Baltimore in Winter: a Look Back, a Look Ahead

No time of year carries such a publicly expressed and seemingly mandatory mirth as the stretch from Thanksgiving to New Year's Day. For many, the week-long run between December 24 and January 1 is the longest continuous break from work in the year. Yet, cold weather means that the normative, nationwide sense of year-end joy and togetherness is largely experienced indoors, in intimate and particular rituals that vary between religious groups, families, and individuals.

You've got to make a persuasive case to get people out of their homes when it's freezing outside. Appealing reasons to brave the year-end cold in Baltimore's temperate climate include the possibility of seeing your boss drunk in an ugly sweater or witnessing the communal kindling of multi-colored artificial lights on evenings when 7 p.m. is pitch dark. Then there are things you do because that's just what you do, and you're afraid that asking why might make grandma cry.

What we do to fill the days, nights, and specially-dubbed "eves" differs, but like a good fruit cake recipe, everyone's little accumulated variations add up to something special and unique.

In a city whose history dates back to before America was a country and before Christmas was a big deal, the Maryland Historical Society at Park and Monument Streets can help put Yuletide celebration in a broader context that spans centuries and not mere days.

The Christmas tree itself came to Baltimore in the 19th century via a direct conduit of English style and customs that had already supplied Maryland with taste in fine furniture, clothing, and porcelain for hundreds of years. England's Queen Victoria married Germany's Prince Albert in 1840, and as Prince Consort he personally presented the popular Rhineland Tannenbaum to many British schoolchildren and soldiers. When Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol in 1843, he further popularized Christmas as a more festive occasion than other religious holidays, and through Ebenezer Scrooge Londoners and Baltimoreans alike saw a modern, Anglicized model of redemption to parallel the ancient celebration of Christ's birth. As the Victorian Era continued, trees with hanging glass ornaments and tree-top stars appear in photos of Baltimore homes taken during what had turned from a churchgoer's holiday into "the Christmas season."

When rowhomes along North Avenue were the winter dens of the wealthy, the daughters and sons of Baltimore industrialists might find themselves playing with China dolls and sewing tiny clothes on small, fully-functional, cast-iron sewing machines. When their families could afford presents, boys like George Ruth in the Camden neighborhood may have gotten simple baseball bats and balls, or a first tool set to start learning the father's trade. Dozens of toys that were first unwrapped on Christmas mornings over a century ago now sit unused at the Historical Society behind an original display window from Stewart's Department Store at Howard & Lexington.

Though Howard Street now looks like a ghost town traversed by Light Rail tracks on most winter nights, in the 1870s the German Schwarz brothers found it perfect for their new chain of toy stores. Henry Schwarz operated successfully in Baltimore for decades, but his brother Frederick is the most remembered today for his namesake New York branch FAO Schwarz. It's tough to imagine today, but for nearly a century, block after block of Howard Street would be filled with shoppers doing their gift-buying rounds at Schwarz's, Hutzler's, Brager-Gutman's, and Stewart's department stores throughout December.

Each urban emporium along Howard, or the east side's main commercial stretch Eastern Avenue, was a family business. And though many of those families did not themselves celebrate the holiday, by the turn of the century Christmas revenues were critical to close a good year for Baltimore's thriving Jewish community. In addition, Jewish Baltimoreans were part of a sweeping cultural trend that ran parallel to the Victorian transformation of Christmas from religious devotion to a broader spiritual and communal exercise (and presents) that warmed the cold season. Chanukah is not a central Jewish holiday, but its rough coincidence with the Yuletide season (depending on the Jewish lunar calendar) and the commemoration of the Jerusalem Temple's miraculous rededication lined up well enough with the secularized tone of the season. Jewish congregations and families that used to kindle their eight-branched Menorahs in Baltimore City now celebrate the Festival of Lights in northwestern suburbs, but the Jewish Museum of Maryland at Lloyd & Lombard reminds visitors of the special way that community has added its own spark of joy to Charm City winters for generations. 

From December 26 to January 1, sites like the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture will host celebrations of Kwanzaa, a holiday created by activist and author Maulana Karenga in 1966 to fill the period between Christmas and New Year's with familiar themes of Unity, Purpose, Faith, and Collective Work and Responsibility. Kwanzaa stands for the first fruits of the yearly harvest, marking another example of Baltimore residents focusing on growth and fulfillment amid inclement weather and year-end reflection.

As Baltimore grows more diverse, other communities and individuals will continue to seek ways to make the holiday season meaningful for themselves while understanding some of the historical evolution of the city's celebration.

What about you and your community? What are your favorite memories, traditions, and rituals? For the next two weeks while Bmore is on winter break, we invite you to share your stories with us on Facebook and Twitter (@BmoreMedia). Let us and your fellow readers know what brings you joy this season.

Photos by Arianne Teeple

- The Nipper's Toyland, 200 Years of Children's Playthings exhibit at the Maryland Historical Society
- Blue Iron Water Tower Fire Truck made out of cast iron, c. 1920
- Fashion Doll with Blonde Hair in Green Dress, c. 1878
- Kristin Schenning, Maryland Historical Society
- Child's Sewing Machine and Original Box, c. 1900
- A Toy Castle and Moat with Knights on Horses Toy Figures with Five Standing Banners, c. 1900