Inner Harbor

For the harbour in Victoria, British Columbia, see Inner Harbour. For the harbor in Antarctica, see Inner Harbor (Antarctica). For the neighbourhood in Kingston, Ontario, see Inner Harbour, Kingston. For the harbor in Syracuse, New York, see Inner Harbor, Syracuse.

The Inner Harbor neighborhood is centered on a tourism-friendly plaza that surrounds part of the harbor

The Inner Harbor is a historic seaport, tourist attraction, and landmark of the City of Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Described by the Urban Land Institute in 2009 as “the model for post-industrial waterfront redevelopment around the World.” The Inner Harbor is actually the end of the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River and includes any water west of a line drawn between the foot of President Street and the American Visionary Art Museum. The name "Inner Harbor" is used not just for the water but for the surrounding area of the city, with approximate street boundaries of President Street to the east, Lombard Street to the north, Greene Street to the west, and Key Highway on the south. The harbor is within walking distance of Camden Yards and M&T Bank Stadium and has a water taxi that connects the Inner Harbor to Fells Point, Canton, and Fort McHenry.

History

The Inner Harbor is framed by both the city's skyline and its parks.

While Baltimore has been a major U.S. seaport since the 18th century, the historically shallow water of the Inner Harbor (prior to manipulation through dredging) was not conducive to large ships or heavy industry, most of which was concentrated in Locust Point, Fell's Point, and Canton.

In the first half of the 20th Century, Baltimore shared the disastrous decline of central cities around the World – dragged down by urban sprawl and the abandonment of the old harbors by the arrival of container ships after World War II. Then, in the second half of the Century, the old harbors were rediscovered as focal points where public space, tourism, business and housing could create mixed-use economic engines for revitalization.

During the 1940s, John H. Threadgill, the head of the Steamship Trade Association, spearheaded a study on the idea of a cross-harbor bridge. A bridge across the Inner Harbor of Baltimore was one idea that was discussed frequently. In his capacity as head of the association, Threadgill ultimately recommended that the idea for a cross-harbor bridge be abandoned, due to the fact that Baltimore relied heavily on a shipping trade and fears that the bridge would negatively impede the flow of shipping traffic at the Port of Baltimore. Threadgill was named head of Baltimore’s Port Commission during the 1950s.

However, in the 1950s, economic shifts ended both the freight and passenger use of the Inner Harbor, such as the Old Bay Line's steamers. Rotting warehouses and piers were eventually torn down and replaced by open, grass-covered parkland that was used for recreational purposes and occasional large events.

The waterfront was gradually transformed with award-winning parks and plazas surrounded by office buildings, hotels and leisure attractions, which reversed the city’s decline and became a model for urban renaissance in cities around the World. The renewal of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor area began with the adoption of the 33-acre Charles Center project by the City Council and Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro, in March, 1958. Between 1958 and 1965, Baltimore renewed the center of its business district by rebuilding Charles Center with office buildings, hotels and retail shops.

At the beginning of mayor Theodore R. McKeldin’s second term in 1963, the redevelopment program was expanded to include 240 acres surrounding the Inner Harbor, where corporate headquarters and hotels were built around the shoreline of the Inner Harbor, which was transformed with a public park and Promenade for leisure activity and community gatherings.

On July 4, 1976, following the rendezvous of Tall Ships in New York for the U.S. Bicentennial, eight ships from other nations visited Baltimore, where they attracted a huge outpouring of tourists and launched the creation of a critical mass of tourist attractions – including the National Aquarium, Maryland Science Center, Baltimore Convention Center, Hyatt Regency Baltimore Hotel and the Harborplace festival marketplace, which opened on the Fourth of July, 1980.

With the success of the Inner Harbor in the 1970’s and ‘80’s, Baltimore became a worldwide tourist destination and model of urban planning and development, influencing more than 100 other cities and winning more than 40 national or international awards, including a citation by the American Institute of Architects in 1984 as “one of the supreme achievements of large-scale urban design and development in U.S. history.”

