History · Baltimore

Baltimore has 307 places on the National Register, 25 of them National Historic Landmarks

Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns · #1 of 261 in Maryland. What drives it

Dated to 1729 (Wikidata), with 42% of its homes built before 1940 and 79 historic districts holding 81,275 contributing buildings. Below: 5 old photos and papers, maps from 1890 on, the census since 1790, and every listing on the Register.

1729founded

307on the National Register

42%homes built before 1940

5old photos & papers

28famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Baltimore’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Baltimore began, and where its name came from

When was Baltimore founded?

1729

Baltimore dates its founding to 1729 (Wikidata). It appears in the first U.S. census, 1790.

First census: 13,503 in 17902020 census: 585,708297 years

How did Baltimore get its name?

The city is named after Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, an English politician and lawyer who was a founding proprietor of the Province of Maryland.

How historic is Baltimore?

A⁺

Among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata. First post office: 1779. Name: Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Baltimore’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Baltimore is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 261 in Maryland. All 3 inputs put Baltimore near the top nationally; its National Register listings ranks highest.

A⁺

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Baltimore’s overall grade.

Founding era1729, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA⁺Homes built before 194041.5% of homes (±0.8) · typical MD town 3.3% · U.S. 8.4%A National Register307 listings, 81,275 historic buildings, 1,418 per 10,000 residents · typical MD town 0.9 · U.S. 2.4A⁺

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Among the top 1%

NewerOlder

Maryland towns of 2,500+ (261)#1 of 261

Among the 400 U.S. cities of 100,000 or more, Baltimore ranks #2 on History.

Few Maryland towns list much on the Register (a typical Maryland town has 0.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Baltimore’s 1,418 sits above most of its state (97% of Maryland towns have fewer) while its 81,275 historic buildings are more than any other U.S. town’s.

NoteThe founding year comes from Wikidata alone; no second source gives 1729.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would still be A+. The pre-1940 share (±0.8 points) is firm at this size.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Baltimore’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A National Historic Landmark307 places on the National Register, 25 of them National Historic Landmarks.A historic districtThe Park Heights Historic District takes in 7,171 historic buildings.Lost villages22 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Baltimore, and 122 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 18946 editions of the USGS map, 1894 to 1974. Watch Baltimore change.

★ What stands out · On the National Register

307 listings protect 81,275 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving. 25 are National Historic Landmarks, the highest tier. Boundary changes and added documentation are counted with their listing.

places listed

307

National Historic Landmarks

Peale's Baltimore Museum

historic buildings protected

81,275

each building in a district counts

first listed

1966

Peale's Baltimore Museum

BuildingsDistrictsSitesStructuresObjects★ landmark

Architectural styles listings

Italianate46

Romanesque40

Greek Revival26

Classical Revival25

Queen Anne24

Colonial Revival22

★ Landmark

Peale's Baltimore MuseumBuilt 1786

★ Landmark

U.s.s. ConstellationStructure

★ Landmark

Old Roman Catholic CathedralBuilt 1821

★ Landmark

Shot TowerStructure

★ Landmark

Flag HouseBuilding

★ Landmark

Mount ClareGeorgian

★ Landmark

HomewoodGeorgian

★ Landmark

Carrollton ViaductStructure

All 308 listings

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Baltimore’s post office has been open since 1779. 22 other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Baltimore

1779–today

Hampstead

1818–today

Govanstown

1830–1894

Franklin

1832–1848

Hookstown

1833–1873

Saint James

1835–1848

Washingtonville

1845–1854

Wetheredville

1848–1896

Lauraville

1851–1896

Woodberry

1854–1888

17701900today

Hamlets and corners on the map

AnthonyvilleArlingtonArmistead GardensArmistead HomesBeaumont ParkBeechfieldBelgraviaBellviewBelmarBeverly HillsBrightonBroadway-Orleans HomesBrooklynBrooklyn HomesBrooklyn ManorBrooks HillButchers HillCalvertonCalverton HeightsCantonCarrollCedarcroftCedoniaCharles Village

Gone or out of use

Agudas Achim Anshei Sphard SynagoguechurchAlicia Crossland Public SchoolschoolArchbishop Keough High SchoolschoolArmistead Public SchoolschoolAurora TheatrebuildingBaltimore Municipal AirportairportBattery IronsmilitaryBattery McFarlandmilitaryBattery MudgemilitaryBattery WinchestermilitaryBenjamin Banneker Public SchoolschoolBetsy Ross Public SchoolschoolBible Days Revival CenterchurchBolton Hill Public SchoolschoolBoundary Avenue Methodist Episcopal ChurchchurchCarlins ParkparkCentre TheatrebuildingChurch Home Hospitalhospital

