Baltimore's Legacy Businesses
Discover the varied Baltimore businesses that have survived and thrived and are still going today. Whether you're looking to purchase a fishing pole or ornamental ironwork, you will enjoy this tour of just a few of Baltimore's many historic legacy businesses.
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Clifton Upholstering & Design: From Hamilton to the Hamptons
Upholstering furniture for homes, hospitals, restaurants, and Hollywood for over a hundred years.
The Afro-American Newspaper
A Newspaper on a Mission—One of the oldest African-American newspapers in the country; unique in that it has been in the same family for five generations.
Lakein’s Jewelers of Hamilton: Jewelry Store with a Personal Touch
Like many old family-owned businesses, Lakein’s Jewelers was started by a newly arrived immigrant, 29-year-old Isadore Lakein, who arrived in the United States from Russia in 1912 with his wife Anna…
National Lumber Company: Everything for Building
Alexander Fruman emigrated to Baltimore from Eastern Europe in 1917 with few possessions. Among them was a handsaw that helped him start a business building wooden windows and doors in 1919, in a shop…
DiPasquale’s Italian Market
In 1914, Luigi DiPasquale, Sr., an Italian immigrant to Baltimore, established a small corner store on Claremont Street stocking groceries and household goods for residents in the developing…
Tochterman’s Fishing Tackle: A Family Selling Reels, Rods, Bloodworms, and More
Tochterman’s ostensibly sells fishing tackle but owners Tony and Dee Tochterman—the third generation of the Tochterman family to run this Eastern Avenue institution—are part of a hundred year long…
Budeke’s Paint: Storefront on Broadway Burned but Still in Business
A family-owned business has been around since 1868, Budeke’s paint products have been delivered via police car, motorcycle, bicycle, and roller skates, not to mention more conventional commercial trucks. The long-time Broadway location in Fells Point was gutted by fire in September 2018.
Meyer Seed Company of Baltimore: When this article first appeared, Meyer Seed Company was over 100 years old. Unfortunately, the business closed in 1921. The location is to be developed into an apartment/retail space.
Like the countless seeds the Meyer Seed Company has sold over the past hundred years, the story of this long-running legacy business starts with water. Before he held a seed bucket or a watering can,…
Faidley's Seafood: A Tradition of Quality for Four Generations
Faidley’s is as much about the people as the seafood. Whether gathered around the store’s raw bar at one of the stand-up tables near the busy line of workers making crab cakes, customers are often…
G. Krug & Son Ironworks and Museum: America's Oldest Operating Ironworks
For more than 200 years artisans here have hammered out practical and ornamental ironwork that still graces local landmarks as Otterbein Methodist Church, the Basilica of the Assumption, Baltimore's Washington Monument, Zion Church, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Baltimore Zoo.
Hilgartner Natural Stone Company: Marble Steps and Monuments for the Monumental City
Founded in 1863 by German immigrants Ludwig Hilgartner and Gottfried Schimpf, Hilgartner Stone has made some of the nation’s finest stonework for over one hundred and fifty years. Of course, the…
A.T. Jones & Sons: Providing Costumes from Opera to Halloween
A.T. Jones & Sons, Inc., costumer for innumerable theatrical performers and party-goers since 1868, succumbed to the effects of the pandemic shutdown.Tour curated by: Baltimore Heritage | Special thanks to Richard Messick for leading the research and writing process for several of the stories included on this tour. This tour is supported by a grant from the Baltimore National Heritage Area.