source: Kilduffs Below is...
Towson Ranch Home for $19,800
Here’s an advertisement that we found in The Baltimore Sun, printed on January 7th, 1951. Source: Baltimore Sun
Catonsville Junction in the 1950s
This is an excellent old photo of Catonsville Junction, the terminus of the old Baltimore Traction Company’s streetcar lines. Source: Shorpy
Downtown at Fallsway in the 1950s
What a cool photo. We dug this one up on Flickr. Source: petespix75
Then and Now: Intersection of Fulton, Hollins, and Frederick in 1954
Check out the 1954 image of this intersection … Source: Flickr user hoteldennis
The Maryland Casualty Clock Tower
Is there something so identifiable with a city that, when you visit, you just have to see it? Such as New York and the Statue of Liberty or Philadelphia and the William Penn statue. See the...
1958 MLB All-Star Game at Memorial Stadium
The first Major League Baseball All-Star Game to be held in Baltimore was in 1958, four seasons after the Orioles arrived in town. The American League came out on top 4-3 that game, on July 8th,...
Pan Am’s First Passenger Jet to Europe (1958)
This is a cross-post from Ghosts of DC. Aviation has a strong history in the Washington area. Following on the heels of our last aeronautical first (Concorde at Dulles), here is another first for the region...