Baltimore Heritage

Housing the offices of the Mayor and other officials, Baltimore City Hall is the heart of local government. Designed in a French Second Empire style, local leaders dedicated the new City Hall in October 1875. Architect George Frederick was only 21 when he won the design competition organized for project. The Baltimore City Hall may be Frederick’s claim to fame but he also designed Maryland’s Pavilion for Philadelphia Exposition, Baltimore City College, Hutzler’s Palace Building, and many more landmarks across the city. In an appropriate move for a bustling industrial city, the structure employed a good deal of cast iron, including the 227-foot tall dome designed by Wendel Bollman and cast by Bartlett, Robbins, and Company.

Our tour will cover architectural history, as well as Baltimore and city government history. In addition to the rotunda, we’ll venture into the building’s ceremonial room, the original mayor’s office, and the council chambers (as long as they are not in use). We’ll also witness close-up the prize-winning renovations that happened in the 1970s and saved City Hall from demolition. Peer behind the curtain and get an up close look at the architecture and renovations where our city’s leaders make some of their biggest decisions.

Don’t know who Henrietta Lacks was? Most of the world didn’t until about ten years ago. Mrs. Lacks is best recognized for her immortal cells, which scientists and doctors still use today to study the effects of toxins, drugs, hormones and viruses on people without experimenting on humans. Her cells helped create the HPV and polio vaccines. Yet it took some twenty-five years before the Lacks family received any knowledge of the important contribution of their beloved wife and mother. Please join us and the Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group for a walking tour of Turner Station in Dundalk, the last home of Henrietta Lacks, to hear about Henrietta, her family, and her life in Turner Station.