BGuthrie Photos: MD -- Baltimore -- Fell's Point

MD -- Baltimore -- Fell's Point:

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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
1. FELLSP_150904_025.JPG: "Baltimore must be tamed..." Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail -- War of 1812 -- Baltimore's importance as the commercial heart of the Chesapeake region wasn't the only reason the British wanted to capture the city in 1814. They also wanted to stifle Fell's Point---the home port for many of the privateers that preyed on British merchant ships. The United States augmented its small navy by licensing privately owned ships to attack enemy vessels. Baltimore privateers captured more than 500 British ships during the War of 1812. Explore Fell's Point today to see dozens of building that once served as homes and businesses for shipbuilders, seamen, immigrants, enslaved and free blacks, merchants, and families in this bustling maritime neighborhood. Exhibits and tours reveal the role of Fell's Point in the defense of Baltimore and the nation. Captain Thomas Boyle commanded the famous Fell's Point privateer Chasseur (above), hailed as the Pride of Baltimore. Explore these places in the Fell's Point area: * Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine-Exhibits and programs about the Star-Spangled Banner and defense of Baltimore * Flag House and Star-Spangled Banner Museum-Exhibits and programs about the flag that inspired the national anthem. * Fell's Point Visitor Center 1724-26 Thames Street-Exhibits, self-guiding walking tour brochure (tour highlights 1812 historic sites and features) * Broadway Pier-Baltimore schooners once crowded the docks; access the 7-mile waterfront promenade and water taxis to nearby Inner Harbor sites, including the Baltimore Visitor Center.
2. FELLSP_150904_033.JPG: War in the Chesapeake Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail -- War of 1812 -- During the War of 1812 the young United States was embroiled in conflict with Great Britain. From 1812 to 1815 Americans fought to protect their rights and economic independence. They faced superior enemy forces on the homefront and the high seas. The strategically important Chesapeake Bay region felt the brunt of the war, choked by shipping blockades and ravaged by enemy raids. The events in this region were crucial to the outcome of the war. Though there was no clear victor at the end of the war, the United States protected its democracy and emerged with heightened stature on the world stage. Explore this pivotal time in American history along the Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail.
3. FELLSP_150904_058.JPG: In the memory of The Great Dantini 1906-1979 Donated by employees of the Tugboat Restaurant in Fells Point Home of Dantini
4. FELLSP_150904_074.JPG: The Chesapeake Campaign & The War of 1812 Fell's Point National Register Historic District and Ft. McHenry National Monument A "nest of pirates" -- that's what the British admiralty once dubbed Baltimore's historic Fell's Point, then one of the most important shipbuilding centers in the nation and the home port of courageous privateers who sailed speed Chesapeake Bay pilot boat schooners, to assure American freedom on the seas. Privateers had government licenses called "Letters of Marque and Reprisal," authorizing the capture of enemy merchant ships as "prizes" for their owners. These privately-owned, armed schooners ran blockades, harassed British convoys, and captured merchant ships, actions that caused great frustration and financial loss. 122 Fell's Point privateers captured more than 500 British ships, wrought havoc on British trade, and secured millions of dollars in prizes. Their audacity and success caused the British to attack the city in 1814, only to be turned away at the Battle of Baltimore and Fort McHenry. "The Star-Spangled Banner" Fort McHenry National Monument and Historic Shrine is home to two of America's most powerful symbols-the National Anthem and the American Flag. It was here in 1814, at the height of the War of 1812, that this embattled garrison held off a massive bombardment and attempted invasion by a British naval fleet---and defended a greater prize-Baltimore Francis Scott Key, who witnessed the attack, was so overjoyed to see the flag still flying "by the dawn's early light" that he wrote the "The Star-Spangled Banner." Hop on a water taxi and visit the Fort to take part in the twice-a-day Flag Change, where you can help fold or hoist the flag right where the original flagpole stood. As you stand on the ramparts of the Fort looking down toward the Bay, you stand at the crossroads of history. Chesapeake Connection: For the Chesapeake Bay's ship owners and their crews, privateering was a risky business, but also lucrative. Owners fronted as much as $40,000 ($643,000 in today's dollars) to build and outfit a privateer. However, if a privateer captured several enemy vessels on a single voyage, the return could be as much as five times that initial investment.
