The city of Baltimore will formally name a courthouse after the late U.S. Rep. Elijah Cummings in the first half of 2020.
Democratic Mayor Bernard C. “Jack” Young unveiled renderings Friday of bronze plaques that will be affixed to the exterior of Courthouse East of the Baltimore Circuit Court. One includes an image and biography of the congressman, and the other reads “Elijah E. Cummings Courthouse.”
The powerful Democratic congressman and civil rights champion died Oct. 17 at age 68. He had represented Maryland’s 7th Congressional District, which encompasses a large portion of the city of Baltimore, as well as areas of Baltimore and Howard counties, since 1996.
Cummings graduated from the University of Maryland School of Law and practiced in Baltimore.
"Elijah was a son of Baltimore. He was proud of Baltimore," his widow, Maya Rockeymoore Cummings, said during the unveiling ceremony. "His career as a legal professional started in this courthouse."
Cummings’ career spanned decades in Maryland politics. He rose through the ranks of the Maryland House of Delegates before winning his congressional seat in a special election to replace Kweisi Mfume, who left to lead the Baltimore-based NAACP. Cummings was re-elected in 2018 with 76% percent of the vote.
Rockeymoore Cummings, Mfume and 30 other candidates are vying in a special primary Feb. 4 for the Democratic nomination to run in a special April 28 election to fill the rest of Cummings’ term.
Young spokesman James Bentley said the plaques will be installed in the spring or early summer after the city receives approval from the U.S. Department of Interior because the courthouse is a federal building. It was originally a federal courthouse, and still contains a post office.
Architect Steve Ziger, whose firm designed the signs, said the building opened in 1932. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, the same year it became part of the Circuit Court.