Harborplace

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For Baltimoreans of a certain generation, it’s hard to imagine the harbor without Harborplace. Bolstered by the enthusiastic support of Mayor William Donald Schaefer, the brainchild of urban pioneer, James Rouse brought millions of visitors to downtown Baltimore and inspired imitations around the globe. The Urban Land Institute cited Harborplace as “a model for post-industrial waterfront development around the world.” For a time, “the Inner Harbor” was synonymous with “Harborplace.”

Located within the Chesapeake Bay watershed, the Baltimore Harbor is formed at the mouth of the Patapsco River, which leads to the Chesapeake Bay and then the Atlantic Ocean. The Inner Harbor was never more than 15 feet deep, limiting its use as a seaport to shallow boats plying the Chesapeake Bay; ocean-going vessels preferred the deeper ports of Canton and Fells Point. As part of an effort to make the harbor of Baltimore Town deeper, two brothers, flour merchants Andrew and John Ellicott (Ellicott City is named after them) invented the first dredger in 1783. Also known as the Mud Machine, it removed debris, mud, and sediment from the harbor floor to increase the depth of the water.

Land around harbor was always valuable. The first big development came around 1800, when landowners just north of the harbor started filling in the marshy land just below today’s Water Street to get access to the 18-foot deep port. They built piers and docks and transformed the harbor into a Chesapeake Bay maritime hub with boats arriving daily from the Eastern Shore laden with seafood and produce. On a busy day during oyster season there may have been upwards of 100 boats docked in the harbor.

By the time of the 1904 fire, the area had become dilapidated. The Fire Commission observed: “The warehouses were in even worse condition, any of the docks being nothing more than mudholes and so narrow that no modern vessel even of moderate size could even get beyond the ends.”

After the fire, the city used its power of eminent domain to condemn the land around the harbor, take it away from private owners, and make it publicly owned and publicly managed land. New piers were built, including Piers 4, 5, and 6—probably the first reinforced concrete structures built in seawater in America. The city leased the piers to private companies like United Fruit and Standard Oil. But even then, part of Pier 4—the Public Pier--was reserved for the citizens of Baltimore.

Up until around World War II, the harbor was a hub of maritime activity in and around the Chesapeake Bay. After World War II, new highway construction and the building of the Bay Bridge in 1952 meant less reliance on ships to transport products from the Eastern Shore to Baltimore. In 1960, the large public Marsh Market, just north of the harbor, closed. In 1962, the steamer, The City of Norfolk, made its final run.

The city reacted to these changes by re-envisioning the harbor as a place for industry to a place of recreation. First, in 1963, Mayor Theodore McKeldin expanded the urban renewal zone that had been created in 1958 to guide the expansion of Charles Center to include the Inner Harbor. Subsequently, the majority of the buildings around the harbor were demolished and replaced with surface parking lots, which became magnets for fairs and festivals. Around 10,000 people attended the City Fair to take part in the festivities, as well as take in the spectacle of the harbor. In 1971, The Baltimore Sun observed: “The docks, the boats, the setting itself are the showstoppers more than the food or the booze or the rides.”

City Fair was just the beginning of the movement to bring people to the harbor as a tourist attraction. In 1976, thousands of people came to the Inner Harbor to see over 50 tall ships docked there in celebration of America’s Bicentennial. The Science Center also opened that year. The National Aquarium followed in 1980, and the Six Flags at the Power Plant launched in 1985.

In 1978, the city sponsored a ballot on the referendum of whether to lease out part of the harbor to a private developer to build what would become Harborplace. Fifty-four percent voted yes.

Harborplace opened in 1980. In the first three months, 7 million people visited. In the first year, more people visited the Inner Harbor than went to Disney World. On the opening day of Harborplace, Martin Milspaugh, head of Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management, the urban renewal agency that guided the redevelopment, said: “Harborplace is the missing ingredient of the Inner Harbor. Instead of a series of attractions, we’ll have one massive attraction on the shoreline.”

The Harborplace pavilions on Pratt and Light streets featured local merchants and restaurants and was both popular and profitable in its early years. In surveys done at the time, 20% of the people visiting Harborplace were from outside of Maryland and 80% were Marylanders.

Harborplace spawned many imitations. Over 200 harbors across the world copied Baltimore. Harbourside in Sydney, Australia is almost an exact replica that is also currently under redevelopment.

Despite its success, Harborplace changed hands several times. In 2004, it was bought by Chicago-based General Growth Properties, and in 2012, New York-based Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp bought it. In 2019, Harborplace went into a court-ordered receivership with a manager appointed from New Jersey. And in 2022 Baltimore-based MCB real estate purchased it.

In 2024, another referendum around zoning changes and use restrictions, including removing height restrictions for new buildings, allowing for residential development, and expanding the footprint of how much land the city might lease to private owners, was put before Baltimore voters. The referendum was passed to allow for a potential new development to the harbor.