39family graveyards and cemeteries inside Baltimore

Adath Israel Anshe SfardArlingtonBaltimoreBaltimore HebrewBnai IsraelBohemianChristopherEttingEvangelical Lutheran TrinityFriendsGreenmountHar SinaiHebrew FriendshipHoly CrossImmanuel LutheranLaurelLoudon Park NationalLoudon Park NationalMikro Kodesh Beth IsraelMost Holy RedeemerMount AuburnMount CarmelMount OlivetNew CathedralOheb ShalomOld Saint PaulsParkwoodSaint AlphonsusSaint Johns EpiscopalSaint MarysSaint MarysSaint MatthewsSaint PetersSaint StanislausSaint VincentsSwartzVoshell Memorial GardensWesternWestminster

See all 39

Adath Israel Anshe Sfard Cemetery · Arlington Cemetery · Baltimore Cemetery · Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery · Bnai Israel Cemetery · Bohemian Cemetery · Christopher Cemetery · Etting Cemetery · Evangelical Lutheran Trinity Cemetery · Friends Cemetery · Greenmount Cemetery · Har Sinai Cemetery · Hebrew Friendship Cemetery · Holy Cross Cemetery · Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery · Laurel Cemetery · Loudon Park National Cemetery · Loudon Park National Cemetery · Mikro Kodesh Beth Israel Cemetery · Most Holy Redeemer Cemetery · Mount Auburn Cemetery · Mount Carmel Cemetery · Mount Olivet Cemetery · New Cathedral Cemetery · Oheb Shalom Cemetery · Old Saint Pauls Cemetery · Parkwood Cemetery · Saint Alphonsus Cemetery · Saint Johns Episcopal Cemetery · Saint Marys Cemetery · Saint Marys Cemetery · Saint Matthews Cemetery · Saint Peters Cemetery · Saint Stanislaus Cemetery · Saint Vincents Cemetery · Swartz Cemetery · Voshell Memorial Gardens · Western Cemetery · Westminster Burial Ground

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

The story

How Baltimore came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Baltimore.

Read it all →

The Baltimore area was inhabited by Native Americans since at least the 10th millennium BC, when Paleo-Indians first settled in the region. 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. 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. The finding followed a period of dormancy in Baltimore City archaeological findings which had persisted since the 1980s. During the Late Woodland period, the archaeological culture known as the Potomac Creek complex resided in the area from Baltimore south to the Rappahannock River in present-day Virginia.

ChaptersPre-settlement 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century 21st century

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Baltimore in 1914

Passages that mention Baltimore, cut from the printed page as they were published.

The harnessed river furnishes the power necessary to propel the street cars of the extensive transit system of Baltimore and its suburbs. Power from the Susquehanna moves the trains in the Belt Line Tunnel of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, beneath the City of Baltimore, one of the earliest electr… — **National star-spangled banner centennial, Baltimore, Maryland, September 6 to 13, 1914**1914 · page 63Read the page →
Read the text
The harnessed river furnishes the power necessary to propel the street cars of the extensive transit system of Baltimore and its suburbs. Power from the Susquehanna moves the trains in the Belt Line Tunnel of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, beneath the City of Baltimore, one of the earliest electricallyoperated tunnels in the world. The entire power requirements of the Maryland Electric Railways Company, which operates the converted steam road connecting Baltimore with Annapolis,
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Baltimore privateers captured five hundred and twenty-five vessels, or nearly one-third of all the prizes taken in the war. Aboard Government vessels and privateers, Baltimore men captured five hundred and seventy-five British ships. The activities of Baltimore privateers caused a loss of $16,000,0… — **National star-spangled banner centennial, Baltimore, Maryland, September 6 to 13, 1914**1914 · page 17Read the page →
Read the text
Baltimore privateers captured five hundred and twenty-five vessels, or nearly one-third of all the prizes taken in the war. Aboard Government vessels and privateers, Baltimore men captured five hundred and seventy-five British ships. The activities of Baltimore privateers caused a loss of $16,000,000 to the British.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Baltimore, 1700 to 1940

