Changes

The story of the Patapsco Forest Reserve (later renamed the Patapsco Valley State Park) near Baltimore reveals notable connections between the Progressive-era movements for forest conservation and urban park planning. In 1903, the Patapsco Valley site, although outside the city boundary, was nevertheless identified by the Olmstead Brothers landscape architecture firm as an ideal site to acquire property for future park development. At the same time, the Maryland State Board of Forestry, seeking to establish scientific forestry research, received donated land for this purpose in the Patapsco Valley. Over subsequent decades, a powerful alliance of urban elites, state managers, and city officials assembled thousands of acres along the Patapsco River. The site evolved into a unique hybrid of forest preserve and public park that reflected both its location on the urban fringe and its dual heritage in the conservation and parks movements.<ref>Geoffrey L. Buckley, et al. "The Patapsco Forest Reserve: Establishing a 'City Park' for Baltimore, 1907-1941," ''Historical Geography'' 2006 34: 87-108 </ref>  

The story of the Patapsco Forest Reserve (later renamed the Patapsco Valley State Park) near Baltimore reveals notable connections between the Progressive-era movements for forest conservation and urban park planning. In 1903, the Patapsco Valley site, although outside the city boundary, was nevertheless identified by the Olmstead Brothers landscape architecture firm as an ideal site to acquire property for future park development. At the same time, the Maryland State Board of Forestry, seeking to establish scientific forestry research, received donated land for this purpose in the Patapsco Valley. Over subsequent decades, a powerful alliance of urban elites, state managers, and city officials assembled thousands of acres along the Patapsco River. The site evolved into a unique hybrid of forest preserve and public park that reflected both its location on the urban fringe and its dual heritage in the conservation and parks movements.<ref>Geoffrey L. Buckley, et al. "The Patapsco Forest Reserve: Establishing a 'City Park' for Baltimore, 1907-1941," ''Historical Geography'' 2006 34: 87-108 </ref>  

==History==

==History==

The 1790s were hard times for the city. The Bank of England's suspension of specie payments caused the network of Atlantic credit to unravel, leading to a mild recession. The [[Quasi-War]] with France in 1798-1800 caused major disruptions to Baltimore's trade in the Caribbean. Finally, a yellow fever epidemic diverted ships from the port, while much of the urban population fled into the countryside. The downturn widened to include every social class and area of economic activity. In response the business community diversified away from an economy based heavily on foreign trade.<ref> Richard S. Chew, "Certain Victims of an International Contagion: The Panic of 1797 and the Hard Times of the Late 1790s in Baltimore," ''Journal of the Early Republic'' 2005 25(4): 565-613</ref>  

The 1790s were hard times for the city. The Bank of England's suspension of specie payments caused the network of Atlantic credit to unravel, leading to a mild recession. The [[Quasi-War]] with France in 1798-1800 caused major disruptions to Baltimore's trade in the Caribbean. Finally, a yellow fever epidemic diverted ships from the port, while much of the urban population fled into the countryside. The downturn widened to include every social class and area of economic activity. In response the business community diversified away from an economy based heavily on foreign trade.<ref> Richard S. Chew, "Certain Victims of an International Contagion: The Panic of 1797 and the Hard Times of the Late 1790s in Baltimore," ''Journal of the Early Republic'' 2005 25(4): 565-613</ref>  

===Blacks===

===Blacks===

From the late 1700s into the 1820s Baltimore was a "city of transients," a fast-growing boom town attracting thousands of ex-slaves from the surrounding countryside. Slavery in Maryland declined steadily after the 1810s as the state's economy shifted away from plantation agriculture, as evangelicalism and a liberal manumission law encouraged owners to liberate those in bondage, and as other masters practiced "term slavery," registering deeds of manumission but postponing the actual date of freedom for a decade or more. Baltimore's shrinking slave population often lived and worked alongside the city's growing free black population as "quasi-freedmen." With unskilled and semiskilled employment readily available, particularly in the shipyards and related industries, little friction with white workers occurred. Despite the overall poverty of the city's free blacks, compared with the condition of those living in Philadelphia, Charleston, and New Orleans, Baltimore was a "city of refuge," where slave and free black alike found an unusual amount of freedom.  Churches, schools, and fraternal and benevolent associations provided a cushion against hardening white attitudes toward free blacks in the wake of Nat Turner's revolt in Virginia in 1831. But a flood of German and Irish immigrants swamped Baltimore's labor market after 1840, driving free blacks deeper into poverty.<ref> Christopher Phillips ''Freedom's Port: The African American Community of Baltimore, 1791-1860'' (1997)</ref>  

