Editor’s note: This article has been updated with a statement from MCB Real Estate.
The family of former mayor and governor Theodore Roosevelt McKeldin has asked Baltimore’s preservation commission to designate McKeldin Square a city landmark, an action that could potentially complicate MCB Real Estate’s plans to revitalize Harborplace.
In a letter sent this week to Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation (CHAP), four members of the McKeldin family said they would like to see the public space known as McKeldin Square continue to bear his name and continue to serve as a place where visitors can learn about McKeldin and his contributions to Baltimore, including his role in launching the revitalization of the Inner Harbor.
They said public and private interests have invested more than $5 million to create a memorial at Pratt and Light streets to honor McKeldin and they’d like the preservation commission to have the authority to review any plans to alter it. They said they’d particularly like to see the McKeldin name remain a prominent part of the area.
“The McKeldin family wants this public space to continue to be known as McKeldin Square, in keeping with its dedication in 1982 and the marker placed at the site, so future generations will know about his contributions to the city and role in the Inner Harbor’s redevelopment,” the letter states in part.
“The family is seeking landmark designation so that Baltimore’s Commission for Historical and Architectural Preservation will have the authority to review and approve any changes proposed for this prominent civic space.”
The request comes less than three months after MCB Real Estate unveiled a $500 million plan to redevelop the Harborplace pavilions at Pratt and Light streets and the adjacent area known as McKeldin Square.
Along with plans to replace the pavilions with two residential towers containing 900 apartments and additional buildings housing offices, stores and restaurants, MCB’s plan calls for McKeldin Square to become part of an enlarged Harborplace redevelopment site, along with several lanes of traffic that separate McKeldin Square from the retail pavilions.
As part of their proposal, the developers have requested that McKeldin Square and the traffic lanes be added to the 3.2 acres of city-owned property that is currently controlled by MCB, enabling the developer to control 4.5 acres of city-owned land on the waterfront.
MCB’s plan calls for McKeldin Square to be redesigned and renamed The Park at Freedom’s Port, in recognition of the area’s history as one of the country’s largest populations of free Black people before the Civil War.
The renderings that were unveiled on Oct. 30, developed by Unknown Studio, showed no signs of McKeldin Square or the McKeldin name in the approximately one-acre parcel that has been known as McKeldin Square since it was dedicated in 1982. Instead, MCB’s renderings show that the area would be landscaped and an 8,500-square-foot retail structure and a 2,000-seat amphitheater would be built roughly where McKeldin Square is now.
Public review
The request from the McKeldin family would affect MCB’s plans by adding a layer of public review over what a private developer could do on the city-owned parcel known as McKeldin Square.
If CHAP agrees to make the area a city landmark, and its action is approved by Mayor Brandon Scott and the Baltimore City Council, the designation would trigger a review process in which CHAP would hold a hearing and take public testimony on MCB’s plans to create The Park at Freedom’s Port. Depending on what the commissioners decide, CHAP could turn down MCB’s plans to alter McKeldin Square or ask MCB to modify its plans.
Landmark designation of McKeldin Square by CHAP would not prevent MCB from moving ahead with its development plans for the land currently occupied by the two Harborplace pavilions. But it could affect what MCB wants to build on the expanded Harborplace parcel because MCB’s plan calls for Harborplace and McKeldin Square to be redeveloped as one seamless entity. It also would potentially slow down the redevelopment process by adding one or more public hearings conducted by CHAP.
The request to designate McKeldin Square a city landmark came from four members of the McKeldin family: His son Theodore McKeldin Jr. and the son’s wife Courtney McKeldin; grandson Theodore McKeldin III and granddaughter Caroline McKeldin Wayner. It was submitted to CHAP on their behalf by Cynthia Conklin, a Realtor and former preservation commission member who lives in Federal Hill.
CHAP’s response
Eric Holcomb, executive director of the preservation commission, said in an email message that he received the McKeldin family’s request on Monday and the staff is currently reviewing it and deciding how to proceed.
