50 Facts About Baltimore

1. Baltimore is the most populous city in the US state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020.

2. Baltimore was designated an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland in 1851, and today is the most populous independent city in the United States.

3. Baltimore is located about 40 miles northeast of Washington, DC, making it a principal city in the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area (CSA), the third-largest CSA in the nation, with a calculated 2021 population of 9,946,526.

4. The historical records of the government of Baltimore are located at the Baltimore City Archives.

5. One Paleo-Indian site and several Archaic period and Woodland period archaeological sites have been identified in Baltimore, including four from the Late Woodland period.

6. In December 2021, several Woodland period Native American artifacts were found in Herring Run Park in northeast Baltimore, dating 5,000 to 9,000 years ago.

7. The original county seat, known today as Old Baltimore, was located on Bush River within the present-day Aberdeen Proving Ground.

8. Baltimore grew swiftly in the 18th century, its plantations producing grain and tobacco for sugar-producing colonies in the Caribbean.

9. Since Baltimore was the county seat, a courthouse was built in 1768 to serve both the city and county.

10. In 1774, Baltimore established the first post office system in what became the United States, and the first water company chartered in the newly independent nation.

11. Baltimore acquired its moniker "The Monumental City" after an 1827 visit to Baltimore by President John Quincy Adams.

12. Baltimore saw the first casualties of the war on April 19, 1861, when Union Soldiers en route from the President Street Station to Camden Yards clashed with a secessionist mob in the Pratt Street riot.

13. Baltimore proposed to recognize majority white residential blocks and majority black residential blocks and to prevent people from moving into housing on such blocks where they would be a minority.

14. Baltimore is in north-central Maryland on the Patapsco River close to where it empties into the Chesapeake Bay.

15. Streets of Baltimore are organized in a grid pattern, lined with tens of thousands of brick and formstone-faced rowhouses.

16. Baltimore is officially divided into nine geographical regions: North, Northeast, East, Southeast, South, Southwest, West, Northwest, and Central, with each district patrolled by a respective Baltimore Police Department.

17. Southeast Baltimore, located below Fayette Street, bordering the Inner Harbor and the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River to the west, the city line of 1919 on its eastern boundaries and the Patapsco River to the south, is a mixed industrial and residential area.

18. West Baltimore is west of downtown and the Martin Luther King Jr.

19. Originally a predominantly German neighborhood, by the last half of the 19th century, Old West Baltimore was home to a substantial section of the city's black population.

20. Notable neighborhoods in Southwest Baltimore include: Pigtown, Carrollton Ridge, Ridgely's Delight, Leakin Park, Violetville, Lakeland, and Morrell Park.

21. Baltimore is part of USDA plant hardiness zones 7b and 8a.

22. The year between 2018 and 2019 had the largest year-to-year population loss, and in 2020 Baltimore lost more population than any other major city in the United States.

23. Housing in Baltimore is relatively inexpensive for large, coastal cities of its size.

24. Homeless population in Baltimore is steadily increasing; it exceeded 4,000 people in 2011.

25. Around the turn of the 20th century, Baltimore was the leading US manufacturer of rye whiskey and straw hats.

26. Downtown Baltimore is the primary economic asset within Baltimore City and the region with 29.1 million square feet of office space.

27. Nonprofits based in Baltimore include Lutheran Services in America and Catholic Relief Services.

28. Baltimore is ranked 9th for total dollar value of cargo and 13th for cargo tonnage for all US ports.

29. Baltimore is the home of the National Aquarium, one of the world's largest.

30. Baltimore is known for its Maryland blue crabs, crab cake, Old Bay Seasoning, pit beef, and the "chicken box".

31. Baltimore is the last place in America where one can still find arabbers, vendors who sell fresh fruits and vegetables from a horse-drawn cart that goes up and down neighborhood streets.

32. Baltimore is home to the Pride of Baltimore Chorus, a three-time international silver medalist women's chorus, affiliated with Sweet Adelines International.

33. In 1981, Baltimore hosted the first International Theater Festival, the first such festival in the country.

34. The first major league to base a team in Baltimore was the All-America Football Conference, which had a team named the Baltimore Colts.

35. Baltimore hosted a Canadian Football League franchise, the Baltimore Stallions for the 1994 and 1995 seasons.

36. The marathon begins at the Camden Yards sports complex and travels through many diverse neighborhoods of Baltimore, including the scenic Inner Harbor waterfront area, historic Federal Hill, Fells Point, and Canton, Baltimore.

37. Baltimore is an independent city, and not part of any county.

38. Baltimore was elected in 2020 and took office on December 8, 2020.

39. Law enforcement on the fleet of transit buses and transit rail systems serving Baltimore is the responsibility of the Maryland Transit Administration Police, which is part of the Maryland Transit Administration of the state Department of Transportation.

40. Baltimore is one of three people in the last four decades to have represented the 3rd District before being elected to the United States Senate.

41. Baltimore averaged 1.65 cars per household in 2016, compared to a national average of 1.8.

42. The first limited-access highway serving Baltimore was the Baltimore–Washington Parkway, which opened in stages between 1950 and 1954.

43. Maintenance of it is split: the half closest to Baltimore is maintained by the state of Maryland, and the half closest to Washington by the National Park Service.

44. Interstate highways serving Baltimore are I-70, I-83, I-95, I-395, I-695 (the Baltimore Beltway), I-795 (the Northwest Expressway), I-895 (the Harbor Tunnel Thruway), and I-97.

45. Public transit in Baltimore is mostly provided by the Maryland Transit Administration and Charm City Circulator.

46. Baltimore is a top destination for Amtrak along the Northeast Corridor.

47. Baltimore is served by two airports, both operated by the Maryland Aviation Administration, which is part of the Maryland Department of Transportation.

48. In 2007, Duke Realty Corporation began a new development near the Port of Baltimore, named the Chesapeake Commerce Center.

49. The Port of Baltimore is one of two seaports on the US East Coast with a 50-foot dredge to accommodate the largest shipping vessels.

50. The Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore took steps to remediate the waterways, in hopes that the harbor would be fishable and swimmable .