Category: Education

Our education programs include technical assistance to property owners, heritage education around the Civil War Sequicentennial and the Bi-Centennial of the War of 1812, and our ongoing Race and Place in Baltimore Neighborhoods project.

Baltimore’s Young Preservationist Happy Hour in the Station North Arts District

Start your Memorial Day weekend with a happy crowd of architects, archivists, planners and folks who just love old buildings and join us us for our third Young Preservationist Happy Hour at Joe Squared on North Avenue.

Young Preservationist Happy Hour | 133 W. North Avenue

Friday, May 27, 2010
6:00 pm to 8:00 pm
RSVP Today!

Since 2005, Joe Squared has anchored the corner of Howard Street and West North Avenue in an early 20th century block first used as a tavern back in the 1950s. No specials on tap this time but with outdoor seating and a menu of unique pizzas, salads, and sandwiches, Joe’s is a can’t miss destination on North Avenue. If this is your first Baltimore Heritage event, we’ll give you a free membership with discounts on tours and a subscription to our quarterly newsletter. Please RSVP for a chance to win discounted tickets to the 2011 Baltimore Heritage Awards Celebration in historic Union Square Park.

Take a tour of the Station North Arts District with the Central Baltimore Partnership


Joe Squared isn’t the only exciting new business and neat historic building on North Avenue. Join Ashley Wallace, Community Planner for the Central Baltimore Partnership, on a quick 30 minute walking tour starting at the Charles Theater at 5:25 PM. We’ll stop by the Crown Cork & Seal Co. Building (better known at the Copycat) where William Painter invented the bottle cap in 1891 along with new arts spaces like the Load of Fun Gallery. When you RSVP just let us know if you’re coming early for the tour.

Remembering William Donald Schaefer

William Donald Schaefer shaped the Baltimore we have today perhaps as much as anyone. Baltimore Heritage did not always see eye-to-eye with the former mayor and governor, and indeed we fought vehemently against projects he supported, including highways proposed for Baltimore’s waterfront and the east-west connector in West Baltimore that threatened and demolished historic buildings and neighborhoods. On other issues, Governor Schaefer was a friend and leader for preservation, including the Dollar House Program and preserving the West Side of downtown. Former Baltimore Heritage President Fred Shoken joins us in remembering William Donald Schaefer with a guest post–

The highlight of my career as President of Baltimore Heritage was presenting William Donald Schaefer with the 1993 Douglas H. Gordon Award for Preservation Advocacy.

When the Board of Directors first considered Governor Schaefer for this honor, we envisioned giving the award to someone who after many years of public service ultimately became convinced that preservation was important. We would honor an individual who championed our cause and carried it forward. After reviewing his career in more detail, we realized the opposite was true. William Donald Schaefer was the leader in creating the foundations upon which Baltimore’s preservation movement was built.

While preservationists were busy fighting individual concerns, trying to save one building or the next, William Donald Schaefer saw the big picture. He realized that nothing could be preserved and no community could be revitalized without convincing people to take pride in their neighborhoods. He made it his mission to restore neighborhood pride in Baltimore City, and he was effective.

He knew that people who are not proud of their history, of their community, of their city, will do nothing to preserve their heritage. Without pride of place, there is no preservation. People who are not proud of themselves or of their neighborhoods are destructive. They tear down rather than build up. People who are proud of their history and heritage will preserve the symbols of the past and work to improve the future. William Donald Schaefer worked harder than anyone to restore pride in our neighborhoods. This, more than anything else, allowed preservation to flourish in Baltimore.

There is no doubt that conflicts will exist between preservationists and government officials on particular issues. Preservationists had battles with William Donald Schaefer. Some we won … others we lost, but that was not a factor in honoring the Governor. We honored William Donald Schaefer because deep down he was proud of the history and accomplishments of Baltimore City and the State of Maryland. His pride in Baltimore made him a great advocate in preserving Baltimore’s historic and architectural heritage. In turn he made others proud, which aided the cause of preservation. For this reason William Donald Schaefer deserved recognition from Baltimore Heritage and our thanks.

