Museums celebrate 150th anniversary of immigrant ship’s arrival in Baltimore
An interesting celebration in Baltimore. On March 23, 1868, a ship carrying 141 passengers arrived in Baltimore from Bremerhaven, Germany, and docked at a newly built pier in Locust Point. Those in steerage had paid $30 to cross the Atlantic aboard the SS Baltimore. It was about three weeks’ pay for a semi-skilled male worker in those days, said Nicholas Fessenden, co-founder of the Baltimore Immigration Museum.
On Saturday, the B&O Railroad Museum and the Baltimore Immigration Museum joined together to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the ship’s arrival.
It was the first North German Lloyd steamship to dock in Baltimore. Its passengers were the first of 1.2 million immigrants who would land in the city between then and 1914.
“We’re here to celebrate the high tide of immigration, which has made this country great,” Fessenden told a group gathered at the B&O Railroad Museum to remember the occasion.
The ship’s arrival was the result of an agreement made in 1867 between the B&O Railroad and the North German Lloyd Co. The railroad would build the immigration pier and connect it to its rail system. Lloyd would send a ship of immigrants at least monthly.
KJ