5. FELLSP_150904_086.JPG: Fells Point The Neighborhood Orange is Fells Point Shoreline in 1800 Green is Fells Point Shoreline Today Wharves and Warehouses: (13) Brown's Wharf ... (14) Henderson's Wharf ... (15) Belt's Wharf .... Public Places: (1) Broadway Market: ... One of three City markets established in the 1780s; the only one still functioning on its original site as a market. Its construction defined Broadway as a commercial street (2) Recreation Pier: ... (3) St. Stanislaus Kostka Church and School: ... (4) The Port Mission: ... (5) Admiral Fell Inn: ... (6) Loudon Coffee House: Northwest Corner, Bond & Thames Sts. Built in 1771 and operated until 1804 as the London Coffee House, a gathering place for locals in Fells Point's original town center. A center of political foment during the Revolution, as well as the War of 1812 where militia and seamen rallied to the defense of Baltimore in 1814. (7) Fell Family Grove: 1607 Shakespeare St. Fells Point founder's family grave site. William Fell purchased the land; his son Edward formally plotted the village in 1763. (8) AlliedSignal Site: ... Shipyards: (9) Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company: ... (10) Kennard & Williamson Shipyard: ... (11) George Wells Shipyard: ... (12) Thomas Kemp Shipyard: ... Residences: (16) William Price House: ... (17) John Price House: ... (18) Captain John Steele House: ... (19) Captain Thomas Lambdin House: ... (20) Robert Long House: ... (21) Douglass Place: 500 block S. Dallas St., formerly Strawberry Alley. Small group of houses built by abolitionist Frederick Douglass in 1895. (22) Captain William Furlong House: ...
6. FELLSP_150904_093.JPG: The People of Fells Point: "My master succeeded in getting me hired to Mr. William Gardiner, a ship builder on Fells Point. I was placed there to learn to calk... Many of the young colored calkers could read, write and cipher. The free ones on Fell's Point organized what they called the East Baltimore Mental Improvement Society. I owe much to the society of these young men." -- Frederick Douglass, My Bondage and My Freedom, 1855 "When I was a girl, Fell's Point was like a League of Nations. You had to learn five or six languages to play with the kids in the neighborhood." -- Elizabeth Losh, long time resident, 1994 Frederick Douglass (1817-1895): A slave in his youth, he escaped to freedom, gained prominence as an orator, abolitionist, newspaper publisher, advisor to five president, and U.S. ambassador to Haiti. Spent much of his childhood and teen years in Fells Point. "I expect some parts of Fells Point would serve Mr. Dickens first rate. It's as old as the hills and crooked as a ram's horn and a body can hear just as much had English there as he could among the Cockneys of London..." -- William T. Thompson, in Mr. Jones Sketches of Travel, 1848 Joshua Johnson (1765-1830): The first great black portrait painter in the United States. A fee black, he was listed in the 1814 Baltimore Directory as living on Strawberry Alley (now Dallas Street). Many of his works show a child holding a strawberry. "The British couldn't take Fells Point, the termites couldn't take Fells Point, and the State Roads Commission can't take Fells Point!" -- Shouted at a rally in the late 1960s by Fells Point activist Barbara Mikulski, who in 1988 became U.S. Senator from Maryland Patrick "Paddy" Whalen (1884-1942): Union organizer, civil rights activist, seaman. Led 1936 seaman's strike that resulted in the founding of the National Maritime Union local in Fells Point. Died at sea in 1942 in the war effort. Other Famous Fells Pointers: * Ann Bond Fell (1740-1786): In 1758 she married Edward Fell, son of town founder William Fell, and helped Edward lay out the town. * Captain Jeremiah Yellott (d. 1805): Worked with shipbuilder William Price to develop the swift and rakish Baltimore schooner. * Captain Thomas Boyle (1776-1825): Commanded the Fells Point schooner Chasseur, the original "Pride of Baltimore," during the War of 1812, and captured dozens of British ships. * Billie Holliday (1915-1959): Began her singing career at her uncle's "low house," a public smoker and lounge on Caroline Street. * Isaac Myers (1835-1891): Caulker and labor leader; in 1866 he and a group of prominent black men opened and operated the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company in Fells Point.
7. FELLSP_150904_098.JPG: Frederick Douglass (1817-1895): A slave in his youth, he escaped to freedom, gained prominence as an orator, abolitionist, newspaper publisher, advisor to five president, and U.S. ambassador to Haiti. Spent much of his childhood and teen years in Fells Point.
8. FELLSP_150904_100.JPG: Fells Point: Baltimore's Original Deep Water Port: Feisty, independent Fells Point was annexed by Baltimore in 1773. Despite the loss of its political independence, it has stayed true to its working class, maritime roots. Today, it is a waterfront community of colorful people, historic buildings, and a unique character that reflects an enduring sense of its special place in the region's history. Fells Point retains much of its past -- a splendid collection of 18th century houses, the City's oldest operating public market, saloons, narrow streets, wharves and warehouses, inns, and coffee houses.
