Archive for February, 2009
Baltimore’s Lady Baltimore Statues
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While listening to the BMA monument tour, I discovered that it is none other than Lady Baltimore whose statue sits atop the Battle Monument downtown. That is, she is meant to be an allegorical representation of the city itself. Also did a little sleuthing around the subject and it turns out that there used to be four Lady Baltimore adorning the St. Paul Street bridge over the Jones Falls/expressway. In 1960, the ladies were removed and languished in storage for 16 years. Two of the ladies have found new homes in Cylburn Arboretum. A third sits in a park where Lennox Street meets Mt. Royal Terrace. Interestingly, the last one was sent to Ireland by the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick Society, a fraternal organization in Baltimore City.
What Martial Law Looks Like: Baltimore’s 1968 Riots
Shortly after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr (who oddly enough lacks a monument here in town), rioting broke out on the streets of Baltimore City. A Baltimore City police history page has more details:
When rioting did break out on Saturday, April 6, the Governor of Maryland, Spiro T. Agnew, called out thousands of National Guard troops and 500 Maryland State Police to quell the disturbance. When it was determined that the state forces could not control the riot, Agnew requested Federal troops from President Lyndon B. Johnson.
By Sunday evening, 5000 paratroopers, combat engineers, and artillerymen from the XVIII Airborne Corps in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, specially trained in riot control tactics, including sniper school, were on the streets of Baltimore with fixed bayonets, and equipped with chemical (CS) disperser backpacks. Two days later, they were joined by a Light Infantry Brigade from Fort Benning, Georgia. With all the police and troops on the streets, things began to calm down. The FBI reported that H. Rap Brown was in Baltimore driving a Ford Mustang with Broward County, Florida tags, and was assembling large groups of angry protesters and agitating them to escalate the rioting. In several instances, these disturbances were rapidly quelled through the skillful use of bayonets and chemical dispersers by the XVIII Airborne units. That unit did not fire a single round of ammunition and arrested more than 3,000 detainees, who were identified, tagged with bracelets, and delivered in cattle trucks to the Baltimore police precincts.
Pope John Paul II Monument at the Basilica
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W Franklin Street and N Charles Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 17′ 42.19″ N 76° 36′ 56.38″ W
History
Commemorates Pope John Paul II’s 1995 visit to Charm City. The trip came at the invitation of William Keeler, who was elevated to Cardinal by the pontiff. The sculpture is based on a photo of the Pope arriving in Baltimore, embracing two Baltimore children. The prayer garden is also dedicated to religious freedom and ecumenism. Artist: Joseph Sheppard; garden designed by Scott Rykeil. Once the site of the historic Rochambeau apartments which were demolished to create this contemplative space. Ground-breaking ceremony held April 11, 2008.
Notes
Located in the prayer garden at the north-eastern corner of the Basilica of the Assumption, also known as Baltimore Cathedral. Across the street is the First Unitarian Church of Baltimore, which bears a uniquely beautiful facade of its own. A high-energy location as traffic flows in from the east and south.
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James Cardinal Gibbons Statue at the Basilica
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W Mulberry Street and Cathedral Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 17′ 39.60″ N 76° 36′ 58.20″ W
History
Dedicated Dec. 17, 1967, this monument depicts Cardinal James Gibbons (1834-1921), Archbishop of Baltimore. Sculptors: Harold Schaller and Betti Richard. Gibbons served as a chaplain at Fort McHenry during the Civil War. Gibbons was the second American to be elevated to the office of cardinal. Notable for his support of the labor movement. There’s another monument dedicated to him in Washington, DC. Gibbons is buried below the Cathedral.
Notes
The monument is located within the gate at the Baltimore Basilica, in the southwest corner, diagonally across the property from the papal prayer garden. Gate is open during the day, with a ramp and staircase. The monument’s inscription describes him as an “exemplary citizen” and “friend of humanity.” Enoch Pratt Free Library faces Gibbons across Cathedral Street.
Nearby
Links
- Smithsonian entry for this sculpture
- On Panoramio & Flickr [2]
The Pride Memorial at the Inner Harbor
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Key Highway and S Shore Promenade at Rash Field (Street View)
GPS: 39° 16′ 53.62″ N 76° 36′ 30.08″ W
History
The Pride of Baltimore was a reproduction of a Baltimore clipper topsail schooner named The Chausseur which fought in the War of 1812 under privateer Thomas Boyle. The Pride was lost at sea in a micro-burst squall with her captain and three others in May of 1986. She had been commissioned in 1975, was built alongside the Science Center, and was launched by Barbara Mikulski in 1977. A Pride of Baltimore II was launched in 1988. Monument dedicated in 1992.
Notes
Located at the east end of Rash Field, which lies on the south side of the Inner Harbor. The Rusty Scupper restaurant is nearby and the mound of Federal Hill looms immediately to the south. Currently occupying Rash Field to the west is the Trapeze School of Baltimore and sand volleyball courts. The Pride Memorial itself is composed of a central wooden mast held in place by guide wires, a set of inscribed plaques, and an etching of the ship.
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Katyn Memorial in Harbor East
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Location
Roundabout at Aliceanna Street and S President Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 16′ 59.37″ N 76° 36′ 6.05″ W
History
Dedicated on November 19, 2000, the Katyn Memorial commemorates the 22,000 estimated Polish military officers, police, intellectuals and civilian prisoners of war executed by the NKVD, Stalin’s secret police at the Katyn forest and other Soviet detainment camps in 1940. The Soviet government officially denied the massacre ever took place until 1990. The monument also depicts significant figures from other points in Polish history, re-conceptualizing the destructive flame as the transformation and renewal of a people. Artist: Andrzei Pitynski.
