Doug Gelbert

A Story of Maryland Told in 100 Buildings: How the Free State Happened - Brown Signs: Celebrating America's Built World Doug Gelbert

If those walls could talk...this is what they would say. A story of Maryland.



Drive-in theaters... Germanic influences... Sears kit houses...trolley parks...diners...history-changing forts...seafood...lighthouses...beer...boardwalks...pioneering railroads...mimetic architecture...kissing bridges...super highways...octagonal buildings...horses...post office murals...record-breaking escalators...tea parties...life-altering inventions...the shopping palaces of Howard Street...sports stadiums... Civil War intrigues...stone bridge masterpieces...rammed earth houses... Prohibition Era shenanigans...



The photos and stories collected here are a fast and fun way to learn the explanations behind the quirks, the traditions and the secrets that make Maryland uniquely Maryland. How did basketball's Baltimore Bullets get their name? Solved. Gold production in Maryland within walking distance of the White House? A mystery no more. The first toll booth in Maryland? Identified. The origins of duckpins? Still unknown.



Imagine a group of settlers arriving in an undeveloped location. First come shelters in which to live and then structures in which to work and shop. There are buildings for worship and education. As the community grows government buildings are required. With prosperity comes places in which to spend leisure time. And each step along the way builds a story only Maryland can call its own. That story is all around you in the buildings you can see on Maryland streets.



Almost all of the 100 selections within are open to the public, or at least visible from public spaces. So, if you haven't seen these landmarks in person, fire up your GPS and get out and see the story of "the Land of Pleasant Living," as Mr. Boh used to say, standing in plain sight on Maryland streets!