Locust Point is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...

neighborhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community within a larger city, town, suburb or rural area, ...

Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean t ...

. Located in South Baltimore, the neighborhood is entirely surrounded by the Locust Point Industrial Area; the traditional boundaries are Lawrence street to the west and the

Patapsco River The Patapsco River mainstem is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed April 1, 2011 river in central Maryland that flows into the Chesapeake Bay. The river's tidal port ...

to the north, south, and east. It once served as a center of

's Polish-American,

Irish-American , image = Irish ancestry in the USA 2018; Where Irish eyes are Smiling.png , image_caption = Irish Americans, % of population by state , caption = Notable Irish Americans , population = 36,115,472 (10.9%) alone ...

and Italian-American communities; in more recent years Locust Point has seen gradual

gentrification Gentrification is the process of changing the character of a neighborhood through the influx of more affluent residents and businesses. It is a common and controversial topic in urban politics and planning. Gentrification often increases the ...

with the rehabilitation of Tide Point and Silo Point. The neighborhood is also noted as being the home of

Fort McHenry Fort McHenry is a historical American coastal pentagonal bastion fort on Locust Point, now a neighborhood of Baltimore, Maryland. It is best known for its role in the War of 1812, when it successfully defended Baltimore Harbor from an attac ...

and the western end of its namesake tunnel that carries eight lanes of

Interstate 95 Interstate 95 (I-95) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the East Coast of the United States, running from US Route 1 (US 1) in Miami, Florida, to the Houlton–Woodstock Border Crossing between Maine and the Canadia ...

under the river. Locust Point has been called "Baltimore's

Ellis Island Ellis Island is a federally owned island in New York Harbor, situated within the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, that was the busiest immigrant inspection and processing station in the United States. From 1892 to 1954, nearly 12 mil ...

" because the neighborhood was once the third largest point of entry for immigrants to the United States after Ellis Island and the Port of Philadelphia. From 1868 until the closure of the Locust Point piers in 1914, 1.2 million European immigrants entered Baltimore through Locust Point. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 2012.

History

In 1776, with the outbreak of the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

, the citizens of the City of Baltimore, assisted by the

State of Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean ...

, dug fortifications at the end of the "Whetstone Point" peninsula that juts into

Baltimore Harbor Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facilities fo ...

between the Northwest Branch of the

on the north and the Middle Branch and the Ferry Branch (now the Southern Branche) to the south. This fort was named "Fort Whetstone". This fort escaped British attack, although it was nearly attacked in August 1777 when a British fleet from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

sailed up the

Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...

to the Head of Elk in

Cecil County Cecil County () is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland at the northeastern corner of the state, bordering both Pennsylvania and Delaware. As of the 2020 census, the population was 103,725. The county seat is Elkton. The county was ...

in the northeastern corner of the state. There the ships disembarked troops heading for the new American

capital city A capital city or capital is the municipality holding primary status in a country, state, province, department, or other subnational entity, usually as its seat of the government. A capital is typically a city that physically encompasses t ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since ...

, and thus engaged in the

Battle of Brandywine The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, Sir William Howe on September& ...

and the

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American Con ...

. However, Baltimore was considered safe enough for the

Continental Congress The Continental Congress was a series of legislative bodies, with some executive function, for thirteen of Britain's colonies in North America, and the newly declared United States just before, during, and after the American Revolutionary War. ...

to meet in when Philadelphia was overrun. Later near the war's end, French troops under Comte de Rochambeau and the American Continental troops under

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of ...

marched through the area and they camped for several weeks during their southward movement to trap the army of British General Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1781. Hence, Fort Whetstone's batteries of cannon never yet had to fire in anger. In 1789, there was the reorganization of the

Federal Government of the United States The federal government of the United States (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the national government of the United States, a federal republic located primarily in North America, composed of 50 states, a city within a fede ...

in 1789 under the new U.S. Constitution, and the establishment of a new U.S. Army and

U.S. Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, a ...

. Then starting in 1793 the Fort was rebuilt from scratch. By 1798, a new star-shaped fortification with additional buildings, barracks, storehouses, and bunkers was constructed under the design of French

military engineer Military engineering is loosely defined as the art, science, and practice of designing and building military works and maintaining lines of military transport and military communications. Military engineers are also responsible for logistics ...

Jean Foncin, and it was renamed

for

James McHenry James McHenry (November 16, 1753 – May 3, 1816) was a Scotch-Irish American military surgeon, statesman, and a Founding Father of the United States. McHenry was a signer of the United States Constitution from Maryland, initiated the recomme ...

of Maryland, third U.S. Secretary of War. When Fort McHenry blocked the attempted invasion of Baltimore's inner harbor by British warships in September 1814, it was located on a grassy peninsula that was used for pasture. The grassy but jaggedly shaped peninsula point had been known as Whetstone Point, also the name of a park in London, since it was established as a port of entry by the Maryland Colonial Assembly in 1706, twenty-three years before the establishment of the town. Whetstone Point and the future South Baltimore peninsula was annexed by the City of Baltimore in 1816. The peninsula was renamed Locust Point in 1846, for the locust trees growing on the peninsula. Many of the streets built here during the later half of the 19th century bear the names of local heroes from the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...

. The oldest buildings are from circa 1840-1850, two-story houses on Cuba, Clement, and Towson Streets.Scott Sheads (2006)
"Locust Point - Celebrating 300 Years of a Historic Community"
Locust Point Civic Association. Retrieved 2010-12-22. Portions of the neighborhood were listed on the

in 2012. The area of Locust Point played prominently in the second season of the

Home Box Office Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is b ...

cable TV series '' The Wire''. On June 10, 2013, a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...

hit the Locust Point area as a part of a severe storm system sprawling across the East Coast. The tornado caused damage to a warehouse nearby.

