During the 1700 and early 1800’s Cheapside Wharf, named after Cheapside in London a principal mercantile district, was the bustling center of Baltimore. Shipping agents, ship chandlers, grocers, copper and tin manufacturers, curriers and furniture makers lined the streets creating a seaside commercial district. In 1904, the Great Baltimore Fire destroyed more than 140 acres of prime business land. Many merchants were ruined and could not afford to rebuild.

By the 1950’s the Inner Harbor was decimated. Derelict warehouses stood as testament to a once thriving commercial center. Abandoned cars were found along deserted streets. The area’s population consisted of toothless winos and rats. The rest of the city fared no better. There were overcrowded and deteriorating neighborhoods and the downtown was losing its focus as a retail center. According to the The Baltimore Harbor Book "It was perceived as a city with a great past and no future, and if you made it you were moving to New York or Philadelphia or Chicago."

The final straw was the closing of O’Neill’s Department store in 1954. Concerned over the disinvestment in the city, J. Jefferson Miller, then executive vice president of the Hecht. Co. and director of the Retail Merchants Association persuaded the group to look into what other cities were doing to cope with similar problems. The conclusion: merchants, by themselves, could not bring about a turnaround. The same year the group formed a Committee for Downtown and recruited members from utilities, banks and other property owners.

Concurrently, a group of 100 executives formed the Greater Baltimore Committee. Together, the Greater Baltimore Committee and the Committee for Downtown agreed that downtown revitalization was a top priority. In 1956 the Greater Baltimore Committee created a wholly owned subsidiary, the Planning Council, which was financially supported by contributions from the parent organization and the Committee for Downtown. The Planning Council secured the service of David Wallace, a nationally known planner and architect. His mission: to develop comprehensive study and plan for downtown.

Revitalization has begun

The first effort was Charles Center, an office development on a 33-acre parcel between the existing retail and financial districts. The project was intended to be a dramatic step that would reverse the downward spiral of Baltimore’s downtown. In 1959, the City Council adopted Charles Center as an official urban renewal plan.

The plan’s adoption effectively made the downtown business community and city government partners in the revitalization efforts. To formalize the relationship the partners formed the Charles Center Management Office led by J. Jefferson Miller. Through the management office the city could combine the flexibility of a private corporation with its powers to raise working capital and assemble land through eminent domain.

In 1963, with construction of the Charles Center well underway, then Mayor Theodore R. McKeldin, Jr. sounded the charge for an even more ambitious plan: the redevelopment of 240 acres adjacent to the Charles Center location. The Planning Council again looked toward the expertise of David Wallace. This time, however, the funding was provided through a three-way partnership between the City, the Greater Baltimore Committee, and the Committee for Downtown. This three way collaborative was key in bringing federal urban renewal funding to the cause.

In 1964, David Wallace produced a plan that provided the basic guidance for a 30 year, $260 million effort to redevelop the harbor’s edge. The key: bring the public to the water’s edge. The problem: the public was not accustomed to visiting the harbor. Waterfronts were virtually ignored because of their history as commercial centers and were often proposed to be highways.

Knowing that the plan would cause skepticism among Baltimore residents, the Greater Baltimore Committee launched a successful public education campaign. Later that year voters approved $2 million in bonds to finance the first steps in the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor.

We'll see you at the fair...

The first of the Inner Harbor attractions was the restored U.S.F. Constellation, the oldest ship in the U.S. Navy. The ship was placed at the newly rebuilt Pier I in 1972. Baltimore City officials planned special events to draw people to the district. In 1973 the City Fair, an annual September celebration that continues today, was moved to the Inner Harbor. Residents began to feel the pride of the City’s accomplishments.

In 1976 during the nation’s bicentennial celebration, Baltimore took an opportunity to showcase its revitalization efforts to the country. The City hosted the Tall Ships, replicas of early sailing vessels. People from around the Midwest flocked to the Inner Harbor to see the spectacle and the future of the area as a regional attraction was sealed.

By this time much had been accomplished. The U.S.F.&G., one of Baltimore’s tallest, was completed. The Christ Lutheran Harbor Apartments, the first new building in the Inner Harbor, were occupied. In 1976 the IBM building, the Maryland Science Center and the Harbor Campus of the Community College opened.

Put it on my tab.

But the work had just begun. The City was only halfway through its 30-year plan and to finish turning the Inner Harbor vision into reality would still cost millions. Fortunately, during the 1970s the federal government was very supportive of innovative revitalization efforts and provided funding through Community Development Block Grants (CDBG) and Urban Development Action Grants (UDAG) and Baltimore accepted the help without question.

In 1977 Baltimore secured a $10 million UDAG grant to assist in developing the area’s first hotel. Baltimore loaned the money, together with a $2 million settlement from an earlier hotel developer who pulled out, to the Hyatt chain. The City also constructed a $4 million parking garage. Hyatt in turned agreed to repay the loan at seven percent and pay a base rent plus 2/3’s of the profits back to the city coffers. The Baltimore Hyatt is one of the most successful of the entire chain and the hotel bought out the City’s interest in the 1980s.

A decade after revitalization efforts began, the Rouse Company approached the city with a proposal to build two pavilions of shops and restaurants along the Inner Harbor promenade. Although the plan called for commercial development the Rouse proposal was met with public opposition. Baltimoreans feared that a large commercial development would eliminate their "open space" along the water’s edge. Businesses in Little Italy and South Baltimore, two of the city’s most stable neighborhoods, feared their shops would suffer. And Baltimore’s African American population feared they would be frozen out of high-priced shops and restaurants.

To calm public concern, James Rouse committed to inclusion of minority firms in the building of the pavilions, significantly minority hiring, high tax returns and careful attention to design. In 1978 the Harborplace proposal passed with 54 percent of voter approval. In July 2, 1980, the doors opened to a record noontime crowd of over 50,000.

The European style glass pavilions filled with an eclectic mix of retail and restaurants has come to be the symbol of the complete turnaround of the Inner Harbor. "Harborplace changed the city in ways no one could have predicted when it opened in 1980," wrote Edward Gunts of The Baltimore Sun. In reality, however, more than 90 developers, and millions of dollars, were involved in the area’s revitalization. In the years following the opening of Harborplace more than a dozen new developments have been added including the second Rouse development, The Gallery at Harborplace. Most recently Baltimore invest in a new stadium, Oriole Park at Camden Yards, the home of the Baltimore Orioles.

Those close to the Inner Harbor project credit its success to the comprehensive plan. "We started out with a first rate Master Plan which we enacted in phases. Save for a couple of minor changes, we stuck to the plan," said Bonnell.

 

Inner Harbor Development Timeline

Reference:

"The Inner Harbor Book." 1984. City of Baltimore, Department of Planning.

Page Author: Denise Pike

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