the first named is now uncovered,) while a fourth, Gwynn's Falls, forms a portion of the city's boundary upon the west. A marsh which extended along the border of Jones' Falls, and formed the eastern boundary of the town as first laid out, has long since been filled up and built upon.
Notwithstanding these disadvantages, the unusual facilities for direct communication with the interior, the great security of the harbor, the remarkable healthfulness of the situation, (probably greatly contributed to by the excellent natural drainage,) the fertility of the surrounding country, the abundance of stone, lime, iron and timber in the immediate vicinity, and the many mill seats obtainable upon the neighboring streams, amply justify the sagacity shown in the selection of the site.
The town having been duly surveyed, and divided into sixty lots of about one acre each, an office was opened for purchasers on the 14th of January, 1730. It was stipulated in the terms of purchase that a house "covering at least four hundred square feet" should be erected within eighteen months; and no person was permitted to take up more than one lot during the first four months. The buyers appear to have been very few, and the lots went off but slowly;—so slowly indeed that some of them having remained untaken for seven years, reverted to the original owners of the land, according to the terms of the law under which the town was erected.
When the town was first laid out, there was scarcely a house standing upon the whole sixty acres; some few settlements had however been made in the neighborhood, and lands had been taken up as early as 1662. The first actual settler is said to have been Mr. David Jones, who, about the year 1680, having purchased some land, erected a house upon the north [or east] side "of the falls, which bear his name. Other houses were built in that neighborhood, and in 1732 the settlement was erected into a town by the name of Jones-Town, comprising ten acres of land, and separated from Baltimore-Town by the falls and the marsh, of which mention has already been made. In 1743 the two towns were united, and the name of Baltimore given to both, and in 1747 the intermediate territory, comprising eighteen acres was added to the town. On account of the older settlement in that locality, Jones-Town was generally called " Old-Town," and the name is still applied to that portion of the city which occupies the site of the ancient town. In 1730, William Fell, a ship-carpenter, settled upon the point one mile southeast from the town upon the outer basin. In 1773, although at that time a long stretch of vacant country lay between, the point, which had then become a flourishing settlement, was added to the town. Like " Old-Town," it has retained its ancient name, being still called, after its first settler, " Fell's Point." Whetstone Point, on the south side of the basin, upon the extreme end of which Fort McHenry is situated, and which now forms a part of the city, was made a town as early as 1706. From these separate towns and settlements the city has grown up. They have for many years been united, not only in name, but by unbroken lines of buildings which cover all the
