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Baltimore County's History

Travel Through Time!

Prior to European Settlement Before the arrival of colonists, the Susquehannough lived in Baltimore County, using it mostly for a hunting ground.
1600s
1650s

Colonists first settled in Baltimore County during the 1650s. Baltimore County was much bigger back then than it is today. Back then it included present day Baltimore City, Cecil and Harford Counties, as well as parts of Carroll, Anne Arundel, Howard, and Kent Counties.

1700s
1731

Benjamin Banneker, America’s first African-American man of science, is born in Oella. Banneker mastered astronomy, mathematics, and city planning and helped design Washington D.C.

1776The Continental Congress moves to Baltimore for three months during the Revolutionary War.
1785Frederick, Reisterstown, and York Roads are selected as the first public turnpikes in Baltimore County. Turnpikes such as these would form the nucleus of future communities such as Catonsville, Reisterstown and Towson.
1800s
1814Baltimore County militiamen repel an assault by the British on Baltimore City during the War of 1812 at the Battle of North Point.
1854

Baltimore County and Baltimore City officially separate into two distinct areas.

1864Baltimore County sees its only combat of the Civil War when Confederate Major Harry Gilmor, a Baltimore County native, leads a raid on rail and telegraph lines running through Baltimore County.
1900s
1916

The First World War transforms Dundalk from a rural community to a growing suburb as it becomes a home for hundreds of workers at the new Bethlehem Steel Company Shipyards.

1929Glenn L. Martin opens an aircraft plant in Middle River. By 1940, the aircraft plant would employ more than 13,000 employees.
1941Baltimore County is a key center for industrial defense during World War II with the production of planes, steel and battleships at the Glenn L. Martin aircraft plant and the Bethlehem Steel Shipyards.
1956Baltimore County adopts a charter government, composed of a County Executive and a seven member County Council.
1963The “Old #8” streetcar, running the Catonsville to Towson line, is the last of Baltimore County’s trolley lines to be discontinued.
1968

Former Baltimore County Executive Spiro Agnew is elected Vice President of the United States.

1968A group that would come to be known as “the Catonsville Nine” protests the Vietnam War by stealing draft cards from the Maryland Draft Board in Catonsville and burns them in protest.
1995Baltimore County releases the first edition of the web site.
2000s
2002

Kenneth Oliver becomes the first African American elected to the Baltimore County Council.

2003Hurricane Isabel devastates the eastern side of Baltimore County.
2004Towson native Michael Phelps wins six gold medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
2004The Baltimore County Council passes the Renaissance Opportunity Legislation. This bill ensures that communities across the County will be involved in the development of neglected properties.


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Baltimore County, Maryland