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By Jacques Kelly

September 11, 2008
As a pianist played "200 Candles," a roomful of Enoch Pratt Free Library fans toasted the bicentennial of the benefactor who gave away his millions, as he put it, "for all, rich and poor, without distinction of race or color."

Known best today as the man who envisioned and financed Baltimore's public library system, Enoch Pratt was born Sept. 10, 1808. As evidenced by the party given him yesterday, his name is not forgotten.

"I used this library to help me get me through elementary school, junior high school and high school," said Mayor Sheila Dixon, the keynote speaker at the event staged at the Pratt central library on Cathedral Street. "As a child, the library was so huge to me."

She described Pratt as "clearly ahead of his time," a man who had the "foresight to create a library for all people to thrive. ... He knew we must leave the world better than as we found it."

The event was cast as the start of a citywide celebration of the 19th-century philanthropist. Events focused on Pratt's library, his church and his home, all within a couple of blocks of one another in downtown Baltimore's Mount Vernon neighborhood.

Duff Goldman, owner of Charm City Cakes and the host of the Food Network's Ace of Cakes, donated a glazed confection. It was a flour-and-sugar rendition of a book stack that included H.L. Mencken's The American Language, Edgar Allan Poe's "The Black Cat," Anne Tyler's Breathing Lessons and Laura Lippman's Every Secret Thing.

"I'm a voracious reader and love the Pratt Library," Goldman said.

Library officials lent old photographs of Pratt to the bakers, who fashioned a 6-inch-high likeness of the founder. They dressed him in a formal suit and a birthday hat. He stood atop the quartet of volumes.

Similarly attired, in tailcoat, vest and pocket watch, was Vincent Fitzpatrick, a Pratt staff member and Loyola Blakefield faculty member. He read the address Pratt gave at the library's 1886 opening. The short speech, read verbatim, contained only seven paragraphs and ended with the phrases, "My work is finished. I am satisfied."

Pratt staff member Gavin Brown composed a wordless composition, "200 Candles," which he played during the ceremonies. Later in the day, organist James R. Houston similarly saluted Pratt at the First Unitarian Church, Charles and Franklin streets, where Pratt and his wife, Maria Louisa, were members. Pratt, who worshiped at the church for 65 years, donated its 1893 pipe organ. Its parish house, which Pratt helped build, has been named in his honor.

"The Govans branch library made me a lifetime reader and a lover of libraries," said Senator Theatre owner Tom Kiefaber, who attended the party. "Baltimore has lost its network of neighborhood movie houses, but at least we have our branch libraries."

Wednesday was also the birthday of Pratt trustee Christine Sarbanes, wife of former U.S. Sen. Paul S. Sarbanes, who both attended the festivities.

"We bought our house for its location near a Pratt branch in Waverly," Christine Sarbanes said. "It was in easy walking distance, and we'd walk home with an armful of books," she recalled.

Enoch Pratt was born in North Middleborough, Mass. As a young man, he learned to make nails for his father's hardware business and moved to Baltimore in 1831. He amassed multiple fortunes and invested heavily in Chesapeake Bay steamships, local banks and the steam railroad that joined Baltimore and Philadelphia. He died Sept. 17, 1896.

He lived at a Park Avenue and Monument Street home, which is today part of the Maryland Historical Society, where an exhibit, The Legacy of Enoch Pratt, opened yesterday.

After the formal ceremonies ended, library visitors examined Pratt treasures such as the founder's iron inkwell. An accompanying caption said that he "always cut his own pens from a supply of long goose quills" and that he probably used ink from this holder to sign the check for the library gift to the city.

The exhibit, housed on the library's second floor, begins with an Enoch Pratt quotation: "For 15 years I have studied the library question, and wondered what I would do with my money so that I could do the most good. ... I soon made up my mind that I would not fund a college for a few rich. The library shall be for all, rich and poor, without distinction of race or color."