Baltimore Heritage

Join us and Luke McCusker of the Irish Railroad Workers Museum as we explore Henry McShane, his bell foundry and the churches where they were installed. His work was vital in the proclamation of religious freedom throughout America's cities and towns. By McShane’s death, his foundry had 1,000 employees. He and his workers had made and shipped over 200,000 bells, supplying 75% of the bells found in America’s churches. Ships and civic memorials also purchased bells from the firm. McShane is also credited with naming Dundalk, having established a factory there and naming it after Dundalk, Ireland where his father was born.

Along with its famous, architecturally distinguished churches, Baltimore retains many lesser-known but architecturally and socially interesting church buildings. Some are modest, simple structures, some are grander, and probably all of them have been ignored when we think about Baltimore's architectural heritage. If we stop to look at them, however, we see the evidence of Baltimore's spatial and population growth in the years before the Civil War. They tell a tale of geographic and social mobility, changing tastes, and even theological change. You can see all this, if you know what you're looking at.

In 2019, the grand Victorian 8,000 square foot Hawley-Hutzler Mansion went on the market. The mansion was once the home of the Hutzlers, who owned the famous department store of the same name. The mansion has gone through significant alterations since it was built in 1887, including being converted to offices, and in the 1970s, split up into apartments. Needless to say, there would be a lot of work to do to restore this mansion to its former grandeur.

Learn about the history of Poppleton with Professor Nicole King (Department of American Studies, UMBC). King has worked with local residents and preservationists to document the important Black history of Poppleton, which has been threatened by slum clearance, urban renewal, highway construction, and redevelopment. We will also learn about ongoing advocacy efforts to preserve Poppleton's historic places and fight displacement, such as the proposed CHAP local historic district, Black Homeownership in Old Poppleton.