Canton Timeline
Copyright 2001
by John Cain
| Year | Day/Month | Event |
| 1782 | Baltimore city annexes area west of Harris Creek | |
| 1785 | August | Capt. John O'Donnell brings first shipload of China goods to Baltimore & settles here |
| 1785 | October 16 | O'Donnell marries Sarah Chew-Elliot of Fells Point |
| 1786 | O'Donnell buys 11 acres east of Harris Creek and calls it Canton | |
| 1790 | O'Donnell household in Baltomore County (Canton) shows up in first U.S. census of 1790 | |
| 1790 | May 1 | First of seven children born to John & Sarah O'Donnell |
| 1792 | Columbus O'Donnell born, eldest son of John & Sarah O'Donnell | |
| 1796 | O'Donnell has acquired 1,941 acres | |
| 1797 | September 7 | U.S.F. Constellation launched at David Stoddard's shipyard on Harris Creek, first ship of U.S. Navy |
| 1801 | Smallpox treatment center and quarantine center built at Lazaretto Point | |
| 1803 | Betsy Patterson meets Prince Jerome Bonaparte (Napoleon's brother) at O'Donnell estate in Canton | |
| 1803 | Christmas eve | Patterson & Bonaparte married by Archbishop Carroll at, some believe, O'Donnell estate |
| 1805 | October 4 | O'Donnell dies at age 56, buried in Westminster churchyard, Egyptian style tomb near Poe's first grave |
| 1808 | O'Donnell's Canton plantation advertised for rent | |
| 1814 | September 12-14 | Batter of 3 cannon at Lazaretto Point help with defense of city as British ships bombard Ft. McHenry |
| 1817 | February 3 | Maryland General Assembly passes bill moving Baltimore city line to East Avenue (middle of street) |
| 1820 | Racetrack built on north side of Boston and Clinton sts., closes few years later | |
| 1823 | Potter's Course, another racetrack built south of Boston and Clinton, later known as Kendall track | |
| 1828 | December | Columbus O'Donnell, William Patterson, Peter Cooper, et al. form the Canton Company |
| 1828-29 | Peter Cooper forms Canton Iron Works at Boston & Hudson sts. with rolling mills & kilns | |
| 1831 | 34-foot high Lazaretto Lighthouse built near southern end of Clinton St. with detached keeper's house | |
| 1835 | Canton Company stock becomes hot commodity on Wall Street thanks to speculator Daniel Drew | |
| 1836 | Most streets in Canton laid out but not many constructed | |
| 1840 | May 4 | National convention of the Whig Young Men held at Kendall track to hear Henry Clay & Daniel Webster endorse William Henry Harrison for U.S. president; 20,000 men marched from Baltimore & Charles sts. |
| 1844 | Another Whig convention held at Kendall track, Henry Clay nominee for U.S. president | |
| 1846 | Horace Abbott buys Canton Iron WOrks and expands plant | |
| 1847 | Fall | Canton Methodist Church, first church in Canton, dedicated on Clinton St. between Boston & Toone |
| 1848 | Booz Bros. Shipyard established at Harris Creek & Kenwood Avenue (site of Shipyard Apts) | |
| 1850 | Baltimore Copper Smelting Co. formed in 1600 block S. Clinton St., making 6 million pounds by 1860 | |
| 1851 | Kendall track sold for $242.50/acre, total 112 acres | |
| 1853 | Horse-drawn omnibus becomes first public transit in Canton between Franlin & Eutaw & Kendall track | |
| 1854 | St. Bridget's (Brigid's) Catholic Church opens at Canton (Elwood) Ave. and Hudson St. | |
| ca. late 1850s | Wendell Bollman opens Patapsco Bridge & Iron Works on Clinton St. below Boston St. | |
| 1859 | Canton Market opens at O'Donnell and Potomac sts. (site of current park) | |
| 1860 | George Pabst opens small brewery at SE corner of O'Donnell & Baylis sts. | |
| 1861 | Fort Marshall built by Union Army to keep Baltimore city from joining Confederates (site of Sacred Heart Catholic Church & school) (additional forts are built in & around city including Federal Hill fort) | |
| 1861 | Fr. James Gibbons assigned as pastor of St. Brigid's Catholic Church six weeks after ordination | |
| ca. 1861-1863 | Abbott Iron Works produces thick iron plates for Civil War ironclad U.S.S. Monitor | |
| 1861-1865 | Wives of officers at Fort Marshall housed at Altevogt's Tavern, NW corner Conkling & O'Donnell sts. | |
| 1862 | Fr. Gibbobns assigned to St. Lawrence O'Toole (Our Lady of Good Counsel) Church in Locust Pt.; he rows across the river to serve both churches | |
| 1864 | Fr. Gibbons builds St. Brigid's 3-story rectory next to church on Canton (Ellwood) Avenue | |
| 1865 | Welsh copper workers build Presbyterian church on Toone St. under direction of Rev. J. Wynne Jones | |