According to its guidelines, CHAP has a set of criteria that any property needs to meet in order to be considered for landmark designation, including whether it is associated with notable people or designed by prominent architects. Before taking any action, Holcomb said, the CHAP staff needs to determine whether McKeldin Square meets its threshold for landmark designation.
“CHAP will review their request and conduct a quick historical review of McKeldin Square,” Holcomb said in his message. “We may also ask for more information. We will also speak to the stakeholders. Once we determine that the request is complete, the Commission will decide if there is enough information to hear the request.”
Because CHAP just received the family’s request this week, Holcomb said, the matter is not likely to be on the agenda for its next meeting on Feb. 13.
While some local preservationists have suggested that the Harborplace pavilions be nominated for landmark designation because of their significance as a model for both waterfront development and a new kind of festival marketplace, and for their association with figures such as developer James Rouse, politician William Donald Schaefer and architect Benjamin Thompson, Holcomb said CHAP has not received a formal request to designate Harborplace a city landmark.
Holcomb said the request to preserve the name ‘McKeldin Square’ represents new territory for the commission, because CHAP typically doesn’t focus on the name of a place but on the place itself.
“If a landmark ordinance is introduced in City Council,” he said in his email message, “there will be a name on the designation BUT that does not compel anyone to name it that. We have never designated a name of a place. But we name our landmarks in the ordinance. Naming of the square is a separate issue (intertwined but separate.)”
In early November, shortly after MCB unveiled its plans, managing partner P. David Bramble said he fully intends to find another way to honor McKeldin in the redevelopment of Harborplace. He said a 1963 speech by McKeldin that calls for the rejuvenation of the Inner Harbor is featured on MCB’s website, ourharborplace.com, and he believes MCB’s plans are consistent with McKeldin’s vision.
“We have to come up with a way to honor him,” Bramble said of McKeldin after a community meeting on Nov. 6. “We’re going to work with the family to figure that out. If you think about it, honestly, he’s the one who got the money in the first place to buy the land [for Harborplace.] We have to figure that out. We don’t have an answer yet, but we will absolutely figure that out.”
Asked on Wednesday about the McKeldin family’s landmark designation request and how it might affect the redevelopment plans for Harborplace, MCB spokesperson Alexandra Hughes, president of Blended Public Affairs, provided the following statement Thursday:
“We have spoken with the McKeldin family, including in December at Harborplace, to ensure that the legacy of Governor McKeldin and his contributions to the revitalization of downtown Baltimore and its waterfront are preserved and celebrated. MCB remains fully committed to continuing to work with the City and the McKeldin family on this matter.”
Urban visionary
Born in Baltimore in 1900, the youngest of 11 children, Theodore McKeldin was a Republican who served two terms as the city’s mayor, from 1943 to 1947 and from 1963 to 1967. In between, he served two terms as Governor of Maryland, from 1951 to 1959.
During his run for mayor in the 1960s, McKeldin had the support of many of the civic leaders who led efforts to create Baltimore’s 33-acre Charles Center renewal area starting in the 1950s, including Rouse, William Boucher III and others in the Greater Baltimore Committee.
In a 1963 speech at City Hall to mark the start of his second term as mayor, McKeldin issued a challenge to revitalize the city’s waterfront just as the city was rebuilding Charles Center:
“Envision with me…a new Inner Harbor area, where the imagination of man can take advantage of a rare gift of nature to produce an enthralling panorama of office buildings, parks, high-rise apartments, and marinas. In this, we have a very special opportunity, for few other cities in the world have been blessed, as has ours, with such a potentially beautiful harbor area within the very heart of downtown…Too visionary this?…Too dreamlike?…Certainly not.”
McKeldin died in 1974, having seen his vision for the city’s waterfront start to take shape. In 1982, city leaders dedicated a public fountain and civic square in his honor, to recognize his role in the rejuvenation of Baltimore’s downtown waterfront. The land is a triangular parcel framed by Light Street on the west, Pratt Street on the north and the traffic spur on the east side that connects the northbound lanes of Light Street with Calvert Street. A plaque at the site calls him the man whose vision “inspired the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor.”
