1846 Bradford City Plan of Baltimore, Maryland

This is Thomas Bradford's 1846 city plan or map of Baltimore, Maryland, as it appeared in his Universal Illustrated Atlas. The map captures Baltimore at the height of its mid-19th-century growth spurt.

A Closer Look

The entirety of contemporary Baltimore is shown, along with South Baltimore and Canton. City wards are numbered and color-shaded. Much of the street grid along the outskirts of the city's center is ghosted in, with pre-existing waterways displayed, reflecting the city's rapid growth and anticipated expansion. City hall, markets, a hospital (the 'City Hospital'), a jail, and other buildings are labeled, including the Maryland Penitentiary (now the Metropolitan Transition Center), the first such institution in the state and the second 'modern' prison in the United States. Baltimore Basilica, in the northern part of the city, was the first Catholic cathedral built in the American Republic. The 'University' and 'College' both appear to be forerunners to the University of Maryland, Baltimore.

Other landmarks, such as Fort McHenry and the monument commemorating its bombardment in 1814, are noted. Several other public buildings and parks are indicated (in the former case with black rectangles) but are not labeled. Roads (such as the Washington Turnpike towards the bottom-left) and railroads (the Susquehanna at the top, the Baltimore and Ohio at the left, and the Baltimore and Wilmington at the right) connected Baltimore with other cities in the mid-Atlantic region.

Historical Context

Mid-19th century Baltimore grew rapidly due to increasing commercial and maritime links with cities and ports both near and far (the neighborhood of Canton at bottom-right was named for the Chinese port by John O'Donnell, a merchant who had traded there before settling in Baltimore). It was the second largest city in the U.S. throughout the first half of the 19th century, after New York (though Philadelphia was typically larger when including adjacent townships, districts, and boroughs in Philadelphia County). Baltimore gained a reputation as an intellectual center willing to experiment with new ideas and techniques, especially in education, where it pioneered modern professional education in the U.S., including medicine, dentistry, and law.

Publication History and Census

Despite the date of the copyright at bottom-left, this map was published in the 1846 edition of Bradford's Universal Illustrated Atlas. It can be readily distinguished from earlier editions by examining the number and configuration of city wards highlighted by the map's design.