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Fell's Point
Fell's Point is located in
Baltimore, Maryland, where it has become home to a large number of
coffee bars, shops, restaurants, music store and more than 120 pubs.
It was at one time, the location of the city's maritime history, but
now can boast of the biggest concentration of bars/pubs in the city,
and is one of the most famous city waterfront communities that
continues to be visited by many tourists. It is accessed by the
freeway, water taxis and numerous bus lines, also home to Irish,
Mexican-American and Polish people that have lived here for
centuries. During the last few decades, the area has been invaded by
middle to upper middle income families that has raised the values of
properties, and is one of the many places in and around the city
that have been put on the National Register of Historical Districts,
plus it was the first in the state. It was also added to the
National Register of Historical Places in 1969. The city was founded
in 1730 by William Fell, who had arrived here and became enamored by
the excellent deep waters and the closeness to large agriculture
centers and lush forests. Fell's Point soon became a shipbuilding
and commercial hub, that would be surveyed by William's son, who
then laid out the streets and began selling plots of land to be used
for homes, in 1763. The village grew fast and became incorporated
with Baltimore Town and Jones Town in 1797 that would become known
as Baltimore. It continued to grow, as well as get richer due to
tobacco, coffee and flour, during the 18th and 19th centuries. Many
of the first ships that were built for the United States Navy were
constructed in Fell's Point shipyards, and that included the USS
Constitution in 1797; although it would be more known for its
topsail schooners, often miscalled the Baltimore clippers, which had
become famous for their handling and speed. The ships would become
great blockade runners, and often used for privateers. The Pride of
Baltimore II is copied after the Chasseur, constructed by Thomas
Kemp, which would go on and become on of the most successful
privateers built in the point. In the War of 1812, Fell's Point
would build and support dozens of privateers that preyed on British
ships, which made the city a main target of the British in the war
and soon led to the bombing of the city's Fort Henry. Another main
industry in the area was immigration as it soon grew into one of the
main entry points for the newcomers. Jobs were plentiful in
shipbuilding as well as the warehouses and factories, so many of
these newcomers came here and stayed, thus adding to the
multi-cultural base of the region, although the richer people would
soon move into the better areas of the city. The point would be a
major shipbuilding center until the Civil War, and because of the
bigger size of the newer ships, and cause a slow down since they
couldn't handle the harbor area. So, this caused the shipbuilding
industry to move to other harbored cities, with bigger facilities
and the point began to evolve into a manufacturing hub, with new
improvements in packing and canning. In 1904, a huge fire burned
much of the city, but this neighborhood was fortunate and didn't
sustain much damage, but did destroy most of the downtown area. It
wasn't long before the manufacturing business would leave the area,
which caused some urban decay, until the preservationists stepped in
to save the rich heritage of this area. Its cobblestone streets
added to the special historical character of the neighborhood, that
soon enough enticed businesses to come here and not long after,
tourists.
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