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“Bite-Size Bits of Local, National, and Global History”
Downtown in Baltimore, Maryland — The American Northeast (Mid-Atlantic)
 

Discover Baltimore: The Monumental City

Heritage Walk

 
 
Discover Baltimore: The Monumental City Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
1. Discover Baltimore: The Monumental City Marker
Inscription. The Battle Monument was America's first public war memorial and the first since antiquity to honor the common soldier. Designed by Maximilian Godefroy, its construction began in 1815, shortly after the event it commemorates: in 1814, after the British burned Washington, D.C., they sailed to Baltimore intent on destroying that “nest of pirates.” Baltimoreans held off the British in fierce fighting at North Point and withstood a 25-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry, immortalized in Francis Scott Key's “Star Spangled Banner.”

Monument Square was a key site for public assembly and debate even before the monument was built. The city's original courthouse stood here, and the Declaration of Independence was first read to Baltimoreans on the courthouse steps. In 1864, African Americans assembled here to celebrate the state's new emancipation law, and gathered again in 1870 to mark the passing of the Fifteenth Amendment. When the current courthouse opened in 1901, newspapers touted it as America's best example of Beaux Arts architecture. Today, it is named in honor of Baltimore civil rights leader Clarence Mitchell.

The Douglass Institute opened nearby in 1865. As the premier institution for Baltimore African Americans, it housed meeting rooms, fraternal organizations, a high school, newspaper, library,
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and offices of the Republican Party. At its opening Frederick Douglass declared, “The establishment of an institution bearing my name by the colored people in the city of my boyhood, so soon after the act of emancipation in this state, looms before me as a first grand indication of progress.” On the north side of Monument Square stands the Negro Soldier statue, by local sculptor James Lewis, which honors all African American soldiers.
 
Topics. This historical marker is listed in these topic lists: African AmericansWar of 1812War, US Civil.
 
Location. 39° 17.444′ N, 76° 36.746′ W. Marker is in Baltimore, Maryland. It is in Downtown. Marker can be reached from North Calvert Street (Maryland Route 2) north of East Fayette Street, in the median. Located in Battle Monument Park. Touch for map. Marker is in this post office area: Baltimore MD 21202, United States of America. Touch for directions.
 
Other nearby markers. At least 8 other markers are within walking distance of this marker. The Battle Monument (a few steps from this marker); a different marker also named The Battle Monument (a few steps from this marker); Baltimore City Courthouse (a few steps from this marker); a different marker also named The Battle Monument (a few steps from this marker); Old Post Office (a few steps from this marker); The Equitable Building
Discover Baltimore: The Monumental City Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
2. Discover Baltimore: The Monumental City Marker
(within shouting distance of this marker); The Lenore (within shouting distance of this marker); The Munsey Building (within shouting distance of this marker). Touch for a list and map of all markers in Baltimore.
 
Discover Baltimore: The Monumental City Marker image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
3. Discover Baltimore: The Monumental City Marker
The Battle Monument image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
4. The Battle Monument
Close-up of image on marker
The Battle Monument image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
5. The Battle Monument
The Battle Monument, along with the Washington Monument, prompted President John Quincy Adams to dub Baltimore “the Monumental City.” Monument Square served as a gathering place for important events and also attracted Baltimoreans out for a stroll, such as the African Americans depicted in this 1838 view.
Close-up of image on marker
Baltimore's Original Courthouse image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Harper's Weekly, September 27, 2015
6. Baltimore's Original Courthouse
Baltimore's Original Courthouse (1770-1809) stood in the middle of Calvert Street. In 1784, the courthouse was raised on an arch so that Calvert Street could be extended underneath it.
Close-up of image on marker
A Female Rebel image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, 1861
7. A Female Rebel
“A Female Rebel in Baltimore” (Harper's Weekly, May 7, 1861), with the Battle Monument in the background, revealed the confederate sympathies of some Baltimore residents.
Harper's Weekly image used on marker
Frederick Douglass image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
8. Frederick Douglass
“Going to live in Baltimore laid the foundation, and opened the gateway, to all my subsequent prosperity.” — Frederick Douglass
Close-up of image on marker
The Douglas Institute image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
9. The Douglas Institute
The Douglas Institute was located in the 200 block of East Lexington Street.
Close-up of image on marker
Celebrating the Fifteenth Amendment image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
10. Celebrating the Fifteenth Amendment
African Americans celebrating passage of the Fifteenth Amendment, which guaranteed that states could not bar people from voting on account of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” Baltimore poet Frances Ellen Watkins Harper stated, “When the colored man drops the bullet, he must have in his hands the ballot.”
Close-up of image on marker
You are Here image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
11. You are Here
Heritage Trail: 3.2 miles/ 5 kilometers
Close-up of Map on marker
Heritage Walk markers image. Click for full size.
Photographed By Allen C. Browne, September 27, 2015
12. Heritage Walk markers
These markers appear embedded in the sidewalk in a variety of languages
 
 
Credits. This page was last revised on April 17, 2020. It was originally submitted on October 7, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. This page has been viewed 591 times since then and 27 times this year. Photos:   1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12. submitted on October 7, 2015, by Allen C. Browne of Silver Spring, Maryland. • Bernard Fisher was the editor who published this page.

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Mar. 28, 2024