Fells Point

Fells Point, Baltimore’s original deep water port, was a small village by 1763 when Edward Fell surveyed and laid out streets and lots on land bought by his father, William Fell, and after its annexation by Baltimore in 1773 it remained a working-class maritime community shaped by trade, shipbuilding, immigration, and civic struggle. With deep water close to shore, it became a natural center for commerce, sending iron, grain, flour, tobacco, and other goods to Europe and the West Indies and receiving sugar, coffee, and other imports in return. Shipyards lined the waterfront and drew shipwrights, artisans, caulkers, laborers, sailors, shopkeepers, free blacks, and slaves into a booming economy and a lively tavern culture. Schooners built there, famed for speed and beauty, played important roles in the Revolutionary War, privateering, and the War of 1812, and Fells Point shipbuilding and shipping dominated the region for nearly a century from the Revolution to the Civil War. Fells Point-built vessels included ships associated with the Maryland Navy, the USS Constellation and USS Enterprise, and later Baltimore clippers such as Ann McKim and the Chasseur, commanded by Captain Thomas Boyle, while one hundred thirty Fells Point-based schooners captured five hundred fifty British ships during the War of 1812. Free blacks formed a large early community and worked alongside slaves on the waterfront; in 1866 Isaac Myers opened a marine railway and dry dock company there. Until about 1850, Fells Point served as Baltimore’s main entry point for European immigrants from England, Scotland, Germany, Ireland, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia, many of whom settled in the neighborhood, and by the mid-1800s its canning industry employed new arrivals and African Americans in long, low-paid work packing oysters, fruits, and vegetables. By the Civil War it was no longer the center of Baltimore’s maritime commerce, but it remained sailortown, with bars, boarding houses, and churches serving seamen, and in the 1930s it became a center of radical activity during the seamen’s strike. After the Civil War, iron ships and steam power reduced wooden shipbuilding on the Point and shipping moved to deeper water, yet the neighborhood kept much of its maritime character. In 1966 plans for an interstate highway along the waterfront threatened the area, but preservationists, longtime residents, and other citizens defeated the project, and in 1977 the city abandoned it. Fells Point has retained its historic houses, public market, streets, wharves, warehouses, and strong independent character, and it continues to thrive as a waterfront neighborhood shaped by immigrants, workers, sailors, preservation battles, and enduring local pride.

Baltimore, Maryland · United States