Fell's Point Recreation Pier

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In 1912, The Baltimore Sun heralded the forthcoming construction of the Broadway commercial and recreation pier. Citing the success of similar piers in New York and Boston, the Sun declared that piers for recreation “furnish a place for mothers and children to get a breath of fresh air [and] for young people to enjoy themselves in innocent, wholesome amusement. In summer a recreation pier is a godsend to the poor housed in ill-ventilated, closely-packed rooms. The Broadway pier will fill a genuine need.”

The pier opened in 1914 as a multipurpose building for both industry and leisure. It became a focal point of the Fells Point community. The Bay Belle steamer ran from the pier to the Eastern Shore for summer outings. There were Christmas Eve dances that filled the hall with 400 persons, roller skating, and organized games for young people. Lessons in English were often held at the pier to serve the local immigrant community who hailed from Poland, Ukraine, and Bohemia.

In 1931, the USS Constitution was towed up the Chesapeake from the Charlestown Navy Yard in Massachusetts and berthed at the Rec Pier. Less than an hour after she had docked, a small crowd of 100 people gathered to see her.

The pier was extended by 90 feet in 1948 to make a home for the Harbor Police. It underwent another renovation in 1991. Over ten thousand engraved bricks, purchased by Baltimoreans for $50 each in a Buy-A-Brick campaign grace the surrounding walkways.

The pier became a national star in its own right, when it was chosen to be the site of Baltimore police headquarters in the television show, Homicide: Life on the Street (1993-1999). After the show ended, the building sat vacant until 2017 with the opening of the Sagamore Pendry, a luxury hotel owned by Under Armour CEO, Kevin Plank.