Fred Shoken, President of Baltimore Heritage, 1988-1994

Why the West Side Matters: Remembering Edith Houghton Hooker at the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center

Linda Shevitz, Why the West Side Matters at the Maryland Women's Heritage Center
The Maryland Women’s Heritage Center at 39 West Lexington Street is located on the first floor of the historic Baltimore Gas and Electric Company Building in a store-front gallery and exhibit space donated to the Center by David Hillman, CEO of Southern Management Corporation. Originally completed in 1916, the former Baltimore Gas & Electric Company headquarters building was carefully preserved and restored as a mixed-use development including apartments and offices. Its 22 stories rise in majestic neoclassical style, capped by large, arched windows on the top two floors. At the fourth floor, the façade is graced by allegorical figures or goddesses representing Knowledge, Light, Heat, and Power.
The corner of Lexington and Liberty Streets is particularly important in the history of the Maryland suffrage movement as the location of a huge open air rally organized by Edith Houghton Hooker (1879-1949). A Buffalo native, Hooker arrived in Baltimore as one of the first women accepted into the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 1909, she established the Just Government League of Maryland, a local affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and edited and published Maryland Suffrage News from 1912 through the ratification of the 19th Amendment in 1920.

Linda Shevitz, Why the West Side Matters at the Maryland Women's Heritage Center

From its beginning as the Maryland Women’s History Project in 1980, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center has worked to preserve the past, understand the present, and shape the future by recognizing and sharing the experiences and contributions of Maryland women and girls of diverse backgrounds and regions. Their exhibits honor Maryland’s historical and contemporary renowned women and girls in the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, as well as highlighting those “Unsung Heroines” who have shaped their own families and communities. The Center serves as a resource with historical information on Maryland women and a gathering place to hold workshops, forums, and other special events.

Our Why the West Side Matters series is produced with the assistance of Baltimore Heritage volunteer Sally Otto. Read our last post  in the series on 200 Years of Iron Work at G. Krug & Son.

Why the West Side Matters: 200 Years of Iron Work at G. Krug and Son

Stephen Krug at G. Krug & Son, January 2011G. Krug and Son, now including daughters as well as sons, opened on Saratoga Street in 1810. One of Baltimore’s oldest businesses and the nation’s oldest continuously operating blacksmith’s shop, G. Krug has been an anchor on the West Side of Downtown for over over 200 years employing hundreds of skilled workers, serving as a retail destination for artistic wrought iron work, and reflecting the unique character of historic businesses on the West Side. G. Krug and Sons is one of the many reasons why the West Side matters to the people of Baltimore.

G. Krug & Son workers, Feburary 2011Originally operated as the blacksmith shop of Augustus Scwanka, Gustav Krug joined the business in 1848, working his way up to journeyman, foreman, partner and then purchased the shop in 1871. At one point, the shop supported 100 artisans and could proudly boast that virtually every building in Baltimore contained something made in the shop, even if that something was only a nail. The business has remained in the skilled hands of his descendants ever since maintaining a dedication to fine craftsmanship G. Krug & Son is one of the few companies left in Baltimore that can claim their ancestors helped in building Baltimore.
The company remains dedicated to providing their customers with ironwork that is beautiful, durable and represents a value that will stand the test of time. You can view a great gallery of a few of their past projects on their website or take a look at photos from a Behind the Scenes Tour of the shop back in 2009. Today the company is run by 5th generation Krugs, Peter and Stephen, who operate the business with the same dedication to craftsmanship and customer satisfaction as their forefathers. Today, Stephen’s daughter Alexandra, and Peter’s son David work in the company and are already skilled in their family’s trade.

Our Why the West Side Matters series is produced with the assistance of Baltimore Heritage volunteer Sally Otto. Read our first post  in the series on Read’s Drug Store and Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage.

Preserving Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum

Join Baltimore Heritage & the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture on the evening of February 9 for “Preserving Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage,” a panel discussion and public forum from 7:00 to 8:30 PM moderated & hosted by Dr. David Terry, executive director of the Reginald F. Lewis Museum. Our panelists include Dr. Gabriel Tenabe (Morgan State University) on restoring the home of long-time Baltimore NAACP President Lillie Mae Carroll Jackson, Ms. Tanya Bowers (National Trust for Historic Preservation) on the proposed National Civil Rights Heritage Trail, and Mr. Bill Pencek on the adaptive reuse of PS 103. Finally, we’ll hear the story of the Read’s Drug Store sit-in from Dr. Helena Hicks who, as a freshman at Morgan State in 1955, participated in Baltimore’s first successful sit-in protest at Read’s— a building that is currently threatened with demolition by the development of the “Superblock.”

Preserving Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage

The Reginald F. Lewis Museum, 830 E. Pratt Street, Baltimore, MD 21202
Wednesday, February 9, 7:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Free, RSVP today!

Parking for museum visitors is located across the street at the Dodge PMI Garage at 815 E. Pratt St. $6 validated parking is available. Transit options include MTA Bus 10 via President Street, Charm City Circulator Orange Route Stop 201, & the Shot Tower/Market Place Subway Station.