9. FELLSP_150904_105.JPG: Colonel Edward Fell: Fells Point was already a small village in 1763 when Edward Fell surveyed its boundaries and plotted its lots and streets on land purchased by his father, William Fell. With deep water almost to its shoreline, Fells Point was a natural attraction for maritime trade. Ships, brigs, and schooners carried iron, tidewater grain, Baltimore's best flour, tobacco, and other products to Europe and the West Indies. They returned laden with sugar, coffee, and exotic imports. Shipyards sprang up along the shoreline attracting ship-wrights, artisans, caulkers and laborers, both black and white, to its booming economy. Sailors, locals, and shopkeepers mingled in its many taverns -- there were 47 in 1796. Schooners built in Fells Point, known for their speed and beauty, figured prominently in the Revolutionary War, in privateering, and in the War of 1812.
10. FELLSP_150904_108.JPG: Port of Entry: Early on, Fells Point had a large community of free blacks. They worked the waterfront along side slaves, as caulkers, stevedores, draymen, and laborers. In 1866, Isaac Myers, an African-American labor organizer, opened a major marine railway and dry dock company. Up until about 1850, Fells Point was Baltimore's point of entry for European immigrants (after that, the immigrant station was moved to Locust Point). Tens of thousands came from England, Scotland, Germany and Ireland, from all over Eastern Europe, and from Scandinavia. Many stayed in Fells Point, their lived centered around family, church, and hard work. Many of their descendants still call Fells Point home. By the mid-1800s, Fells Point's growing canning industry provided jobs for new arrivals, and for African-Americans. They worked long days for low wages packing oysters, fruits and vegetables.
11. FELLSP_150904_110.JPG: Sailor Town: By the Civil War, Fells Point was no longer the center of Baltimore's maritime commerce. Still, the Point remained "sailortown," with bars, boarding houses and churches catering to seamen ashore. The neighborhood became the center for radical activities during the seamen's strike in the 1930s, with headquarters in the Anchorage Hotel, a seamen's hostel run by the Port Mission. In 1966, Baltimore city officials announced plans for an interstate highway along the waterfront. Although much of neighboring Canton was condemned and demolished, Fells Point fought back. The fight against "The Road" mobilized preservationists, longtime residents, and just plane irate citizens. They fought hard and long, and in 1977 the city dropped the plan. As a result, Fells Point thrives. Sailors ashore still find their way here. Immigrants -- from South America, Southeast Asia, and all points in between -- still gravitate to the neighborhood, drawn by the "melting pot" atmosphere. Tugs, antique vessels bound for the annual Chesapeake Bay Schooner race, and the occasional tall ship continue to tie up alongside Recreation and Broadway Piers. Graceful mallards and gulls vie for food scraps from tourists, while citizens -- rowdy and refined -- mingle on Broadway Market Square. Always a center of controversy, Fells Point continues to inflame passions. Sparks fly over issues ranging from trash pickup to preservation; private developers spar with locals over access, heights, and density. In this vocal, vibrant atmosphere, the neighborhood thrives. Many who live and work here would have it no other way.
12. FELLSP_150904_117.JPG: Fells Point's Golden Age: 1760-1860: Her Schooners are Famous Around the World: Imagine the Fells Point waterfront 200 years ago. The smell of pine tar and fresh-hewn lumber mingles with the pungent odors of human and animal life. The ring of the blacksmith's anvil plays counterpoint to the bang of the caulker's mallet. Wagon wheels rattle on the cobble streets while vendors hawk crabs and oysters, fruit and vegetables. Handsome sailing ships, spars reaching towards the sky, are berthed along the wharfs. Longshore gangs load cargo, while crews tighten rigging and bend sail. Fells Point shipbuilding and shipping dominate the region for nearly a century -- from the Revolutionary War to the Civil War. (At one point, as many as 18 shipyards operated here.)
13. FELLSP_150904_118.JPG: 1775-1783 Fells Point-built vessels figure prominently in the outcome of the Revolution. George Wells' frigate Virginia and some gunboat galleys are built here. The Maryland Navy is chartered at the London Coffee House, still standing on Bond St., and its frigate Defense is converted here. 1789-1800 Fells Point prospers during the unsettled times that follow the approval of the Constitution in 1789. War in Europe spreads to the West Indies creating perfect trading opportunities for Baltimore merchants and there Fells Point-built schooners. Fast, low in the water, with bird-like wings, they slip over the sea with the speed of the wind. To protect this growing international trade, Congress create an independent Navy in 1798. It looks to Fells Point for many of its first ships: USS Constellation is commissioned in 1798; USS (Lucky) Enterprise follows in 1799.