Notes
This monument stands a majestic fourty-four feet tall at a geographic hub connecting the Inner Harbor, the commercial and residential revitalization projects at Harbor East and Fells Point. Construction is on-going in the area. The old President Street Station was once nearby (later turned into a Civil War Museum), connecting passengers on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) to the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad (PW&B).
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Links
- National Katyn Memorial Foundation
- Katyn Remembrance in Baltimore, MD
- Remembering Katyn from the Hoover Institute
- On Panoramio [2] & Flickr [2] [3]
Babe Ruth Statue at Camden Yards
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S Eutaw Street and W Camden Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 17′ 5.98″ N 76° 37′ 14.48″ W
Also known as “Babe’s Dream”
History
George Herman “Babe” Ruth was born in Baltimore’s Pigtown neighborhood in his grandparent’s home on February 6, 1895. He eventually was sent to Saint Mary’s Industrial School to learn the textile trade. Ruth played catcher and pitcher for the school creating attention with local scouts. He was signed by Jack Dunn to the then-minor league Baltimore Orioles in 1914. The Babe got his nickname when Dunn, who had become George’s legal guardian in order to sign him, was seen by his team with the young baseball player. The Oriole veterans dubbed him ‘Jack’s newest babe’, and the name stuck. On July 9, 1914, he was traded to the Boston Red Sox. This statue was dedicated in 1998 and is by sculptor Susan Luery and New Arts Foundry in Hampden.
Notes
“Babe’s Dream” resides in a plaza south of Eutaw and Camden, in the northwest corner of Camden Yards. Also in the courtyard are a number of waist-high numerical sculptures commemorating famous ballplayers. The building to the immediate east of the plaza was once Camden Station and now houses the Sports Legends Museum. George Herman Ruth was born around the corner in a rowhouse at 216 Emory Street.
Nearby
- Camden Station
- Brooks Robinson Statue
- Memorial Stadium Urn
- Johnny Unitas Statue
- Thurgood Marshall Monument
- William Donald Schaefer Statue
Links
- Sculptor’s website
- Babe’s Dream Marker at HMdb
- On Panoramio & Flickr
Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr. Monument
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N Charles Street and E Lexington Street (Street View)
GPS: 39° 17′ 28.14″ N 76° 36′ 56.47″ W
History
This double statue depicts the father of Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Thomas D’Alesandro, Jr. who served as mayor of Baltimore from 1947 to 1959. He is described as a visionary man who oversaw the revitalization of the downtown area, especially around Charles Center, which his statue overlooks. His son, Thomas D’Alesandro, III also served as mayor between 1967 and 1971 – a tumultuous period of Baltimore history which bore witness to rioting in the wake of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination. Memorial commissioned in 1986. Artist: Lloyd Lillie.
Notes
You’ll find this monument tucked away from the intersection of Charles and Lexington to the west, at the entrance of One North Charles Street, a skyscraper. The monument consists of two statues, one of which stands overlooking the plaza down below, and the second of which is seated in a bench with his arms outstretched.
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Christopher Columbus Monument in Harbor East
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E Falls Ave and Eastern Ave (Street View)
GPS: 39° 17′ 7.16″ N 76° 36′ 13.24″ W
History
Dedicated October 8, 1984 by Mayor of Baltimore William Donald Schaefer and President Ronald Reagan, the statue depicts the history-making explorer who discovered the New World. Carved in Italian Carrara marble, the monument is a gift of the Italian American Organization United of Maryland and the Italian American Community of Baltimore.
Notes
We had to ask at the Baltimore Inner Harbor Visitor Center to track down this historic monument – one of three Columbus monuments in the city. None of the employees working there knew its location offhand, but were soon able to find it online. It’s at the edge of Harbor East and Little Italy, across the street from the restaurant Della Notte, east of Pier Six Pavilion and signs marked Columbus Center (also right near the Public Works Museum). Columbus faces east along Eastern Avenue. The monument and piazza in which it resides are quite striking, with relief work adorning each face of the marble base. The Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria are depicted, along with Columbus’ birthplace in Genoa and his landing and meeting with the Native Americans. Artist: Bigarani Anuro.
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Links
- Columbus Monument on a Baltimore tourism website
- Smithsonian entry
- On Panoramio & Flickr
John Mifflin Hood Statue in Preston Gardens
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Saratoga Street and St. Paul Street in Preston Gardens (Street View)
GPS: 39° 17′ 32.95″ N 76° 36′ 49.24″ W
History
Depicts John Mifflin Hood, Confederate general and early president of the Western Maryland Railroad. Under Hood’s guidance the railroad was able to regain market share, becoming very profitable. Baltimore City owned considerable stock in the company, resulting in massive profit. After the Great Fire of 1904 the city used six million dollars of railroad earnings to pay for reconstruction. In appreciation, a monument was erected, one block from the origin of the fire, in Mifflin Hood’s honor. It was later moved to it’s current location in Preston Gardens. Dedicated May 11, 1911. Artist: Richard E. Brooks.
Notes
Hood’s monument is tucked away in a park known as Preston Gardens which lies in between St. Paul Street’s north and south-bound lanes. The monument is flanked on either side by a fountain and winding staircases connect the upper and lower sections of St. Paul. Curving sidewalks flow throughout this surprisingly placid location.
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