From the late 1700s into the 1820s Baltimore was a "city of transients," a fast-growing boom town attracting thousands of ex-slaves from the surrounding countryside. Slavery in Maryland declined steadily after the 1810s as the state's economy shifted away from plantation agriculture, as evangelicalism and a liberal manumission law encouraged owners to liberate those in bondage, and as other masters practiced "term slavery," registering deeds of manumission but postponing the actual date of freedom for a decade or more. Baltimore's shrinking slave population often lived and worked alongside the city's growing free black population as "quasi-freedmen." With unskilled and semiskilled employment readily available, particularly in the shipyards and related industries, little friction with white workers occurred. Despite the overall poverty of the city's free blacks, compared with the condition of those living in Philadelphia, Charleston, and New Orleans, Baltimore was a "city of refuge," where slave and free black alike found an unusual amount of freedom.  Churches, schools, and fraternal and benevolent associations provided a cushion against hardening white attitudes toward free blacks in the wake of Nat Turner's revolt in Virginia in 1831. But a flood of German and Irish immigrants swamped Baltimore's labor market after 1840, driving free blacks deeper into poverty.<ref> Christopher Phillips ''Freedom's Port: The African American Community of Baltimore, 1791-1860'' (1997)</ref>  

===1850s===

===1850s===

Baltimore in the [[Third Party System]] had two-party competitive elections, with powerful bosses, carefully orchestrated political violence, and an emerging working-class consciousness at the polls.  The fierce politics of the 1850s had galvanized the white workers, most of them German, who opposed slavery.  The American Party emerged in the mid 1850s to represent Protestants and to counter the Democratic Party, which was increasingly controlled by [[Catholic Irish]].  When Baltimore erupted in violence at the time of Lincoln's inauguration, for example, the pro-Union "Blood Tubs" that took to the streets were veterans of political rioting.  The nativist American (Know-Nothing) Party captured the Baltimore government in 1854. The party used patronage and, especially, coercion; its armed forces scared off Democratic voters and forced drunks and immigrants to vote multiple times. The party elected a congressman and governor during its short reign. In 1860 the Democrat-controlled legislature took back the city police, the militia, patronage, and the electoral machinery, and prosecuted some Know-Nothings for electoral fraud. By 1861 the Know-Nothings had split over secession.<ref>Frank Towers, ''The Urban South and the Coming of the Civil War'' (2004)</ref>   

Baltimore in the [[Third Party System]] had two-party competitive elections, with powerful bosses, carefully orchestrated political violence, and an emerging working-class consciousness at the polls.  The fierce politics of the 1850s had galvanized the white workers, most of them German, who opposed slavery.  The American Party emerged in the mid 1850s to represent Protestants and to counter the Democratic Party, which was increasingly controlled by [[Catholic Irish]].  When Baltimore erupted in violence at the time of Lincoln's inauguration, for example, the pro-Union "Blood Tubs" that took to the streets were veterans of political rioting.  The nativist American (Know-Nothing) Party captured the Baltimore government in 1854. The party used patronage and, especially, coercion; its armed forces scared off Democratic voters and forced drunks and immigrants to vote multiple times. The party elected a congressman and governor during its short reign. In 1860 the Democrat-controlled legislature took back the city police, the militia, patronage, and the electoral machinery, and prosecuted some Know-Nothings for electoral fraud. By 1861 the Know-Nothings had split over secession.<ref>Frank Towers, ''The Urban South and the Coming of the Civil War'' (2004)</ref>   

====Drugs====

====Drugs====

Heroin usage in Baltimore reveals the explosive rise of illegal drug use in the United States in the 1960s. In the late 1940s there were only a few dozen African-American heroin addicts in the Pennsylvania Avenue area of the city. Heroin use began largely for reasons of prestige within a group that most middle-class blacks looked down on. When the Baltimore police formed the three-man narcotics squad in 1951 there was only moderate profit in drug dealing and shoplifting was the addict's crime of choice. By the late 1950s young whites were experimenting with the drug, and by 1960 there were over one thousand heroin addicts in the police files; this figure doubled in the 1960s. A generation of profiteering young, violrent black dealers took over in the 1960s as violence increased and the price of heroin skyrocketed. Increasing drug usage was undoubtedly the primary reason for burglaries rising tenfold and robberies rising thirtyfold from 1950 to 1970. Soaring numbers of broken homes and Baltimore's declining economic status probably exacerbated the drug problem. Adolescents in suburban areas began using drugs in the late 1960s.<ref>Jill Jonnes, "Everybody Must Get Stoned: The Origins Of Modern Drug Culture In Baltimore," ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' 1996 91(2): 132-155 </ref>  

