The Maryland Women’s Heritage Center at 39 West Lexington Street is located on the first floor of the historic Baltimore Gas and Electric Company Building in a store-front gallery and exhibit space donated to the Center by David Hillman, CEO of Southern Management Corporation. Originally completed in 1916, the former Baltimore Gas & Electric Company headquarters building was carefully preserved and restored as a mixed-use development including apartments and offices. Its 22 stories rise in majestic neoclassical style, capped by large, arched windows on the top two floors. At the fourth floor, the façade is graced by allegorical figures or goddesses representing Knowledge, Light, Heat, and Power.
The corner of Lexington and Liberty Streets is particularly important in the history of the Maryland suffrage movement as the location of a huge open air rally organized by Edith Houghton Hooker (1879-1949). A Buffalo native, Hooker arrived in Baltimore as one of the first women accepted into the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. In 1909, she established the Just Government League of Maryland, a local affiliate of the National American Woman Suffrage Association, and edited and published Maryland Suffrage News from 1912 through the ratification of the 19^th Amendment in 1920.

From its beginning as the Maryland Women’s History Project in 1980, the Maryland Women’s Heritage Center has worked to preserve the past, understand the present, and shape the future by recognizing and sharing the experiences and contributions of Maryland women and girls of diverse backgrounds and regions. Their exhibits honor Maryland’s historical and contemporary renowned women and girls in the Maryland Women’s Hall of Fame, as well as highlighting those “Unsung Heroines” who have shaped their own families and communities. The Center serves as a resource with historical information on Maryland women and a gathering place to hold workshops, forums, and other special events.

Our Why the West Side Matters series is produced with the assistance of Baltimore Heritage volunteer Sally Otto. Read our last post  in the series on 200 Years of Iron Work at G. Krug & Son.

G. Krug and Son, now including daughters as well as sons, opened on Saratoga Street in 1810. One of Baltimore’s oldest businesses and the nation’s oldest continuously operating blacksmith’s shop, G. Krug has been an anchor on the West Side of Downtown for over over 200 years employing hundreds of skilled workers, serving as a retail destination for artistic wrought iron work, and reflecting the unique character of historic businesses on the West Side. G. Krug and Sons is one of the many reasons why the West Side matters to the people of Baltimore.

Originally operated as the blacksmith shop of Augustus Scwanka, Gustav Krug joined the business in 1848, working his way up to journeyman, foreman, partner and then purchased the shop in 1871. At one point, the shop supported 100 artisans and could proudly boast that virtually every building in Baltimore contained something made in the shop, even if that something was only a nail. The business has remained in the skilled hands of his descendants ever since maintaining a dedication to fine craftsmanship G. Krug & Son is one of the few companies left in Baltimore that can claim their ancestors helped in building Baltimore.
The company remains dedicated to providing their customers with ironwork that is beautiful, durable and represents a value that will stand the test of time. You can view a great gallery of a few of their past projects on their website or take a look at photos from a Behind the Scenes Tour of the shop back in 2009. Today the company is run by 5th generation Krugs, Peter and Stephen, who operate the business with the same dedication to craftsmanship and customer satisfaction as their forefathers. Today, Stephen’s daughter Alexandra, and Peter’s son David work in the company and are already skilled in their family’s trade.

Our Why the West Side Matters series is produced with the assistance of Baltimore Heritage volunteer Sally Otto. Read our first post  in the series on Read’s Drug Store and Baltimore’s Civil Rights Heritage.