Baltimore City Fire Museum

09/02/2026

04/27/2026

When the Baltimore Museum Burned at Calvert & Baltimore
In December 1873, Baltimoreans gathered at the corner of Calvert and Baltimore Streets to stare at the shell of a landmark. The old Baltimore Museum and Gallery of Fine Arts — later tied to theater and popular entertainment — had been badly damaged by fire.
This wasn’t today’s Baltimore Museum of Art, and it wasn’t the surviving Peale Museum building on Holliday Street. This was the old downtown museum-theater that once stood in the heart of Baltimore’s busiest commercial district, where museum exhibits, performances, storefronts, horses, wagons, and crowds all collided in one noisy city scene.
By the time this photograph was taken, the glory was gone — windows burned out, walls scarred, signs still clinging to the brick like memories. But for a moment, the camera caught old Baltimore standing still: muddy streets, horse-drawn traffic, telegraph poles, and a landmark trying to survive one more chapter.

04/22/2026

Baltimore City Fire History
On this date in Baltimore City Fire Department history. Hose 1 & 2 were placed in service in 1912.