14. FELLSP_150904_120.JPG: 1800-1815: The United States has won its war of independence, but troubles at sea continue. British and French raiders prey upon cargo-laden American ships and impress American sailors. Since foreign trade is essential to the new nation, merchants order swift, maneuverable vessels to outrun the lumbering ships of war. Fells Point ship-wrights perfect the schooner -- a sharp, two-master vessel that carried lots of canvas, sails close to the wind, but with little cargo space. Later versions of these vessels become known worldwide as "Baltimore clippers." During the War of 1812, some of these schooners become "privateers" -- privately owned vessels authorized to chase and seize enemy ships and their cargoes. Captain Thomas Boyle commands Chasseur, the original "Pride of Baltimore." She is one of 130 Fells Point-based schooners that would capture 550 British ships during the war.
15. FELLSP_150904_124.JPG: 1815-1860: With the nation again at peace, shipbuilders receive orders for other types of vessels -- coastal schooners, pilot boats, bay craft, and ships for foreign buyers. Free blacks, slaves, whites, and newly arriving immigrants from Ireland and Germany work the cargoes and build the new ships. Outbound shipments of flour and imports of coffee, tea, ores, and industrial products keep Fells Point piers and warehouses active. Fells Point shipyards are known for large, beautiful adaptations of the early schooners. In 1833, the Baltimore clipper Ann McKim, a three-masted full-rigged ship destined for the China trade, is built at Kennard and Williamson yard, situated on the point at the west end of Thames Street. In 1855, the Mary Whitridge sails to England in record time -- 2,952 miles in 12 days, seven hours. Other vessels built here serve the nefarious operations of pirates and slave traders. Epilogue: After the Civil War, as iron ships and steam replace wooden hulls and wind, Fells Point changes. Shipbuilding on the Point declines and much of the shipping activities moves downstream to deeper waters and larger facilities. However, Fells Point retains much of its maritime character. Union halls and shipping offices line Fleet Street and Eastern Avenue. Establishments catering to seamen -- bars, brothels, boarding houses, and missions -- serve the trade well into this century. Today, the maritime heritage of the community is evident in the working tugs that berth along the waterfront, in the incomparable array of surviving 18th and 19th century homes that grace the streets, and most especially in the independent character of the people. Then as now, life in Fells Point is an adventure.
16. FELLSP_150904_147.JPG: Deli Strummer Holocaust Survivor with gratitude to the USA
17. FELLSP_150904_149.JPG: Cal Ripken Jr. Baltimore Orioles 2131 Games Sept 6 1995
18. FELLSP_150904_178.JPG: Benjamin Latrobe Architect 1764-1820
19. FELLSP_150904_182.JPG: George Peabody Peabody Conservatory 1795-1869
20. FELLSP_150904_183.JPG: John H. Grden Poland to Baltimore 1910
21. FELLSP_150904_185.JPG: Harriett Tubman Abolitionist 1820-1930 [No idea what the dates indicate. She lived 1822-1913]
22. FELLSP_150904_188.JPG: Nat'l Aquarium in Baltimore
23. FELLSP_150904_190.JPG: Mary Pickersgill Flagmaker 1776-1857
24. FELLSP_150904_192.JPG: General Casimir Pulaski 1747-1779 [He died in the battle of Savannah]
25. FELLSP_150904_196.JPG: Enoch Pratt Philanthropist 1808-1896
26. FELLSP_150904_197.JPG: John H. Murphy 1840-1922 The Afro-American John H. Murphy, Sr. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia John Henry Murphy, Sr. was an African-American newspaper publisher, best known as founder of the Baltimore Afro-American (also known colloquially/for short as The Afro), published by the Afro-American Newspaper Company of Baltimore, Inc. This newspaper is one of the oldest, still remaining family-owned newspapers in the U.S.A.
27. FELLSP_150904_199.JPG: Colonel Edward Fell 1733-1766 Fells Point
28. FELLSP_150904_201.JPG: David Stodder Shipbuilder Harris Creek 1797
29. FELLSP_150904_206.JPG: Elisha Tyson Abolitionist Baltimore 1800
30. FELLSP_150904_208.JPG: George Herman "Babe" Ruth 1895-1948
