Then and Now photos: Johns Hopkins' Wyman Park Building
The Wyman Park Building on the campus of Johns Hopkins University was originally the Baltimore Marine Hospital, built in 1934.
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Retro Baltimore Trivia: Where did Baltimore’s nickname “Charm City” come from?
Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. Put your best guess in the “answer” field and hit “submit.” Or comment on Instagram: @retrobaltimore. If you’d like to be recognized for a correct...
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Then and Now photos: Historic Dundalk
Dundalk’s Shipping Place is the commercial heart of the old neighborhood. The pair of brick commercial buildings, the Dunkirk and the Dunleer, were built in 1929 and 1930.
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When City first clashed with Poly on the gridiron
The football teams of Baltimore City College and Baltimore Polytechnic Institute will meet on Nov. 2 at Morgan State University in what’s being billed as their 130th annual clash. The game, for Baltimoreans, had been a Thanksgiving Day tradition for decades until the date was changed in 1993. But...
This Day in History
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More on The DarkroomThen-and-now pictures from Retro Baltimore
Baltimore and the surrounding area sure has changed a lot in its centuries-long history. But many traditions and landmarks from decades ago are still around today, give or take a few variations.More
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'No place to run': Loch Raven Reservoir's forgotten UFO, 60 years later
Around midnight on Oct. 26, 1958, Alvin Cohen and Phillip Small were taking a drive by Loch Raven Reservoir in Towson when they said a great, iridescent, egg-shaped object appeared above a bridge. The young men inched closer and the car stopped dead — no headlights, no engine, no ignition, as if...
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Retro Baltimore Trivia: How did Baltimore beer Colt 45 get its name?
Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. Here’s last week’s trivia: QUESTION: How did Baltimore beer Colt 45 get its name? ANSWER: It’s named not after the handgun, but rather after...
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When Sears came to Baltimore
In 1937, neighbors protested the construction of a new Sears, Roebuck & Co. store on Harford Road and North Avenue, fearing it would bring traffic jams and lower property values to what was then a residential stretch of Northeast Baltimore. The store opened over residents’ objections the following...
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Retro Baltimore Trivia: What popular former Oriole shares a name with a famous 19th-century explorer?
Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. Here’s last week’s trivia: QUESTION: What popular former Oriole player shares a name with a famous 19th-century explorer? ANSWER: Boog Powell,...
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In 1986, every vote really counted in this Anne Arundel County election
First he was winning by 153 votes. Then he was winning by three votes. Then he was losing by 1 vote. And when it was all over… The election of 1986 proved quite the roller-coaster ride for Anne Arundel County’s Donald E. Lamb, a candidate for the House of Delegates from District 30, which included...
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Retro Baltimore Trivia: How did the Baltimore oriole (the actual bird, that is) get its name?
Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. Here’s last week’s trivia: QUESTION: How did the Baltimore oriole (the actual bird, that is) get its name? ANSWER: The bird got its name from...
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When Brooks Robinson took the game to a higher plane
No matter that 48 years have passed since the 1970 World Series. For those privy to Brooks Robinson’s performance that October, the memories endure. With glove and bat, the Orioles third baseman dominated the five-game victory over Cincinnati and made his pitch for the Hall of Fame. Time and again,...
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Retro Baltimore Trivia: What Baltimore bar is named after an Edgar Allan Poe poem?
Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. Here’s last week’s trivia: QUESTION: What Baltimore bar is named after an Edgar Allan Poe poem? (Hint: It has nothing to do with a Raven.) ANSWER:...
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Scrapple, long a Maryland favorite, has graced many a Baltimore kitchen table
Detractors feel that scrapple, the fried meat pudding augmented with corn meal, is the ultimate 1930s Depression food. A 1934 ad in The Sun may confirm this: “Let's eat. Fried scrapple and hominy. It's only thirteen cents.” This dish was then being offered by Baltimore’s Oriole cafeterias, a small...
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Retro Baltimore Trivia: Where was Baltimore's outdoor box lacrosse facility?
Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. Here’s last week’s trivia: QUESTION: Indoor lacrosse is synonymous with box lacrosse as it is played in an enclosed and smaller surface. But...
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New book documents the lesser-traveled Baltimore streetcar lines
Bernard J. Sachs, a longtime member of the Baltimore Streetcar Museum, in his recently published book, “Baltimore’s Picturesque Jerkwaters: Historic Neighborhoods, Notorious Beer Gardens, Serene Lakeside Pavilions, Beachsides by the Bay, Mills in the Valley & To Every Corner of the Metropolis,”...
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When World War I and the Spanish flu turned Fort McHenry into one of the country's largest hospitals
One hundred years ago at Fort McHenry, commemorating the rockets’ red glare of the War of 1812 was probably the furthest thing from people’s minds. That’s because the fort, which had so valiantly defended Baltimore when the British were assaulting its shores, was in the midst of another battle...
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Retro Baltimore Trivia
Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. Here’s last week’s trivia: QUESTION: Who was the Orioles winning pitcher the night they clinched the American League East title in 2014? ANSWER:...
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Retro Baltimore Trivia: What member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band grew up in Montgomery County?
Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. Put your best guess in the “answer” field and hit “submit.” Or comment on Instagram: @retrobaltimore. If you’d like to be recognized for a correct...
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How a 1933 hurricane shaped Ocean City
For years, citizens of Ocean City had lobbied the federal government to build an inlet connecting the brackish waters of the Sinepuxent Bay with the Atlantic. It would be a boon for the sleepy surfside town, they argued, allowing a safe port for fishing as well as a distribution point for crabs,...