The area’s original centerpiece, the McKeldin Fountain, was designed by architect Thomas Todd to be both a work of sculpture and a utilitarian piece of infrastructure containing pedestrian skywalks bridging Light Street. The city has designated the area a free speech zone, a place for both celebrations and protests. It was the setting for the Occupy Baltimore encampment in 2011.
Starting in 2016 and 2017, the fountain was removed and replaced by a semi–circular memorial honoring McKeldin and a series of pylons and markers containing information about his years of public service. One of the markers contains excerpts from McKeldin’s 1963 speech, calling for the harbor’s transformation.
Funding for the redesign and reconstruction of McKeldin Square came from a wide range of individuals and groups, including the City of Baltimore; the Downtown Partnership of Baltimore, the Waterfront Partnership of Baltimore; the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development; the Joseph & Harvey Meyerhoff Family Charitable Funds; City Councilman Eric Costello; T. Rowe Price; the Whiting-Turner Contracting Company; Miles & Stockbridge; and the McKeldin family.
Stakeholders gathered for a dedication in 2020, but the gathering was held during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic and it received no press coverage.
‘Father of the Inner Harbor’
In their letter to CHAP, the McKeldin family members presented historical information to support their request that CHAP designate McKeldin Square a city landmark and explain why they believe it meets the city’s requirements for designation.
The transformation of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor — from decaying warehouses, shipping piers, and factories into a vibrant public space — was a formidable undertaking that began under the leadership of Mayor Theodore R. McKeldin during his second mayoral term, 1963-1967,” the family’s report stated.
The waterfront, as the area was known at the time, was an industrial zone that had fallen into neglect. By the mid-20th century, Baltimore’s traditional shipping industry was facing challenges. Cargo ships were becoming larger and deeper, rendering the Harbor’s shallow docks obsolete. Trade routes were changing, and containerization further marginalized Baltimore’s role.
This decline directly impacted Baltimore’s economy. Jobs were lost, businesses closed, and tax revenue dwindled. McKeldin, a business-savvy politician, recognized the need for diversification and revitalization if Baltimore was to thrive.
He envisioned a new future for the area, which would include restaurants, hotels, stores, and attractions. These would capitalize on Baltimore’s unique waterfront location and greatly invigorate the city’s economy, eventually making Baltimore a tourist and convention destination.
The first step was to change the attitudes of the city’s residents and business owners, convincing them that the waterfront could be transformed into a thriving cultural and commercial district. McKeldin, with his charismatic leadership and persuasive rhetoric, began to rally support for his vision among various stakeholders.
McKeldin was a Republican in a majority Democratic state, but as a progressive, he refused to endorse the Republican presidential nominee, Barry Goldwater, in the 1964 election. McKeldin had always been a champion for civil rights, both as mayor in the 1940s and governor in the 1950s. As mayor again in the 1960s, he was horrified by Goldwater’s popularity with “right-wing extremists and racists” and feared that Goldwater would “eliminate civil rights progress and destroy such social welfare programs as Social Security.” Democratic candidate Lyndon Johnson asked for McKeldin’s support and received it. Baltimore was the 10th largest city in the U.S. at the time, so this endorsement was a boon for Johnson, especially from a nationally prominent Republican.
To thank McKeldin for his support, Johnson offered him his choice of five positions, such as mayor of Washington, DC, and ambassador to Israel, but McKeldin politely declined all of them. His heart lay in Baltimore.
Then several months after Johnson became president, Baltimore City received a check for $3.1 million in unrestricted funds. With this money, McKeldin and city officials were able to purchase the waterfront land that eventually became the park space at the Inner Harbor.
It is for this reason that Theodore McKeldin is referred to as the Father of the Inner Harbor and that the public space at the corner of Pratt and Light streets is named McKeldin Square.
Focused on McKeldin Square
Courtney McKeldin, a family spokesperson, is a longtime public servant like her father-in-law. She was the first woman named to serve on Baltimore’s zoning board, and she was on it for a record 21 years (1972 to 1982 and 2000 to 2014) before stepping down. For many years she worked for Baltimore’s convention bureau, as part of its marketing team.
