Lexington Market and Downtown's West Side

By Baltimore Heritage and and the UMBC Department of History, Public History Track

For over two hundred years this neighborhood has been a center of activity to entrepreneurs and merchants of all kinds, suffragists and civil rights protesters, and much more. Start from Lexington Market and explore the rich history of Downtown's west side. Many of these stories were created in partnership with students from the UMBC Department of History, Public History Track.

Tour Locations

1. Lexington Market

The "gastronomic capital of the world" declared Ralph Waldo Emerson on a visit to Lexington Market. Established in 1782 on land donated by John Eager Howard, Lexington Market was an overnight success as local farmers flocked to the site to…

2. Bromo Seltzer Tower

While few remember the slogan of the Emerson Bromo-Seltzer Company - "If you keep late hours for Society's sake Bromo-Seltzer will cure that headache" - the iconic Bromo-Seltzer Tower has been a Baltimore landmark since its…

3. Westminster Burying Ground

Opened in 1786 by Baltimore's First Presbyterian Church, the Westminster Burying Ground is the resting place for many of early Baltimore's most notable citizens, including merchants, mayors, and fifteen generals from the Revolutionary War…

4. Baltimore Equitable Society

First established in 1847 by a group of prominent businessmen, the Eutaw Savings Bank spent its first decade operating out of the Eutaw House Hotel located on the same site as the Hippodrome Theater. In 1856, the Eutaw Savings Bank purchased a lot…

5. Brewers Exchange

The Brewers Exchange, a gorgeous, three story terra cotta Renaissance Revival building designed by noted local architect Joseph Evans Sperry (who designed the Bromo Seltzer Tower, as well as many other Baltimore buildings) that stands at the corner…

6. Everyman Theater / Town Theater

Constructed across from the venerable Ford's Theater in 1911, the Empire Theater (as the Town was first called) was designed in the Beaux Arts style by Baltimore architects William McElfatrick and Otto Simonson. Although its advertising slogan…

7. A.S. Abell Building

Erected in 1879 as an investment property for Arunah Shepardson Abell, founder of The Baltimore Sun, the Abell Building was designed by famed Baltimore architect George Frederick - architect for Baltimore's City Hall, Hollins Market, and the Old…

8. Stewart's

When Samuel Posner moved his successful dry goods business to the corner of Lexington and Howard, architect Charles E. Cassell's gorgeous and ornate white Renaissance Revival building - complete with roaring lions and majestic wreaths and fluted…

9. Pascault Row

In 1819, wealthy French merchant Louis Pascault, the Marquis de Poleon, constructed a row of eight houses on Lexington Street that now remain as the one of the earliest examples of the Baltimore rowhouse. Born in France, Pascault later moved to the…

10. Hecht-May Company

Adorned with graceful arches and elegant art deco lights the eight story Beaux Arts Hecht-May Co. building at the corner of Lexington and Howard streets (designed by Smith and May architects) was originally built in 1908 as an annex to the Bernheimer…

11. Baltimore Bargain House

One of the largest businesses on the West Side in the early twentieth century the Baltimore Bargain House -- a mail-order wholesale business that employed over a thousand people and earned profits in the millions that grew to become the fourth…

12. Read's Drug Store

Though the Baltimore Sun heralded the structure at the southeast corner of Howard and Lexington as an Art Deco design icon from the time of its construction in 1934, this building's role as an early and vital witness to a historic, but long…

13. The Baltimore General Dispensary

Up near the top of this handsome Neoclassical detailed brick building at the corner of Fayette and Paca Streets is a stone stone entablature reading "1801 Baltimore General Dispensary 1911" - a visible reminder of this building's…

14. Mayfair Theatre

Built in the late 1800s, the Mayfair Theatre, originally known as the Auditorium, was once considered one of the finest showhouses in Baltimore, if not the country. Though the building's ornate white stonework façade and grand marquee readily…

15. Hutzler's

"If you wanted the good stuff, you went to Hutzler's," said Governor William Donald Schaefer and for generations of Baltimoreans, Hutzler's represented the height of downtown shopping, simply the place to shop. Many Marylanders…

16. Congress Hotel

Known originally as the Hotel Kernan, the Congress Hotel was built in 1903 by James L. Kernan. Kernan was a savvy businessman who sought to capitalize on the ways in which immigration had influenced the tastes of wealthy visitors and Baltimore…

17. Hippodrome Theatre

Designed by noted Scottish American theatre architect Thomas Lamb, the Hippodrome Theatre opened in 1914 as one of the first theatres in the United States to operate both as a movie house and a vaudeville performance venue. Local theatre impresarios…

18. Davidge Hall

Davidge Hall on the University of Maryland Medical School Campus is the oldest medical facility building in the nation. The red brick structure is named after the school's founder and first dean, John Beale Davidge, designed by French architect…

19. Charles Fish and Sons

With a gleaming black marble façade reading "Charles Fish and Sons Company" and Victorian brick arches above, the architecture of this building clearly points to a varied history. The surprising story of the building begins before the…

20. Appold-Faust Building

The Appold- Faust Brothers Building at 307-309 West Baltimore Street is one of a handful of surviving cast-iron fronted buildings in Baltimore and one of the only structures in the city that can boast two iron facades on front and back. The…

21. Little Joe's

Long before places like Sports Authority or Dick's Sporting Goods opened their doors, Little Joe's on the northwest corner of Howard and Baltimore was selling everything from camping equipment and fishing gear to bikes and saddles. In…

22. G. Krug & Son Ironworks and Museum

"There is hardly a building in Baltimore that doesn't contain something we made, even if it is only a nail," boasts Theodore Krug, heir to the oldest continuously working iron shop in the country. For more than 200 years artisans here…

23. St. Alphonsus Church

Designed by early Baltimore architect Robert Cary Long in 1845, the St. Alphonsus Church has been called "the German cathedral" for its Southern German neo-Gothic style. The church was originally established with a large German congregation…

24. First Mariner Arena

In 1961, the cornerstone of the Baltimore Civic Center (as it was then called) was laid, enclosing a time capsule with notes from President John F. Kennedy, Maryland Governor Millard Tawes, and Baltimore Mayor Harold Grady. Located on the site of the…

25. Camden Station

Built between 1856 and 1857 at a cost of $600,000, Camden Station is a grand reminder of the long history of the B&O Railroad in Baltimore. Designed by Niernsee and Neilson with contributions by architect Joseph F. Kemp, the station served as a…