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About Baltimore
Although its proud natives may sometimes feel overshadowed by the attention paid to the power and politics of nearby Washington, D.C., Baltimore is important in its own right as the economic and educational center of Maryland. Founded in 1729 by an act of the Provincial Assembly, the city was incorporated in 1797 with a population of 20,000. During the War of 1812 the British unsuccessfully attacked Baltimore, and Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star-Spangled Banner" while watching the bombardment from a warship anchored in Baltimore Harbor. Baltimore's history has been a series of firsts. The Mount Clare Station at W. Pratt and Poppleton streets was the starting point for the country's first railroad, the Baltimore and Ohio, as well as the country's first railroad freight and passenger station. The first telegraphic communication--"What hath God wrought?"--was received in 1844. The nation's oldest Catholic cathedral, the Basilica of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, is at Mulberry and Cathedral streets; buried in the crypt is John Carroll, the country's first archbishop. Lloyd Street Synagogue, near Lombard, was the first synagogue to be built in Maryland. Vision and vitality thrive in today's Baltimore. Johns Hopkins University, several medical schools and such colleges as the Peabody Conservatory of Music and the Maryland Institute College of Art are among the institutions that provide the city with a stimulating and innovative learning environment. Baltimore's continuing urban renewal program is one of the most successful in the nation, and many of the city's omnipresent marble-stooped row houses have been restored or remodeled. Striking modern buildings, overhead walkways, fountains and plazas distinguish Charles Center, Baltimore's downtown business district. One Charles Center, a 24-story skyscraper of bronze glass designed by Mies van der Rohe, dominates the complex. The Inner Harbor is an example of the pride Baltimoreans take in their city. Once home to decaying factories and warehouses, the harbor is now a showplace that attracts throngs of weekend visitors. Gleaming office buildings, the five-story National Aquarium in Baltimore and the glass-enclosed pavilions of Harborplace rise from the water's edge. Still a major port for grain, coal and spices, the harbor also hosts many ethnic festivals and is the permanent home of the last Civil War-era vessel still afloat, the USS Constellation. Baltimore's ethnic diversity and history are reflected in such venerable neighborhoods as Little Italy, Little Lithuania and H.L. Mencken's beloved Union Square. Offering a fine view of the Inner Harbor is the historic Federal Hill area, the site of a picnic where 4,000 citizens celebrated the ratification of the Constitution in 1788. Fells Point is an old seaport neighborhood with an international flair. , a tribute to the thousands of Polish officers executed under Stalin at three Soviet Union concentration camps stands at the center of the traffic circle at Aliceanna and President streets. One panel describes the massacres and another explains the memorial's design.
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