Industry

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...

chose the Locust Point neighborhood as the location its second East Coast soap manufacturing plant in the late 1920s, reflecting the strengths of Baltimore's industrial infrastructure in the early 20th century. By 1990, the Procter and Gamble Baltimore Plant was producing only soaps like

Ivory Ivory is a hard, white material from the tusks (traditionally from elephants) and teeth of animals, that consists mainly of dentine, one of the physical structures of teeth and tusks. The chemical structure of the teeth and tusks of mammals i ...

and

Camay Camay is an American brand of bar soap owned by Unilever. It was introduced in 1926 by Procter & Gamble and was marketed as a "white, pure soap for women," as many soaps of the time were colored to mask impurities. Camay's slogan for many yea ...

, and synthetic liquid detergents like Joy,

Dawn Dawn is the time that marks the beginning of twilight before sunrise. It is recognized by the appearance of indirect sunlight being scattered in Earth's atmosphere, when the centre of the Sun's disc has reached 18° below the observer's ...

, and liquid

Cascade Cascade, Cascades or Cascading may refer to: Science and technology Science *Cascade waterfalls, or series of waterfalls * Cascade, the CRISPR-associated complex for antiviral defense (a protein complex) * Cascade (grape), a type of fruit * Bioc ...

. In 1993, Procter & Gamble set aside reserves to fund a major restructuring of the corporation, including plant consolidation. On January 13, 1994, they announced that the Baltimore Plant was one of four that would be closed. The Baltimore Plant ceased production in 1995. In 1996, A&E International, a Korean firm, purchased the property with the intent to manufacture a specialty liquor for shipping to the Far East. Forced to abandon their plans because of the Asian financial crisis, A&E sold the plant to Struever Bros. Eccles & Rouse, Inc. in 1999. Struever Brothers Eccles & Rouse rehabilitated the historic waterfront located at the end of Hull Street, calling it Tide Point. It was the first major redevelopment in the neighborhood in decades. When the project was completed in 2002, the former soap factory was turned into Class A office space. It is currently occupied by the sportswear firm Under Armour. Three silos next to the company's campus now display murals of Michael Phelps,

Ray Lewis Raymond Anthony Lewis Jr. (born May 15, 1975) is an American former professional football player who played as a middle linebacker with the Baltimore Ravens for his entire 17-year career in the National Football League (NFL). He played ...

and Cal Ripken Jr. There are two marine terminals of the

Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore Helen Delich Bentley Port of Baltimore is a shipping port along the tidal basins of the three branches of the Patapsco River in Baltimore, Maryland on the upper northwest shore of the Chesapeake Bay. It is the nation's largest port facilities ...

located within the neighborhood, as well as the massive Domino sugar factory, a reminder that the industrial use of Baltimore Harbor is still a very important component of the local economy.

Community

Locust Point is located in Baltimore City's 11th District, with the current district representative Eric Costello. Locust Point is part of Maryland's 46th

Legislative A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

and State Senate District, with the current state senator Bill Ferguson and current delegates

Brooke Lierman Brooke Elizabeth Lierman (born February 14, 1979) is an American civil rights attorney and politician who is the 34th Comptroller of Maryland. She was first elected in 2022, becoming the first female Comptroller of the state and the first woman e ...

Robbyn Lewis Robbyn Terresa Lewis (born July 18, 1963) is an American politician who represents the 46th legislative district in the Maryland House of Delegates. Background Lewis attended public schools in Gary, Indiana and Chicago, Illinois and then earned a ...

, and

Luke Clippinger Luke H. Clippinger (born September 24, 1972) is an American politician and lawyer who has served as a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the state's Maryland Legislative District 46, 46th district in Baltimore, since 2011. Ea ...

. Locust Point is located in

Maryland's 3rd congressional district Maryland's 3rd congressional district comprises portions of Baltimore, Howard, Montgomery, and Anne Arundel counties, as well as a significant part of the independent city of Baltimore. The seat is currently represented by John Sarbanes, a De ...

. The current president of the Locust Point Civic Association is Kate McComisky. Locust Point is home to the

Baltimore Museum of Industry Baltimore Museum of Industry is a museum in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Located in an old cannery, the museum has exhibits on various types of manufacturing and industry from the early 20th century. There are several hands-on sections with ...

, and Latrobe Park. The neighborhood's restaurants and bars include Barracuda's Locust Point Tavern, City Limits Sports Bar, 1157 Restaurant and Bar, Diamondback Brewing Company, The Himalayan House, Hull Street Blues Cafe, L.P. Steamers, In like Flynn (formerly J. Patrick's), Serenity Wine Bar (formerly Our House Cafe/Restaurant), Southeastern Coffee Roastery, and the Ice Queens snowball shop, along with the Miss Twist mobile food truck. Also located in Locust Point are the Locust Point Recreation Center, a Baltimore Water Taxi stop, South Locust Point Cruise Terminal, SoBo Doggie Daycare and Spa and Francis Scott Key Elementary and Middle Grades School.

References

External links

Locust Point Civic AssociationSouth District maps
Baltimore City Neighborhoods Portal * *, including undated photo an
boundary map
at Maryland Historical Trust {{authority control Gentrification in the United States Neighborhoods in Baltimore Irish-American culture in Baltimore Italian-American culture in Baltimore Polish-American culture in Baltimore Baltimore National Heritage Area Polish communities in the United States Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Baltimore Federal architecture in Maryland Italianate architecture in Maryland Neoclassical architecture in Maryland Greek Revival architecture in Maryland Gothic Revival architecture in Maryland Queen Anne architecture in Maryland Maryland populated places on the Chesapeake Bay

History

Industry

Community

See also

References

External links