| 1865 | Baltimore Gaslight Co. builds tank at Clinton and Cardiff sts. to distribute gas to homes & businesses | |
| 1869 | J.S. Young Co. opens on Boston St. producing industrial licorice, dyes & tanning extracts | |
| 1870-1885 | Lazaretto Fertilizer, Patapsco Guano, Maryland Fertilizer, Susquehanna Fertilizer, Davison Chemical, Baugh & Sons & Chemical Co. of Canton, open fertilizer plants on lower Clinton St. | |
| 1870s | Many row houses build for workers and families north of O'Donnell St. | |
| 1870 | Public School No. 1, known as Kenny school, built on 1st St. (Highland Ave.) between Toone & Elliott | |
| 1872 | Skilled Irish & Polish workers begin immigration to work in Canton factories | |
| 1872 | Wunder's brewery opens at NE corner of Conkling & O'Donnell sts., becomes National (Mr. Boh) | |
| 1873 | March 25 | Columbus O'Donnell dies at 81, buried at Greenmount Cemetery |
| 1873 | April | John Gardner opens grain elevator & warehouse at south end of Canton Co. property |
| 1873 | Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic Church founded on Ft. Marshall site to serve the growing German Catholic population of Canton and Highlandtown, first church at Highland & Foster aves. | |
| 1874 | Edward Renneburg & Sons begins making equipment for oyster and other canning businesses | |
| 1874 | German United Evangelical Church dedicated at East Avenue and Dillon Street | |
| 1874 | October | Holy Evangelists Episcopal Church dedicated at Potomac and Dillon sts. |
| 1876 | Christian Gehl opens small brewery on SE corner Conkling & O'Donnell, becomes Gunther's in 1880 | |
| 1876 | Convent for Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholic School built on Foster Avenue | |
| 1877 | December 14 | Baltimore United Oil formed under sponsorship of Standard Oil Co. |
| 1878 | Baker-Whitely opens coal company in 2200 block S. Clinton St. to supply ships in Baltimore harbor | |
| 1878 | March 30 | First telephone in Canton installed at Booz Bros. Shipyard, Boston St. and Kenwood Ave. |
| late 1870s | Rev. J. Wynne Jones opens reading/recreation rooms (Workingmen's Institute) at NW corner of Elliott St. & Ellwood Ave. because men work 12 or more hours/day & have nothing to do but drink. Enoch Pratt is on the board of directors | |
| 1880 | Booz Bros. moves across the harbor to foot of Federal Hill | |
| 1881-1882 | Company No. 7, Canton firehouse built at SW corner Balylis & Toone sts., and housed police station | |
| 1883 | Norton Tin Can Co. of Chicago acquires Abbott Iron Works to make tin cans for canning industry | |
| 1883-4 | 3-story houses for Welsh copper workers built along 1600 block S. Clinton St.; known as Copper Row | |
| 1884 | November 30 | New Canton Methodist Church dedicated at Canton (Ellwood) Ave. and Dillon St. |
| 1886 | February 15 | Canton Library opens at Canton (Ellwood) Ave. & O'Donnell St., first branch of Enoch Pratt Free Library, architect Charles Carson also designed 3046 O'Donnell St. (key hole house), Mt. Vernon Methodist Church, Goucher Hall next to Lovely Lane Methodist, 1880s wing of Evergreen House |
| 1887 | May 15 | Canton & other Baltimore County residents vote against extending city line eastward from East Ave. |
| 1890 | January 29 | Messiah English Lutheran Church begins in chapel on O'Donnell St. (site of senior housing) |
| 1891 | Canton Congregational Church opens at Highland Ave. and Elliott St. | |
| 1892 | Baltimore United Oil Co. sold to Standard Oil Co. (John D. Rockefeller) | |
| 1892 | Canton National Bank founded at East Ave. & Elliott St. (many merges over years, now Carrollton) | |
| 1983 | July 29 | Baltimore's first bathing beach opens at 2nd Ave. (Cardiff St.) & river, known as Baptizing Shore |
| 1895 | Norton Tin Plate & Can Co., Boston St., builds new gabled manufacturing plant (currently DAP building) | |
| 1896 | Rev. William Batz becomes pastor of German United Evangelical Church, East Ave. & Dillon St., dies in 1926, but people admire him so much church has been unofficially known as Batz's Church since | |
| 1899 | Present Holey Evangelists Episcopal Church opens at Potomac & Dillon Sts. | |
| 1900 | March 1 | Messiah English Lutheran Church dedicates new granite church building at Potomac & O'Donnell sts. |
| 1901 | March | American Can Co. formed, takes over Norton Tin Plate & Can Co. at Boston & Hudson sts. |
| 1902 | June 16 | Fire Engine Co. No. 2 opens in new building at Linwood Ave. & O'Donnell St. |
| 1902 | November 9 | St. Casimir Catholic Church opens on Lakewood Ave. at O'Donnell St. for growing Polish population |