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

18th century
1700In the archiveCharles Calvert the 3rd Baron
1729
FoundingBaltimore is established
1779Post officeThe Baltimore post office opens
1786BuiltPeale's Baltimore Museum is built
1790In the archiveA short account of the establishment of the new See of Baltimore in Maryland, and of cons…
19th century
1818Post officeThe Hampstead post office opens
1821BuiltOld Roman Catholic Cathedral is built
1830BuiltEdgar Allan Poe House is built
1830Post officeThe Govanstown post office opens
1856In the archiveAlexandroffsky
1885BuiltHenry August Rowland House is built
1887In the archiveBaltimore, from the City Flags series (N6) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands
1894Post officeThe Govanstown post office closes
1894On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
1898In the archiveEdmondson Avenue Quarry Fig 2 Plate XVIII WBClark 1898
20th century
1921Born hereJohn Rawls is born here
1940Born hereFrank Zappa is born here
1940Born hereNancy Pelosi is born here

By decade

Baltimore, decade by decade

5 decades in the archive, from the 1700s to the 1890s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1700s1 item

1700Charles Calvert the 3rd BaronDocument

1790s1 item

A short account of the establishment of the new See of Baltimore in Maryland, and of consecrating the Right Rev Fleuron…

1790A short account of the establishment of the new See o…Document

1850s–1890s3 items

1856Alexandroffsky

Baltimore, from the City Flags series (N6) for Allen & Ginter Cigarettes Brands

1887Baltimore, from the City Flags series (N6) for Allen …

1898Edmondson Avenue Quarry Fig 2 Plate XVIII WBClark 1898

1900s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

On the map

Baltimore on the map, 1894 to 1974

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Baltimore. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1894Baltimore sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Baltimore.

Every building

Baltimore, building by building, 1890–1914

Fire insurance maps drew every building, what it was made of and what it was used for, so insurers could price the risk of fire. Pick a year, then a sheet.

Baltimore fire insurance map, 1890, sheet 2

1890Sheet 2 of 87

Edition

Sheets

+86 more at the Library of Congress

BrickWoodStone

Sanborn Map Company, via the Library of Congress. Editions published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this viewAlexandroffsky, 1856

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Baltimore’s page.

Retake this view · +15

People over time

Baltimore, census by census

Peaked at 949,708 in 1950; 585,708 people lived here in 2020.

24 censuses, 1790–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Baltimore’s Wikipedia page.

Famous people

28 famous people were born in Baltimore

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Frank ZappaAmerican musician · b. 1940

Nancy PelosiAmerican politician · b. 1940

John RawlsAmerican philosopher, philosophy teacher · b. 1921

Tom ClancyAmerican author · b. 1947

Babe RuthAmerican baseball player · b. 1895

Upton SinclairAmerican writer · b. 1878

Help out

Finish Baltimore’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old viewAlexandroffsky: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

RosedaleIts storyC⁻Pikesville8 historic placesB⁺Dundalk4 historic placesB⁺Towson18 historic placesA Woodlawn2 historic placesC⁻Brooklyn Park1 historic placeB Arbutus2 historic placesB⁻ParkvilleIts storyC⁻Pasadena2 historic placesC⁺Lochearn1 historic placeB⁻

Questions about Baltimore’s history

What year was Baltimore founded?

In 1729, according to Wikidata. Baltimore’s post office opened in 1779, and the first U.S. census counted 13,503 people here in 1790.

How does Baltimore rank for history?

Baltimore is among the most historic 1% of U.S. towns, #1 of 261 in Maryland. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Baltimore?

307 listings, 25 of them National Historic Landmarks: 204 buildings, among them the Peale's Baltimore Museum (a National Historic Landmark since 1965), 81 historic districts with 80,884 contributing buildings, 4 sites, 18 structures, and 1 object. 81,275 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Baltimore?

42% of Baltimore’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate), against a typical 3.3% for a Maryland town; the median home was built in 1947.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the National Register of Historic Places (308), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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Baltimore has 307 places on the National Register, 25 of them National Historic Landmarks

How Baltimore began, and where its name came from

When was Baltimore founded?

How did Baltimore get its name?

How historic is Baltimore?

What drives Baltimore’s History grade

What stands out about Baltimore’s past

307 listings protect 81,275 historic buildings

Architectural styles listings

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

How Baltimore came to be

What they wrote about Baltimore in 1914

Baltimore, 1700 to 1940

Baltimore, decade by decade

Baltimore on the map, 1894 to 1974

Baltimore, building by building, 1890–1914

Stand where they stood

Baltimore, census by census

28 famous people were born in Baltimore

Finish Baltimore’s story

History across the town line

Questions about Baltimore’s history

Memory lane

Where this page comes from