Saturday, May 13, 2023

Baltimore, MD: 1857,1867 Restored/B&O Camden Street Station & 1904 "Jim Crow" Law and Lost Camden Yards

Depot: (HAER3D Satellite)
Light Rail Station: (Satellite)
Railyard: (Satellite, both stadiums are on a former passenger service railyard.)

This station is a little north of the South (Timecard West) Portal of the Howard Street Tunnel.

In the right background is part of the baseball stadium.
Street View, Aug 2022

Roads Traveled Through Time posted
1872 photo of Camden Station in Baltimore, Maryland.
Brian Baker: Can't be 1872. Baltimore didn't have electric street cars until 1885, and you can just barely make out the nose of a "brass era" automobile in the lower left corner.
Tom Dune shared

Rod Russell provided two photos in the comments:
1, 1869 view.

2, 1890s view.
 
Baltimore Memories posted
Camden Station view from Bromo Seltzer Tower - Baltimore,Md. circa 1911
Tom Dunne shared
Charly Ryan: I would love to see some interior photos of Camden station from the 50s. I remember that there were big, comfortable chairs and lamps - the waiting area was welcoming. Businessmen would find one of those chairs, grab a cigar and the Sun. I loved going there.
Bernie Wagenblast shared
Camden Station - Baltimore, Maryland - B&O
Ed Johnson shared

Joe Palmer commented on Charly's comment

1953 Baltimore East Quad @ 24,000

"The B&O Railroad left Camden Station in 1971 and sold the building to the Maryland Stadium Authority. Fortunately, the Maryland Stadium Authority integrated the building into the design for Camden Yards stadium and commissioned local architecture firm of Cho, Wilks, and Benn to restore the facade to its 1867 appearance. The Sports Legends Museum at Camden Yards occupied the building from 2005 up until October 2015 when the museum closed after failing to reach a lease agreement with the Maryland Stadium Authority." [BaltimoreHeritage]

Evidently the Babe Ruth Museum has expanded by using the Men's waiting room in the depot. Just the central part with its 185' (56m) tower was built in 1857.  [BabeRuthMuseum]

A lot of work was needed to restore it to its 1867 appearance. This was the appearance in 1982.
navpooh, 1982
[This web page has several interior photos of the station.]


Baltimore & Ohio Ellicott City Station Museum posted
During Black History Month, the Baltimore and Ohio Ellicott City Station Museum is focusing on the history on Black Americans and Railroads. Throughout the 19th and early 20th century, during the era of ‘Jim Crow’ Segregation, Black passengers would routinely face discrimination whilst traveling on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.  In 1904, the state of Maryland passed a law stating that all railroad companies were required to provide separate cars or coaches for White and ‘Colored’ passengers.
In early 1912, the B&O remodeled the central waiting rooms of Camden Station in Baltimore. This remodel introduced signage denoting separate waiting rooms for White and ‘Colored’ passengers. Prior to the remodel, there was no formal segregation along racial lines for passengers in Camden Station. The Baltimore Afro American Newspaper speculated that the B&O introduced this Jim Crow signage as later that year the Democratic Party National Convention was meeting in Baltimore and these Jim Crow arrangements were purposely made to please the many Southern Democrats who would be travelling to Baltimore. 
The erection of this signage led to a great outcry amongst the African American citizens and groups of Baltimore including the meeting of the Colored Baptists Ministers of Baltimore and the Rev. L.J. Coppin, Bishop of the African Methodist Episcopal Church. J.E. Mooreland, the International Secretary of the YMCA was quoted in the Baltimore Afro-American Newspaper as saying: “I am surprised that the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad should so attempt to humiliate us. I travel a good portion of the year and almost always use the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. I am afraid that this company, which has heretofore been regarded as friendly to us, may lose a great deal of its colored passenger traffic.”
As a result, the President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Mr. Daniel Willard, personally intervened on the 10th of February 1912, when he made a surprise unannounced visit to Camden Station. After inspection of the new signage, he immediately ordered that the signs be taken down and passengers should be able to pass without having to see any signs announcing any discrimination. Willard also inquired who was directly responsible for the decision to put up this signage in the station so they may be held accountable.
This proved to be a great victory for the Black community of Baltimore as the public outcry and activism pressured the corporate leadership of the railroad to abandon the introduction of segregation in Camden Station. 
Image: Interior of Camden Station Waiting rooms circa 1968, library of Congress 
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Baltimore Memories posted
Camden Station view from Bromo Seltzer Tower - Baltimore,Md. circa 1911
Alfred Galindo: The steam generation plant to the right of the station was owned by BG&E then. I came to work for the company, Baltimore Thermal Energy, that bought it from BG&E. In 1990, on a Sunday morning, they imploded the smokestacks. We had a room at the holiday inn to watch it. It’s now second base at Camden Yards.
Chuck McAbee: Look at all the boxcars on the East and West Sides of the Warehouse - LCL Freight and Eutaw Street being used as a Team Track.
Jim Kelling shared
Camden Street station in Baltimore (B&O) view south
 
Digitally Zoomed

TW Wright posted six photos with the comment: "Some promo photos from when they started the piggyback program in Baltimore (Camden Yards I think). These are from my grandfather’s (C.M. Wrightson) collection."
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Dennis DeBruler commented on TW's post
This railyard is another example of a city having sport stadiums near their downtown because a passenger service railyard was abandoned. 1953 East Baltimore Quadrangle @ 1:24,000





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