31. FELLSP_150904_210.JPG: George Calvert Lord Baltimore 1580-1632 George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia George Calvert, 1st Baron Baltimore (1579 – 15 April 1631) was an English politician and colonizer. He achieved domestic political success as a Member of Parliament and later Secretary of State under King James I. He lost much of his political power after his support for a failed marriage alliance between Prince Charles and the Spanish House of Habsburg royal family. Rather than continue in politics, he resigned all of his political offices in 1625 except for his position on the Privy Council and declared his Catholicism publicly. He was created Baron Baltimore in the Irish peerage upon his resignation. Baltimore Manor was located in County Longford, Ireland. Calvert took an interest in the British colonization of the Americas, at first for commercial reasons and later to create a refuge for English Catholics. He became the proprietor of Avalon, the first sustained English settlement on the southeastern peninsula on the island of Newfoundland (off the eastern coast of modern Canada). Discouraged by its cold and sometimes inhospitable climate and the sufferings of the settlers, Sir George looked for a more suitable spot further south and sought a new royal charter to settle the region, which would become the state of Maryland. Calvert died five weeks before the new Charter was sealed, leaving the settlement of the Maryland colony to his son Cecil, (1605-1675). His second son Leonard Calvert, (1606-1647), was the first colonial governor of the Province of Maryland. Historians have long recognized George Calvert as the founder of Maryland, in spirit if not in fact, along with the role of Leonard with his intimate relationship with his older brother back in England, plus being on the site as the Colony was first settled as extremely advantageous.
32. FELLSP_150904_217.JPG: Frederick Douglass Abolitionist 1817-1895
33. FELLSP_150904_220.JPG: Captain John O'Donnell 1749-1805 Canton
34. FELLSP_150904_222.JPG: Francis Scott Key 1780-1843
35. FELLSP_150904_224.JPG: The Rouse Co.
36. FELLSP_150904_227.JPG: Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849 Baltimore
37. FELLSP_150904_230.JPG: Captain Thomas Boyle War of 1812 Thomas Boyle From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Thomas Boyle (29 June 1775 – 12 October 1825) was one of the most successful Baltimore privateer captains during the War of 1812. He also served briefly in the United States Navy during the war.
38. FELLSP_150904_231.JPG: Father J.F. Moranville St. Patrick's Church 1804
39. FELLSP_150904_233.JPG: Johns Hopkins Philanthropist 1785-1873
40. FELLSP_150904_235.JPG: Paulina L. "Mother" Geier Died 1936 Fells Point
41. FELLSP_150904_237.JPG: Piper & Marbury
42. FELLSP_150904_243.JPG: Billie Holliday 1915-1959
43. FELLSP_150904_246.JPG: Balto. Museum of Industry
44. FELLSP_150904_248.JPG: Nat'l Aquarium of Baltimore
45. FELLSP_150904_251.JPG: The Rouse Company
46. FELLSP_150904_254.JPG: Montgomery County, MD
47. FELLSP_150904_256.JPG: City of Annapolis
Wikipedia Description: Fell's Point, Baltimore
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fell's Point is a historic waterfront neighborhood, established in about 1763, in the southeastern area of the City of Baltimore, in Maryland, along the north shore of the Baltimore Harbor and the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River. There are many shops, including antique stores, restaurants, coffee bars, music stores, a municipal markethouse with individual stalls, and over 120 pubs. Located just east of the famous "Inner Harbor" (formerly referred to as "The Basin") adjacent to Baltimore's downtown central business district and the Jones Falls stream (which splits the city, running from northern Baltimore County), Fell's Point has a maritime past and the air of a seafaring town. It also has the greatest concentration of drinking establishments and restaurants in the city. This waterfront community is a tourist destination. It can be reached by "water taxi" barges, expressway/interstate highways, local streets and boulevards and several municipal/state transit bus lines. The neighborhood has also been historically the home of large immigrant populations of Germans, Polish, and other East European nationalities such as the Ukrainians, Russians, Czech/Bohemians, and the Slovaks, along with one of the earliest immigrants, the Irish, throughout its 250-year-old history. Since the 1970s, a steadily increasing number of middle to upper middle income residents has moved into the area, restoring and preserving historic homes and businesses. This has resulted in higher property prices, a safer neighborhood, and improved educational levels. Upper Fell's Point to the north along Broadway has gained a sizable Hispanic population, made up primarily of recent waves since the 1980s of Mexican and Central American immigrants and is sometimes now called "Spanish Town". Fell's Point is one of several areas in and around Baltimore that are listed on the National Register of Historic Districts, (maintained by the National Park Service), the first designated from Maryland, and is one of the first registered historic districts in the United States to combine two separate waterfront communities (along with Federal Hill to the southwest across the Patapsco River and the Harbor on the "Old South Baltimore" peninsula of "Whetstone Point" at Fort McHenry).