Baltimore harbor from Federal Hill in 1849 with the Washington monument in the background

In recent years, the area along the waterfront to the east of the Inner Harbor (in the direction of Fells Point and Little Italy) has been developed with condominiums, retail space, restaurants, and hotels – an ongoing project known as Harbor East.

While little development land remains around the Inner Harbor, what land is available has attracted many plans, which have not been realized. Recently completed projects include mixed-use developments incorporating office space, street-level retail, and condominiums as well as hotel projects such as the Ritz Carlton Residences, a condominium project on Key Highway at the southeast corner of the Inner Harbor.

In September 2003, the Inner Harbor area was flooded by Hurricane Isabel. The Baltimore World Trade Center remained closed for a month, but all the other buildings were saved from flooding by the Inner Hrbor development controls, which were created by the master developer team of Charles Center-Inner Harbor Management, Inc.

In March 2004, a water taxi capsized during a storm on the Northwest Branch of the Patapsco River near Fort McHenry. While occurring over a mile downstream of the Inner Harbor, it nonetheless was associated with the Inner Harbor by news reports and casual observers. A total of 5 passengers died in the accident, which the National Transportation Safety Board determined was caused when the small pontoon-style vessel encountered unpredictable strong winds and waves.

Panorama of the Inner Harbor taken at night from Federal Hill

Attractions

Museums

• Reginald F. Lewis Museum of African-American History and Culture
• American Visionary Art Museum
• Baltimore Museum of Industry
• Geppi's Entertainment Museum (opened September 2006)
• Jewish Museum of Maryland at the Lloyd Street Synagogue – one of the oldest synagogues in the United States.
• Civil War Museum at the President Street Station
• Port Discovery Children's Museum (on the site of the historic Baltimore Fishmarket and the 1988–1989 Fishmarket dance/music complex)
• Sports Legends at Camden Yards
• Museum of Dentistry

Ships

View from the Inner Harbor

• Baltimore Maritime Museum:
  • USCGC Taney – last fighting ship still afloat that survived the attack on Pearl Harbor
  • USS Torsk – Tench-class submarine; last ship to sink enemy vessel in World War II
  • Lightship Chesapeake
  • Seven Foot Knoll Lighthouse
• USS Constellation – last Civil War-era ship still afloat

• Vessels on active/reserve status:
  • USNS Comfort – US Navy hospital ship
  • SS Wright – US Navy Aviation Logistics Support (roll-on/roll-off) container ship

Entertainment venues

Sports

• Camden Yards Sports Complex
  • Baltimore Grand Prix (street race for Indycar and American Le Mans Series)
  • Oriole Park at Camden Yards (home of the Baltimore Orioles)
  • M&T Bank Stadium (home of the Baltimore Ravens; formerly known as PSINet Stadium and then as Ravens Stadium)
  • Sports Legends at Camden Yards
  • Babe Ruth birthplace and museum

Concert halls and arenas

• Baltimore Convention Center
• 1st Mariner Arena (formerly known as the Civic Center)
• Pier 6 Concert Pavilion
• Power Plant Live! (a collection of bars and clubs that includes Rams Head Live!)

Notable architecture

• Bnai Israel – Moorish Revival synagogue now open as a museum

Other attractions

Baltimore is the home of the National Aquarium, one of the world's largest.

• National Aquarium in Baltimore
• Harborplace and the Gallery
• Maryland Science Center
• The Pratt Street Power Plant (containing Barnes & Noble, Hard Rock Cafe, and the original ESPN Zone, which closed in June 2010; in the late 1980s, contained an indoor Victorian era "fun house"-themed Six Flags amusement park)
• Top of the World at the Baltimore World Trade Center
• Holocaust Memorial
• Columbus Center, home of the University of Maryland Biotechnology Institute
• Lockwood Place
• Baltimore Visitors Center
• Lloyd Street Synagogue, the third-oldest synagogue in the United States, now a museum

External links

• Baltimore Inner Harbor web page
• Official Harbor Place website
• Baltimore Maritime Museum
• Baltimore Museum of Industry
• Baltimore Walking Tours
• Global Harbors: A Waterfront Renaissance