South Baltimore: In the Shadow of Industry
Explore the industrial roots that shaped South Baltimore through this walking tour developed by the Baltimore Museum of Industry (BMI). Using artifacts and historic images from the BMI’s collections, this tour honors the workers who built Baltimore into a maritime powerhouse and examines the legacy that manufacturing, shipbuilding, and other heavy industries have left on the peninsula.
Enjoy this self-guided walking tour on foot (parking in the BMI’s lot is free to tour participants), by car, or from the comfort of your home. Share your thoughts on social media with the hashtag #BMIwalkingtour or tag @BMIatWork. Or, email your suggestions to info@thebmi.org.
Want to dive deeper into Baltimore’s industrial past? Check out the BMI’s online database (https://baltmusindustry.pastperfectonline.com) or YouTube channel (http://bit.ly/BMIyoutube) for more stories about the companies, industries, and workers who built Baltimore.
Stories 10
Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation: A dumping ground for toxic waste
The Allied Chemical and Dye Corporation manufactured chemical components for many industrial applications. Quaker merchant Isaac Tyson Jr. established the company that became Allied Chemical in 1828,…
Baltimore Museum of Industry
In the late 1970s, Mayor William Donald Schaefer proposed the creation of a museum to tell the story of Baltimore industry across two centuries of American history. Even before they the new museum…
Chesapeake Paperboard Co.: From paper recycling to luxury apartments
All that remains of the Chesapeake Paperboard Co. complex today is the water tower. The site is now known as McHenry Row, a 90,000 square foot mixed use development project that contains 250 luxury…
Domino Sugar: A bastion of industry along the harbor
The Domino Sugar refinery (and its iconic red neon sign) is one of the last major working industries along Baltimore's inner harbor. Raw sugar arrives at the plant in giant ships and barges, and is…
General Electric Apparatus Service Shop: Electrical maintenance, environmental remediation, and mixed-use development
The General Electric (GE) Apparatus Service Center did not support private consumers in maintaining their individual household appliances. Rather, this service center maintained large electrical…
General Ship Repair: Four generations of South Baltimore Shipbuilding
General Ship Repair maintains the rich shipbuilding tradition so long associated with the South Baltimore neighborhoods of Federal Hill and Locust Point. Charles “Buck” Lynch founded the company in…
Hercules Company: Working along the waterfront
The Hercules Shipbuilding Company, housed in this brick building, was an active player in Baltimore’s maritime industry, building vessels for commercial and leisure use as well as wartime naval…
Jim Rouse Center of the American Visionary Art Museum
Formerly home to a whiskey barrel warehouse and the offices of the Baltimore Copper Paint Company, the Jim Rouse Center of the American Visionary Art Museum serves as a prime example of adaptive reuse in the City of Baltimore.
Key Highway Yards: Once Baltimore's "largest and most important" shipyard
The Key Highway Yards along the southern side of the Inner Harbor played a pivotal role in Baltimore’s shipbuilding industry from the 1820s until 1982. Passersby today see almost no traces of this…
Procter & Gamble Baltimore Plant: Under Armour's world headquarters
Today the site of Under Armour's world headquarters, five of these buildings used to house Procter & Gamble's Baltimore Plant: Process Building (1929), the Soap Chip Building (1929), the Bar Soap…Tour curated by: Baltimore Museum of Industry