The Monumental City [Baltimore] . Its past history and present resources

Front matter

THE WASHINGTON MONUMENT, Mount Veenon Place. THE MONUMENTAL CITY, ITS |i)St |jsfpfg ptf |lfSf?f jTTW??i> BY George W. Howard, BALTIMORE: J. D. Ehlers & Co., Engravers and Steam Book Printers, 87 Second Street, 1873. Entered according to Act os Congress, in the year 1873, by GEORGE W. HOWARD, In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. Cro CHAUNCEY BROOKS, Esq. This volume is dedicated by its author, as an humble testimony of the personal esteem he has entertained for him through a long series of years, and as, in some measure, a memorial of the proud position that gentleman to-day occupies in the city of Baltimore. Time in its cycles works many changes. Some men are unable to stem the current of adverse fortune, and pass away with naught left to embalm their memories, save the sad thought that their efforts were honest but unavailing; while others live to see the realization of their hopes aud the glorious fruition that accompanies a well-spent and successful life.

To the latter class Mr. Brooks belongs, and it seems peculiarly appropriate that a volume professing to give a sketch of Baltimore, with a succinct recital of the vast resources she at present possesses, should be dedicated to one who is so thoroughly identified with her history through a period of more than fifty years. Mr. Brooks, at a ripe old age, can look with pleasure upon gigantic corporations, great business enterprises, and mechanical forces, the birth of which he favored, and whose feeble infancy he strengthened by timely, judicious and unostentatious aid. That He who knoweth the good deeds of men may bountifully lengthen out his life, and that his future may be as peaceful and serene as his past has been useful and honored, is the prayer of the Author. PEEFAOE. It is proposed in the present volume to give a sketch of the past of Baltimore, with brief allusions to those crises which marked her history and exercised an important bearing upon her progress as a city, also a running essay upon the useful and æsthetic features which make her to-day the most desirable location in America for those in search of homes, or contemplating a change of residence ; together with short but comprehensive articles upon the various corporations at present in existence or soon to be organized, and the different departments of trade, commerce, and manufactures, which centre in our city.

If readers at a distance are disposed to regard critically, the spirit which induces a citizeu of Baltimore to sound her praises more than perhaps the most guarded taste might suggest, let them consider that the same course has been pursued by all the larger cities in America, and that the great spirit of competition more thoroughly developed in this country than elsewhere, will uot suffer her to remain silent at a time when her sisters have inundated the United States with the most fulsome accounts of their respective advantages. Let them bear in mind also, that already have travellers, not only from differ ent sections of the Union but from the great centres of Europe, placed on record the most ample and possibly exaggerated accounts of the various features which endear her to her own citizens, and render the city peculiarly inviting to strangers; and lastly, let them remember that a pardonable pride is the greatest incentive to development and progress in the future.