Monument to a Literary Icon at the University of Baltimore

The Edgar Allan Poe statue sitting in the Gordon Plaza at University of Baltimore has a colorful past. The statue was commissioned in 1911 by the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association of Baltimore and was the last work of renowned American sculptor Moses Jacob Ezekiel. Born in Richmond, Virgina, Ezekiel was a decorated Confederate soldier who moved to Europe in 1869 and, in 1910, was knighted by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy for his artistic accomplishments.

The Women's Literary Club established the Edgar Allan Poe Memorial Association in 1907 and hoped the statue would be completed for the centennial of Poe's birth in 1909, but a lack of funds, a series of mishaps, and poor timing delayed the statue's arrival in Baltimore until 1921. Ezekial completed the first model in 1913 but a fire at a custom house destroyed the sculpture en route to a foundry in Berlin; the second model, completed in 1915, was destroyed in Ezekiel's studio by an earthquake; and the third model, completed in 1916, was due to be shipped across the Atlantic, but was delayed another five years due to World War I. By the time the statue arrived in Baltimore, Ezekiel had already been dead for four years.

After the statue's arrival in Wyman Park during the summer of 1921, more complications arose. The inscription, a quote from Poe's famous poem "The Raven," had two typos and read: "Dreamng(sic) dreams no mortals(sic) ever dared to dream before." In 1930, Edmond Fontaine, incensed over the typo on the word "mortal," came to the park in the middle of the night and chiseled away the incorrect "s." The police arrested Fontaine for his vigilantism but he was never prosecuted.

Over the years the Poe statue suffered from neglect, vandalism, and weather damage. In 1983, the Edgar Allan Poe Society of Baltimore recommended the statue be moved to the Gordon Plaza at the University of Baltimore where it still stands today. The statue has become a mascot of sorts for the university, and during the NFL playoffs it can be seen bathed in a purple light in support of the Baltimore Ravens, a team named after Poe's famous poem.

Krainik, Clifford.

1415 Maryland Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21201

Only long-time residents of Baltimore can remember the Hampden Reservoir, buried since 1960 under debris from the construction of the Jones Falls Expressway and used as Roosevelt Park. The Hampden Reservoir was completed in 1861 three years after construction began at a cost of $206,643.50 by John W. Maxwell and Company. The reservoir was part of a system of improvements along the Jones Falls, including Lake Roland and the Mt. Royal Reservoir, to deliver a new supply of fresh water to Baltimore residents. The Hampden Reservoir remained in operation until 1915, when the municipal water supply was reconstructed once again, and the polluted 40,000,000 gallon reservoir was reduced to a neighborhood ornament. In 1930 it was drained and cleaned, and the pipes were cut off entirely from the city water system to prevent any contamination through seepage. Though the city threatened to drain it for years, Hampden residents managed to block all proposals for more than forty years.

In 1960 the Bureau of Water Supply began draining the reservoir without announcement. The city then revealed plans to fill the muddy pit and turn it into a Department of Aviation heliport. Neighborhood residents, led by Rev. Werner from the nearby Hampden Methodist Church (now known as the United Methodist Church), responded with an immediate outcry. The irate citizens protested that helicopters would be a major disturbance to the school, recreation center, and churches in the immediate proximity. Werner called the ordeal “an infringement on our territorial rights without due recourse to a public hearing.” Eventually the city retracted its proposal for the heliport. The draining did continue, however, as the city conveniently had an arrangement with the contractors excavating the new Jones Falls Expressway nearby. In exchange for a local site to dump the excavated soil, the city would receive a discount on the cost of that stretch of highway. So it was settled, the mud from the Jones Falls Expressway filled the giant hole, and the reservoir has been largely forgotten.

Eben Dennis, underbelly, November 20, 2012

1221 W. 36th Street, Baltimore, MD 21211

The Mount Royal Reservoir was once an essential element within an extensive system of waterworks built to deliver clean drinking water to a growing, thirsty city. In 1857, the Baltimore City Council passed an ordinance to provide additional water to Baltimore City and soon started construction on a $1.3 million system of dams, conduits and reservoirs along the Jones Falls—the more affordable option when compared to a $2.1 million plan for diverting water from the Gunpower Falls. In 1858, what was formerly called Swann Lake was dammed up to become what we now know as Lake Roland. A massive conduit was built connecting it to the Hampden Reservoir. Finally, a conduit was excavated going south to the Mount Royal Reservoir just north of the city boundary and the waterworks were fully operational by 1862. By 1863, just over half of the city’s 38,881 buildings received water that was delivered from the Mount Royal Reservoir. The site of the Mount Royal Reservoir lay just west of the Northern Central Railroad tracks on the former site of the Mount Royal Mill property. The reservoir featured a large central fountain, similar to the one in present day Druid Lake, that shot a stream of water bubbling high into the air. Even before construction was complete, however, Baltimore residents discovered that this new source was once again insufficient for the growing population of the city and the large number of Federal troops stationed in Baltimore or passing through during the Civil War. During hot and dry periods of the summer the system would run short of supply and the Water Department’s response was to try to cut down demand by raising the price of water. The city’s poor living in low-lying neighborhoods and forced to use backyard pumps, were hit the hardest by the water-borne diseases that spread as a result. Sewage from cesspools leached into neighborhood wells and polluted the springs of the city, increasing the demand for clean water from the mains. Severe droughts from 1869 through 1872 finally forced the city to seriously consider the Gunpowder as a permanent water source. In 1910, the Mount Royal Reservoir was abandoned by the City Water Department and transferred to the Parks Department. In 1924 the City Park Board demolished the reservoir and removed 50,000 cubic feet of earth, turning the site into parkland. In 1959, the property was cut in two by the entrance to the new Jones Falls Expressway off of North Avenue. Today, you can still see the monumental entrance posts to Druid Park that stand at the base of the reservoir’s original location as you drive past on North Avenue.

Watch on this site!

 Eben Dennis, underbelly, December 13, 2012.

W. North Avenue, Baltimore, MD 21217