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Mayor Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe Monument (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Mon, 25 May 2009 21:15:07 +0000

Location

N Broadway & E Baltimore Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 17′ 30.13″ N 76° 35′ 37.96″ W

History

Dedicated on June 1, 1914 and rededicated on June 11, 1997, this monument to Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe is by artists Edward Berge and J. Maxwell Miller. Baltimore-born Ferdinand Latrobe (1833-1911) served seven non-consecutive terms as mayor of Baltimore, between 1875-1877, 1878-1881, 1883-1885, 1887-1889, and finally again in 1891-1895. Along with Thomas D’Alesandro, Sam Smith and William Donald Schaefer, Latrobe is one of four Baltimore mayors who have been immortalized in outdoor monumental form. Clayton Colman Hall writes in his book, Baltimore, “To write a personal history of General Ferdinand Claiborne Latrobe is in effect to write the history of the most important events concerning the growth and improvement of the city of Baltimore for more than half a century.” Responsible for a slew of civic works and improvement projects, Colman explains that “It is not flattery to say that he was acknowledged to be the most prominent and popular citizen of Baltimore, and in his private as well as in his official capacity did more for the advancement and improvement of the city of Baltimore than any other one man.” Latrobe also was responsible for the re-organization of the Maryland militia under the Act of 1868, which he authored. Ferdinand Latrobe was the son of John Hazelhurst Boneval Latrobe and grandson of Benjamin Henry Latrobe, figures of no small import in Baltimore, as well as national, history. Latrobe is quoted as having said, in 1894, about the first incarnation of the Baltimore Orioles baseball team, “We have always had the most beautiful women and the finest oysters in the world, and now we have the best baseball club.” Latrobe is also known to have been an avid breeder of Chesapeake Bay Retrievers.

Notes

Latrobe’s memorial stands at the southern-most end of a row of monuments which stretches north along Broadway, next in line being Thomas Wildey, and Jose Marti. A few short blocks to the east is the western entrance of Patterson Park, in which resides several other city monuments.

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Thomas Wildey Odd Fellows Monument (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Mon, 25 May 2009 14:54:48 +0000

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Location

N Broadway & E Fayette Street, south one block (Street View)

GPS: 39° 17′ 36.19″ N 76° 35′ 38.24″ W

History

The American charter for the Independent Order of Odd Fellows was established, in 1819, by Thomas Wildey. The British-born Wildey was a member of the altruistic organization as a youth in his home country, moving through its ranks with determination and brevity. A blacksmith by trade, the bullish figure left for the United States in his early twenties taking his restlessness along with him. Upon arriving in North America, in 1817, he found that sentiment towards the British was low, the War of 1812 not entirely forgiven. The boisterous and outgoing Wildey found work easily, yet had trouble gaining the companionship he desired. Following a conversation with John Welch, a fellow countryman, the two realized they were both part of the Odd Fellows fraternity. Wildey proposed putting an ad in the newspaper soliciting Baltimore’s existing members. Four men showed up at the initial conference and the seeds of America’s IOOF were planted. Thomas Wildey became the order’s first presiding officer and worked tirelessly to expand the group. His only occupation after 1819 was the Odd Fellows, and he sank great portions of his own money into the project. The other men involved in the early stages of the IOOF were certainly more literate and eloquent, but the frequently over-bearing Wildey and his unyielding enthusiasm point to him as the body’s true founding father. He relinquished his leadership post in 1925, yet continued to work for his cause until his last breath. Traveling from town to town, Wildey established Odd Fellows Lodges in practically every state incorporated at the time. He died in 1861, the dignifying monument erected four years later, following the conclusion of the Civil War.

Notes

The 52-foot tall superstructure sits on the crest of Washington Hill. The top of the marble monument depicts the widow Charity holding a child while another rests at her foot. Rich with the fraternal order of Odd Fellows imagery, the statue and spire pay a telling tribute to the organizations founder. Four bronze relief plaques and various inscriptions adorn the base of the memorial. The combination of beauty and gravity make this one of the more monumental fabrications in Baltimore. Dedicated in 1865, the memorial is the work of artist Edward F. Durang. Directly north on Broadway is the Jose Marti Bust and a block south, towards Fell’s Point, stands the Latrobe Monument.

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Jose Marti Memorial Bust (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Thu, 07 May 2009 21:35:52 +0000

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Location

N Broadway & E Fayette Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 17′ 39.00″ N 76° 35′ 38.40″ W

History

Like another monumental figure in the Baltimore landscape, Simon Bolivar, José Julián Martí Pérez (1853-1895) was a pivotal figure in opposition to Spanish control of Central and South America. Marti, however, is a hero to the island nation of Cuba, claimed equally by all political factions. He is considered to be the “Apostle of Cuban Independence” and was a revolutionary patriot writer of great reknown, whose writings helped galvanize support for the unsuccessful 1895 colonial rebellion in Cuba. Baltimore’s memorial bust of Jose Marti was dedicated in 1998, under sponsorship by neighboring Latin American communities. Around the pedestal upon which the Marti bust rests are soil samples from 21 Latin American countries, Tampa & Key West (FL) and New York City.

Notes

Though not a career soldier himself, Marti was so passionately dedicated to the cause of Cuban Independence that he died fighting for it on the front-lines during the Battle of Dos Ríos. New York City’s Central Park boasts an equestrian monument to Marti, which is atypical of such memorials, depicting Marti at the moment of his death. A 358 foot tower and monument to Marti adorns the Plaza de la Revolución in Havana and was often used by Castro to address audiences of nearly a million. In 1999, a hand-picked Cuban baseball team defeated the Baltimore Orioles 12-6, while hundreds of anti-Castro protestors gathered at Marti’s bust in opposition.

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Katyn Memorial (Baltimore, MD)

admin — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:29:23 +0000

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Location

Roundabout at Aliceanna Street and S President Street (Street View)

GPS: 39° 16′ 59.37″ N 76° 36′ 6.05″ W

History

One of two Holocaust memorials in Baltimore, this one was dedicated on November 19, 2000. It commemorates the 22,000 estimated Polish military officers, police, intellectuals and civilian prisoners of war executed by the NKVD, Stalin’s secret police at the Katyn forest and other Soviet detainment camps in 1940. The Soviet government officially denied the massacre ever took place until 1990. The monument also depicts significant figures from other points in Polish history, re-conceptualizing the destructive flame as the transformation and renewal of a people. Artist: Andrzei Pitynski.

Notes

This monument stands a majestic fourty-four feet tall at a geographic hub connecting the Inner Harbor, the commercial and residential revitalization projects at Harbor East and Fells Point. Construction is on-going in the area. The old President Street Station was once nearby (later turned into the Civil War Museum – now run by the Maryland Historical Society), connecting passengers on the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad (B&O) to the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad (PW&B).

Nearby

Links

National Katyn Memorial Foundation
Katyn Remembrance in Baltimore, MD
They Shall Not Be Forgotten: Remembering the Victims of Katyn
Remembering Katyn from the Hoover Institute
On Panoramio & Flickr