Monument City

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Location

Hopkins Place and West Pratt Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 17′ 11.61″ N 76° 37′ 3.03″ W

History

Depicts Thurgood Marshall (1908-1993), the great-grandson of a slave and Baltimore native who rose to become the first African-American to serve on the Supreme Court. He was nominated in 1967 by President Lyndon Johnson. Stands outside the Garmatz Federal Courthouse, Pratt Street entrance. Artist: Reuben Kramer. Dedicated on May 16, 1980. BWI Airport was also dedicated to Marshall in October of 2005.

Notes

This monument is set off the beaten path a little bit from the shops and bustle of the Inner Harbor proper. Across Pratt street is the Baltimore Convention Center, with a large metal public art piece. The old Bromo-Seltzer Tower, the now-defunct Circle One restaurant atop an old Holiday Inn (the dinery once rotated at one revolution per hour). Nice light and good energy flow in this area. Arrayed behind the monument are many concrete pyramids, presumably to prevent cars from driving up too close to the courthouse. Many barrier objects like this were installed around the Inner Harbor after September 11, 2001.

Nearby

• Babe Ruth Memorial
• Mayor Thomas D’Alesandro Memorial

Links

• Bio on BaltimoreMD.com
• The Thurgood Marshall Memorial in Annapolis, MD
• On Panoramio & Flickr
• Detailed sculpture information from the Smithsonian