History

First described by a European seafarer as "Long Island Point" in 1670, the area later to be known as Fell's Point was a thin little peninsula jutting out southwestward between the streams of Jones Falls and Harford Run (later covered over by Central Avenue) to the west and Harris Creek to the east (now under the community of Canton) and further east to Colgate Creek (now surrounded by the Dundalk and Sea Girt Marine Terminals). Later land was patented with the title of "Copus Harbor". Nearby Baltimore Town to the west at the headwater of the Patapsco River's Northwest Branch was land patented under the name of "Cole's Harbor" and "Todd's Range" to William Cole and later sold to Charles and Daniel Carroll. This area was later established as a "port of entry" by the General Assembly of the Province of Maryland in 1706. After several local farmers and plantation owners originally planning to establish a town on the northeastern shores of the Middle Branch of the Patapsco (also known as "Ridgeley's Cove") were stymied by the objections of local owner William Moale, who thought the land was too valuable as a site of iron ore deposits. So the new town site was moved further to the northeast to the head of the Northwest Branch. Established as a town by the authority of the Colonial Assembly on July 30, 1729, (and signed by Governor Benedict Leonard Calvert on August 8), several streets were laid out in the "Original Survey" of January 12, 1730, with the main one going east-to-west called "Long Street" (later by 1760's as "Market Street", then renamed East and West Baltimore Streets) and several others intersecting from north-to-south such as Forrest (later Charles), Calvert, running north from "The Basin" (today's Inner Harbor) in 1730.