| 1904 | American Can Co. builds large warehouse along Boston St. next to 1895 gabled building | |
| 1906 | Canton Railroad begun by Canton Co. connecting businesses to all major railroads in city | |
| 1908 | Present Sacred Heart of Jesus Catholoc Church building constructed at oster Ave. & Conkling St. | |
| 1911 | Potomac Poultry Food Co. opens on Keith Ave. to convert oyster shells to poultry food | |
| 1912 | Renneburg & Sons moves to Boston St. and Lakewood Ave. (site of Shipyard Apts.) | |
| 1913-1914 | William Oktavec begins painting window screens popular all over Canton for decades | |
| 1914 | Tin Decorating Co. started by American Tobacco Co., world's largest producer -- 4 million tins/day/1937 | |
| 1916 | Lazaretto Lighthouse first in Maryland to be electrified | |
| 1918 | March 29 | Maryland General Assembly approves moving city line from East Avenue to present location |
| 1923 | American Can Co. builds flatiron building at intersection of Boston, Hudson and Montford | |
| 1926 | September 29 | Original Lazaretto Lighthouse demolished and new 39-foot high lighthouse opened |
| 1927 | New Renaissance-revival style St. Casimir's Catholic Church opens on Kenwood Ave. at O'Donnell St. with replica of altar from Basilica of St. Anthony's in Padua, Italy; Palmer, Willis, Lambdin architects | |
| 1928 | Canton Days published by Canton Company to commemorate its centenary | |
| 1929 | Penroad Corp., part of Pennsylvania RR, buys Canton Co.; Sen. Harry S Truman criticizes the sale | |
| Ca. 1941-1945 | Renneburg & Sons, Boston St. (site of Shipyard Apts.) makes foxhole covers during WW II | |
| 1943 | Canton Market closes | |
| 1946 | Rukert Terminals Corp. buys Lazaretto Point from Western Maryland RR for warehouse & piers | |
| 1947 | National Gypsum Co. opens wallboard production plant at 2300 S. Newkirk St. | |
| 1950 | July 27 | Canton Recreation Center opens in former polics station at Baylis and Toone sts. |
| 1951 | May 28 | Canton playfield opens, Boston St. between Ellwood & East aves. (site of Du Burns Soccer Arena) |
| 1954 | August | Second Lazaretto Lighthouse decommissioned |
| 1957 | Esso/Standard Oil Copmpany stops making gasoline at Boston Street refinery | |
| 1957 | Present United Evangelical Church building constructed at East Ave. and Dillon St.; Civil War artifacts found during construction | |
| 1957 | November 29 | Baltimore Harbor Tunnel opens, 1.4 miles ling, $138 million to build |
| 1959 | Hamm's Brewery buys Gunther's Brewery, Conkling St., between O'Donnell & Boston sts. | |
| 1960 | July 1928 | Canton Company becomes wholly-owned subsidiary of International Mining Co. |
| 1962 | September 11 | Lehigh Portland Cement Co. buys property on S. Clinton St., builds silos & opens distribution center |
| 1964 | Schaefer's Brewery buys Hamm's (former Gunther's) Brewery, Conkling St. from O'Donnell to Boston | |
| 1966 | January | City Council passes condemnation bill for construction of I-83 expressway along Boston St. |
| 1967 | Revere Copper & Brass Co. closes its sheet & tube manufacturing plant on S. Clinton St. (Hale site) | |
| 1967 | Present St. Brigid's Catholic Church building constructed at Ellwood Ave. and Hudson St. | |
| 1968 | Baltimore city demolishes 215 houses between Boston & Elliott sts. & Linwood and Lakewood aves. | |
| 1968 | Gloria Aull & Barbara Mikulski start Southeast Council Against the Road (SCAR) to protest construction of East-west Expressway through Canton, Fells Pt., Federal Hill & other communities | |
| 1971 | November | Barbara Mikulski elected to City Council |
| 1970s | City spends over $15 million to rebuild Lakewood Avenue storm drain | |
| 1975 | American Smelting & Refining Co. closes copper plant on S. Clinton St. (industrial park site), covered 45 acres, emplyed up to 12,000 workers, owned by Guggenheim's: i.e. Guggenheim Museum, etc. | |
| 1975 | National Brewery closes Canton plant, production continues in Linthicum next to beltway & I-895 | |
| 1978 | Gunther, Hamm's Schaefer Brewery closes | |
| 1978 | Historic Canton by Norman G. Rukert published by Bodine & Associates, Baltimore | |
| 1978 | September | Canton Market roof moved to playfield near Toone and Robinson sts. |
| 1980 | January 29 | Canton Historic District added to National Register of Historic Places |
| 1980 | John O'Donnell statue in O'Donnell Square dedicated, Tilden Streett, sculptor | |