Heroin usage in Baltimore reveals the explosive rise of illegal drug use in the United States in the 1960s. In the late 1940s there were only a few dozen African-American heroin addicts in the Pennsylvania Avenue area of the city. Heroin use began largely for reasons of prestige within a group that most middle-class blacks looked down on. When the Baltimore police formed the three-man narcotics squad in 1951 there was only moderate profit in drug dealing and shoplifting was the addict's crime of choice. By the late 1950s young whites were experimenting with the drug, and by 1960 there were over one thousand heroin addicts in the police files; this figure doubled in the 1960s. A generation of profiteering young, violrent black dealers took over in the 1960s as violence increased and the price of heroin skyrocketed. Increasing drug usage was undoubtedly the primary reason for burglaries rising tenfold and robberies rising thirtyfold from 1950 to 1970. Soaring numbers of broken homes and Baltimore's declining economic status probably exacerbated the drug problem. Adolescents in suburban areas began using drugs in the late 1960s.<ref>Jill Jonnes, "Everybody Must Get Stoned: The Origins Of Modern Drug Culture In Baltimore," ''Maryland Historical Magazine'' 1996 91(2): 132-155 </ref>  

====Backlash====

====Backlash====

In the 1950s and 1960s, white Southern racial politics moved north into Baltimore and other cities. White Southerners came to Baltimore by the thousands during World War II, permanently altering the city's political landscape. Southern whites built on existing racial restrictions in Maryland to approximate the customary lines of demarcation further south. Working whites mobilized to prevent school integration after the 'Brown' decision of 1954. They believed that their interests were being sacrificed to those of black Americans. As working-class whites began to feel increasingly embattled in the face of federal intervention into local practices, many turned to the 1964 presidential primary campaign of [[George Wallace]] who swept the white working class vote. Durr  (2003) explains the defection of white working-class voters in Baltimore to the Republican Party as being caused by their fears that the Democratic Party's desegregation policies posed a threat to their families, workplaces, and neighborhoods.<ref>Kenneth  Durr,  "When Southern Politics Came North: the Roots of White Working-class Conservatism in Baltimore, 1940-1964," ''Labor History'' 1996 37(3): 309-331; Durr, ''Behind the Backlash: White Working-Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980''  (2003) </ref>   

In the 1950s and 1960s, white Southern racial politics moved north into Baltimore and other cities. White Southerners came to Baltimore by the thousands during World War II, permanently altering the city's political landscape. Southern whites built on existing racial restrictions in Maryland to approximate the customary lines of demarcation further south. Working whites mobilized to prevent school integration after the 'Brown' decision of 1954. They believed that their interests were being sacrificed to those of black Americans. As working-class whites began to feel increasingly embattled in the face of federal intervention into local practices, many turned to the 1964 presidential primary campaign of [[George Wallace]] who swept the white working class vote. Durr  (2003) explains the defection of white working-class voters in Baltimore to the Republican Party as being caused by their fears that the Democratic Party's desegregation policies posed a threat to their families, workplaces, and neighborhoods.<ref>Kenneth  Durr,  "When Southern Politics Came North: the Roots of White Working-class Conservatism in Baltimore, 1940-1964," ''Labor History'' 1996 37(3): 309-331; Durr, ''Behind the Backlash: White Working-Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980''  (2003) </ref>   

* Durr, Kenneth D. ''Behind the Backlash: White Working Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980'' (2003)  [http://www.questia.com/read/106480718?title=Behind%20the%20Backlash%3a%20%20White%20Working-Class%20Politics%20in%20Baltimore%2c%201940-1980 online edition]

* Durr, Kenneth D. ''Behind the Backlash: White Working Class Politics in Baltimore, 1940-1980'' (2003)  [http://www.questia.com/read/106480718?title=Behind%20the%20Backlash%3a%20%20White%20Working-Class%20Politics%20in%20Baltimore%2c%201940-1980 online edition]

* Elfenbein, Jessica I.''The Making of a Modern City: Philanthropy, Civic Culture, and the Baltimore YMCA'' (2001) 192 pp.

* Elfenbein, Jessica I.''The Making of a Modern City: Philanthropy, Civic Culture, and the Baltimore YMCA'' (2001) 192 pp.

* Hayward, Mary Ellen and Shivers, Frank R., Jr., eds. ''The Architecture of Baltimore: An Illustrated History'' (2004). 408 pp.

* Hayward, Mary Ellen and Shivers, Frank R., Jr., eds. ''The Architecture of Baltimore: An Illustrated History'' (2004). 408 pp.

* Phillips, Christopher. ''Freedom's Port: The African American Community of Baltimore, 1790-1860'' (1997)

* Phillips, Christopher. ''Freedom's Port: The African American Community of Baltimore, 1790-1860'' (1997)