#retro baltimore

Retro Baltimore readers: This blog is moving to The Baltimore Sun website. All of the past content you’ve enjoyed here for the past two and a half years will continue to live here on Tumblr. You’ll find it here, always.

But all NEW content (posts, photo galleries, front pages, this day in history posts, now-and-then pictures, trivia questions, sports posts, etc.), going forward, can now be foundHEREonThe Baltimore Sun’s web home. Please update your links and visit us.

Thank you for reading Retro Baltimore!

retrobaltimore:

In 1987, just shy of her 85th birthday, Baltimore heroine, baseball enthusiast and volunteer “Aunt” Mary Dobkin passed away. Crippled by frostbite at a young age, Aunt Mary was a pioneer in working with children and developing baseball teams around the city to create safe havens for the children to stay out of trouble. Her activism was brought to national attention in 1979 when Jean Stapleton starred in the movie about her life entitled “Aunt Mary.” (Irving H. Phillips Jr., Baltimore Sun photo, 1979)

1762: Ann Franklin became the first female editor of an American newspaper, the Newport, R.I., Mercury.

1787: Inventor John Fitch demonstrated his steamboat on the Delaware River to delegates of the Continental Congress.

1902: President Theodore Roosevelt became the first U.S. chief executive to ride in an automobile, in Hartford, Conn.

1911: It was announced in Paris that Leonardo da Vinci’s “Mona Lisa” had been stolen from the Louvre Museum the night before. (The painting turned up two years later, in Italy.)

Compiled by Carly Heideger and Paul McCardell.

retrobaltimore:

In 1977, Orioles third baseman Brooks Robinson officially retired as an active player. Robinson played for the Orioles for 23 seasons – his entire major league career – and 2,896 games. Above, Robinson rounds 3rd after hitting a home run against the A’s in 1971. (Carl D. Harris, Baltimore Sun photo)

1858: Senatorial contenders Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas held the first of their seven famous debates.

1944: The United States, Britain, the Soviet Union and China opened talks in Washington that helped pave the way for establishment of the United Nations.

1959: President Dwight Eisenhower signed an executive order proclaiming Hawaii the 50th state.

1994: On a vote of 235-195, the House approved a $30 billion crime bill that banned certain assault-style firearms.

Compiled by Laura Lefavor and Paul McCardell.

retrobaltimore:

In 1952, Baltimore’s infamous Grammer murder case began when a black Chrysler careened down Taylor Avenue toward Bel Air Road before flipping on its side. G. Edward Grammer was eventually convicted of first-degree murder for killing his wife and attempting to cover it up with the car accident. Above, Grammer is led out of Towson Court House before being taken to the scene of the crime. (Ellis Malashuk, Baltimore Sun file photo)

1866: The National Labor Union requested that Congress establish an eight-hour work day.

1964: President Lyndon Johnson signed a nearly $1 billion anti-poverty measure.

1977: The United States launched Voyager 2, an unmanned spacecraft carrying a 12-inch copper phonograph record containing greetings in dozens of languages, samples of music and sounds of nature.

2012: Phyllis Diller, a pioneering comic whose career spanned nearly 50 years, died; she was 95.

Compiled by Laura Lefavor and Paul McCardell.

Readers: Think you know your Baltimore? Try answering our weekly trivia question. Some weeks will be ridiculously easy, some weeks a bit more challenging. There will be a small prize each week for the first right answer. Put your best guess in the “comments” field. Here’s today’s trivia:

QUESTION: Students from what Maryland university are the subject of Augusta Tucker’s novels “Miss Susie Slagle’s” and “The Man Miss Susie Loved”?

Augusta Tucker (Baltimore Sun files)

retrobaltimore:

In 1780, Baron de Kalb, a major general in the American Revolutionary War, died from wounds he sustained while leading the Maryland Line in the Battle of Camden in South Carolina. A statue of him, shown above, now sits in front of the Maryland State House.

1848: The New York Herald reported the discovery of gold in California.

1929: The comedy program “Amos ’n’ Andy,” starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, made its coast-to-coast radio debut on NBC.

1977: Comedian Groucho Marx died in Los Angeles; he was 86.

1994: President Bill Clinton abruptly halted the nation’s three-decade-long open-door policy for Cuban refugees.

Compiled by Jessica D. Evans and Paul McCardell.

THEN: An overgrown Northern Central Railroad line runs by Monkton Station in 1979. The line was converted to a rail trail in 1984. (William H. Mortimer, Baltimore Sun, 1979)

NOW: Monkton Station is seen in 2016 at mile 7.2 along the Torrey C. Brown Trail, the popular rails-to-trail that stretches 20 miles from Hunt Valley to the Pennsylvania state line on the former Northern Central Railroad line. (Kim Hairston, Baltimore Sun, 2016)

Click here for a gallery of 100+ more now-and-then pictures from around Baltimore.

retrobaltimore:

In 1930, Eastern Air Transport’s inaugural New York-to-Richmond, Va., air service touched down in Baltimore. The drop off was at Logan Field, shown above, which today is the location of a shopping center. The first day of service transported 21 passengers to stops that also included Philadelphia and Washington. (Robert Kniesche, Baltimore Sun photo, 1939) 

1587: Virginia Dare became the first child of English parents to be born on American soil, on what is now Roanoke Island, N.C.

1920: Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the 19th Amendment, which guaranteed the right of American women to vote.

1958: The novel “Lolita” by Vladimir Nabokov was published.

1963: James Meredith became the first African-American to graduate from the University of Mississippi.

Compiled by Jessica D. Evans and Paul McCardell.

retrobaltimore:

In 1946, a Light Street block party was held to celebrate the one-year anniversary of V-J Day, the day after Japan agreed to surrender during World War II. The block was decorated with American flags, multicolored pennants and lights, and featured live music. (Baltimore Sun file photo, 1946)

1914: The Panama Canal was opened to traffic.

1918: The United States and Russia severed diplomatic relations.

1939: The MGM film musical “The Wizard of Oz” premiered at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

1961: East German workers began building the Berlin Wall.

Compiled by Jessica D. Evans and Paul McCardell.