| 1983 | Anchorage Townhouses, 40 three-story houses, completed; first new waterfront houses built in Baltimore for over 100 years; initial asking prices $152,500-$172,500 | |
| 1984 | J.S. Young property sold for Baltimore Marina Center development proposal, it flops, more plans follow | |
| 1985 | Lazaretto Lighthouse re-built in memory of Norman G. Rukert | |
| 1985 | March | Hatton Senior Center opens at Fait and Linwood aves. |
| 1985 | November 23 | Fort McHenry Tunnel opens, 1.5 miles long, 5 1/2 years to build, cost $750 million |
| 1986 | February 15 | Canton Library celebrates 100th anniversary with gala re-enactment of original 1886 opening program and publication of Canton Centennial Cookbook; 1,000 copies sell out quickly |
| 1987 | Spring | Tindeco Wharf Apartments, Boston Street, completed & occupied; 240 rental units |
| 1987 | Spring | Shipyard Apartments (former Renneburg Co.), 2639 Boston St., completed; 56 rentals |
| 1987 | April | North Shore at the Anchorage, 2225 Boston St., proposed 120 condo units and 12 pier houses, 1 bedroom $142,000 up to 3 bedrooms $302,000; pier houses $1/2-$1 million, site of former Volunteers of America halfway house for newly released prisoners (before that Gibbs Canning Co.) (never built) |
| 1987 | State of Maryland buys Canton Railroad for $875,000 | |
| 1987 | Construction begins on 124 Canton Square townhouses (site demolished for East-west Expressway) | |
| 1987 | Anchorage Tower, 2515 Boston St., completed; 95 luxury condos at $110,000-$399,000 | |
| 1987 | October | Canton Nursing Center opens, Boston St. between Ellwood & Decker aves. (several owners since) |
| 1987 | October | Community activists form Waterfront Coalition to have local input into Canton/Fells Pt. planning process; asks for progressive development |
| 1987 | November | Waterfront Coalition releases its Canton Guide Plan because city has no master plan for development |
| 1987 | December 12 | City Council passes bill creating PUD (Planned Unit Development) for J.S. Young/Baltimore International Yachting Center property and bills to permit high density B-1-3 zoning with 90-foot height permitted on 2215-2313 Boston St. lot (across from Sip & Bite) and 2315-2325 Boston St. (next to Anchorage townhouses). Properties have since been combined & are being developed |
| 1988 | Spring | Waterfront Coalition asks city to develop a master plan for waterfront development in Canton/Fells Pt. |
| 1988 | Spring | American Can Company closes lithography ovens, the last operations at the 87-year-old plant |
| 1988 | August 31 | Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, a federal agency, notifies Baltimore City that re-development of the historic American Can buildings "should select a development proposal responsive to citizen input," regarding adaptive re-use of the buildings after the Waterfront Coalition & other community residents reject demolition of site |
| 1989 | Atlantic & Southweatern Broom Company, Baylis & Boston sts., closes | |
| 1989 | October | New York developer Michael Swerdlow abandons plans for re-development of American Can (200,000 square feet commercial, 300 condo units) and asks city to allow demolition of the buildings. Advisory Council on Historic Preservation tells city that if a demolition permit is issued, the city will lose $8.5 million UDAG earmarked for the site. |
| 1989 | Fall | City passes Urban Renewal Plan for Canton/Fells Pt., ignoring community requests for minor changes affecting height and density of development proposals |
| 1989-1990 | Canton Cove, 2901 Boston St., 88 condo units opens, prices $124,000-$450,000 (former factory) | |
| 1990 | Canton Waterfront Park and Korean War Memorial dedicated in 3000-3500 blocks Boston Street replacing a railroad yard & cargo pier closed many years ago (car float is only remaining structure) | |
| 1993 | The Broom Factory re-opens with very affordable commercial loft spaces | |
| 1998 | March | DAP (caulk, spackling, adhesive and window glaze maker) opens world headquarters (in 1895 Norton Tin Can Co. building) and is first tenant at The Can Company, re-developed American Can site |
| 1998 | November 12 | Bibelot Bookstore and Donna's Coffee Bar open at The Can Company |
| 1999 | Renovation of existing houses north of O'Donnell Street for new homeowners dramatically increases | |
| 2001 | Bibelot Bookstore and Donna's Coffee Bar close at The Can Company |
The Canton Community Association is a non-profit, volunteer organization that strives to enhance our community for neighbors, businesses and visitors.