A Brief History: Canton Cove condominium, located at 2901 Boston Street, Baltimore, MD, opened in 1989 in the former location of the Tin Decorating Company’s factory. Built in 1914 the Tin Decorating Company reached its zenith in 1937, producing 4 million tins a day. In Canton’s heyday the neighborhood was a thriving hub of manufacturing, breweries, smelters, and dock workers. Populated by skilled immigrants from Ireland, Poland and Germany, Canton was also home to the first extension of Baltimore’s Enoch Pratt Library, a score of churches, a playground, bathing beach and, of course, a bar on nearly every corner. By the 1950’s businesses began falling to national consolidation and competition.
In the 1960’s the city almost razed the Canton waterfront to accommodate an east-west expressway. Were it not for Barbara Mikulski and Gloria Aull the vital community that is Canton today would have never come about. The city’s expressway plans for the waterfront were scrubbed, Barbara Mikulski began a storied career in politics, and in 1983 the Anchorage Townhouses were built. They were the first new waterfront houses built in Baltimore for over 100 years.
Residential planning took hold in earnest and 1987 saw the opening of Tindeco Wharf Apartments, Shipyard Apartments, the Anchorage Tower, and the Canton Nursing Center. 1989 brought Canton Cove with 88 condominium units priced between $124,000 and $450,000. In 1990 the Canton Waterfront Park and Korean War Memorial were dedicated replacing a railroad yard and cargo pier, closed many years before. In 1993 the Broom Factory re-opened providing affordable commercial loft spaces, and in 1998 The Can Company reopened in the redeveloped American Can Company site. And the rest, as they say, is history.
If you’re really interested in Canton history please see the next page on the Home tab: Dr. Bahr’s History Class – Canton.