Page:MonumentalCity1873.djvu/19

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14
The Monumental City,

spaces by which they were once separated; so that only the traditionary names are left to distinguish the old localities.

For some years after its foundation, Baltimore gave little promise of its future greatness. In 1752 a rough sketch of the town, as it appeared from Federal Hill, was made by Mr. John Moale. A reduced cut of this sketch as corrected and completed by Mr. Daniel Bowly, is given on the opposite page. Though twenty-two years had elapsed since its foundation, the town then numbered but twenty-five houses, including a school-house and a church. The church (St. Paul's) which is represented in the sketch upon the highest point in the town, was begun by the members of the Church of England in 1731, but was not completed until 1744. Its successor, the present church at the corner of Charles and Saratoga streets, occupies a site very near that upon which the original building stood. But four of the houses in the town at that time were built of brick, and for these the bricks were imported from England; as the inhabitants had not yet discovered that directly under their feet was the clay for making the finest bricks in the world. Judging from the number of houses, the population of the town could not then have been more than 200; but in the Gentlemen's Magazine the population of the county for the same year is given as 17,233.

The only two sea-going vessels then owned in the town, are represented in the sketch. They were the sloop "Baltimore," belonging to Mr. William Lux, and the brig "Philip and Charles," belonging to Mr. Nicholas Rogers. The latter was the first square-rigged vessel owned here. To the right of the picture appears the first Tobacco Inspection Warehouse, the importance of that product of the Province, which at that time was its principal article of export, having already given occasion for the inspection system which prevails to this day.

The effect of the war, which raged shortly after this period between the English and French settlements in this country, tended to promote the growth of Baltimore by disposing the inhabitants to remain at the old settlements rather than penetrate into the sparsely inhabited regions in the interior. After the defeat of the English forces under General Braddock at Fort Du Quesne in 1755, the Indian allies of the French, having passed Forts Cumberland and Frederick, penetrated to within eighty miles of Baltimore. So great was the consternation created in the town by raids in the neighborhood, that the women and children were put, for greater safety, upon the vessels lying in the harbor, and a strong fence of palisades was ordered to be constructed, encircling the town. The successful issue of the campaign of 1758 and the capture of Fort Du Quesne having caused the fears excited by these incursions to be allayed, the defences soon fell a prey to the more needy portion of the community, who found in the palisades a convenient supply of fire-wood.

In the year 1756 a considerable addition was made to the population of the town by the arrival of a band of French refugees from Nova Scotia, (then called Acadia,) of which the English had obtained possession.