Joined in 1732, to the northeast along the banks of the stream "Jones Falls" (which originates in northern Baltimore County near the Pennsylvania border) by the laying out of several streets on a northwest to southeast angle by David Jones and named "Jones's Town" with streets such as Front, High, and Low. Founded by William Fell, who was attracted by its beautiful, deep water and proximity to agriculture and thick forests, Fell's Point became a shipbuilding and commercial center. About 1763, William's son Edward Fell laid out streets and began selling plots for homes. The town grew quickly, and eventually incorporated with Baltimore Town and Jones Town in 1773 to form a new Town of Baltimore and later in 1797 becoming the City of Baltimore. The area grew wealthy on the tobacco, flour, and coffee trades through the 18th and 19th centuries.

Some of the first vessels commissioned for the U.S. Navy were built in Fell's Point shipyards, including the "U.S.F. Constellation" in 1797. However, the area became best known for producing topsail schooners, sometimes erroneously called "Baltimore clippers", renowned for their great speed and handling. They were excellent blockade runners, and were frequently used as armed privateers. The "Pride of Baltimore II" is based on the "Chasseur", built by Thomas Kemp, which was one of the most successful privateers built in Fell's Point during the
War of 1812.

During the War of 1812, Fell's Point's yards built and supported dozens of privateers which preyed on British shipping vessels. Consequently Baltimore became a principal target of the British during the war, referred to as a "nest of pirates", which eventually led to the attack on the city and the bombardment of Fort McHenry in September 1814.

Another growth industry in Fell's Point was immigration, and it became a major point of entry into the United States. Since jobs were plentiful in shipbuilding and in the warehouses and factories, many of the immigrants stayed in Fell's Point. This added to the multicultural fabric of the area, but also caused the more affluent to move into other parts of the city.

In 1835, Frederick Douglass, while still enslaved, was hired out to a shipbuilder on Fell's Point. In his memoir, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Douglass recounts that, years earlier, the first time he had been sent to Baltimore, the Fell's Point neighborhood was where he taught himself to read and write, copying the letters with which the men in the shipyard labeled boards and "making friends of all the little white boys whom I met in the street. As many of these as I could, I converted into teachers."

Fell's Point remained a shipbuilding center until the Civil War, when it could no longer handle the larger ships (also with steam power) then coming into use. Likewise, the shipping industry slowly moved away to larger facilities, some of the newer shipyards further downriver, and the area became a manufacturing center, with innovations in canning, along with nearby Canton to the east. and packing. The neighborhood escaped serious damage during the Baltimore Fire of 1904, which destroyed the downtown financial area further west. Eventually, much of the manufacturing left the city by the 1980s, resulting in urban decay until preservationists organized to save the area's historic buildings.

In 1965, city, state and some federal transit planners proposed to link Interstate 83 (Jones Falls Expressway going north from downtown since 1962) and Interstate 95, (the main East Coast, Maine to Florida super-highway) by building an elevated highway along the north shore of the Baltimore Harbor. This project would have entailed extensive demolition within Fell's Point, and across the river in Federal Hill/South Baltimore and the highway would have cut off the remainder of the neighborhood from the waterfront. A "expressway revolt" against the proposals was raised by local residents and derailed the project. Fell's Point's addition to the National Register of Historic Places prevented the use of federal funds for the road project, and contributed to the project's cancellation. One of the leaders of the revolt was social worker Barbara Mikulski, who was later elected a City Council member and later a U.S. Representative followed by as a U.S. Senator from Maryland, one of the first women elected and by 2014, one of the longest serving.

Fell's Point achieved some fame as the central setting for the 1990s NBC TV network police drama "Homicide: Life on the Street", (based on a book by David Simon of the Baltimore Sun) and has been the site of many films shot in Baltimore.

Fell's Point, located to the east of the Inner Harbor, suffered extensive flooding during Hurricane Isabel in September 2003, with water as high as 10 feet.
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