McKeldin said her family has followed news about the redevelopment of Harborplace closely because of Theodore McKeldin’s role in calling for Baltimore’s waterfront to be revitalized, and because of Harborplace’s proximity to McKeldin Square.
When MCB Real Estate unveiled its redevelopment plans for the area on Oct. 30, McKeldin said, her first thought was about how those plans would affect McKeldin Square. She said she talked to Bramble by phone and he pledged that MCB would continue to honor McKeldin as part of its revitalization plans. She said she took him at his word and was eager to see how McKeldin would be honored. Asked by Baltimore Fishbowl in November for her reaction to MCB’s plan, she said that she and her family support him in his efforts to revitalize Harborplace.
“David Bramble assures me, in a phone conversation this week, that Mayor McKeldin was extremely important to the development of the Inner Harbor and he has no plans to remove the McKeldin name from the park he is proposed,” she said at the time.
“I am counting on him to keep his word so, for now, the McKeldin family is pleased that he recognizes that Governor/Mayor McKeldin first initiated transforming the harbor for the benefit of the residents of Baltimore and its environs and tourists alike.”
McKeldin said on Tuesday that she hadn’t heard back from Bramble or anyone else at MCB since the phone call in November. As she thought about it more, she said, she grew concerned that McKeldin’s memorial would disappear with all the changes proposed for the area, if no one protected it.
McKeldin said she expressed her concerns to Conklin, the former CHAP commissioner. She said Conklin mentioned that CHAP is in a position to guard McKeldin’s legacy and that’s why her family contacted the agency.
McKeldin said her family’s request to designate McKeldin Square a city landmark is not a comment on MCB’s larger plan or on Bramble. She said she admires that Bramble came forward to revitalize Harborplace.
“I give Mr. Bramble huge credit for stepping up and doing something about a very unfortunate situation that Harborplace has become.”
McKeldin said her family isn’t taking a position on MCB’s proposal for redeveloping the 3.2 acres occupied by Harborplace. She said her family’s focus is solely on what will happen to McKeldin Square.
“I don’t want to say anything negative about David Bramble because he’s a very nice man, and he stepped up to the plate and he is really intent on turning something that’s kind of woefully sad into something, hopefully, that’s really world class,” she said.
McKeldin this week recalled the words Bramble used when she spoke with him on the phone last fall. She said he told her that “we’ll have his name somewhere” to honor her father-in-law, and that reassured her at the time.
But on further reflection, she said, she didn’t feel that saying “we’ll have his name somewhere” was sufficient to recognize a man who played such a key role in the redevelopment of the Inner Harbor.
“The more I thought about it was, I don’t think so,” she said. “The city and private donors spent over $5 million to construct McKeldin Square, which was finished right during the pandemic in 2020…. That worried me. I kept thinking about ‘his name somewhere.’ Here is the guy who got Lyndon Johnson to send the city a couple million dollars back in 1964 after my father-in-law endorsed Lyndon Johnson for President over a Republican, Barry Goldwater. In those days, as I understand it, Baltimore was the tenth largest city in United States, and here is a Republican mayor endorsing a Democrat for President. Can you even imagine that being done today?”
The unrestricted funds that Johnson later sent to McKeldin out of gratitude for his support was the money used by the city to acquire the waterfront property needed to start the Inner Harbor revitalization, his daughter-in-law said.
“That was the icing on the cake, that got the ball rolling,” she said. “For Mr. Bramble to say, well, we’ll have his name somewhere, I’m sorry. I look at it as, McKeldin was the Father of the Inner Harbor, because he’s the one who thought of it and he’s the one who got the money to buy the land…Why would you just stick a nameplate somewhere with McKeldin’s name on it when in fact he’s the one who thought of the whole area being developed and got the money for it?”
McKeldin said she didn’t want to antagonize Bramble because he promised to keep the McKeldin name as part of the project.
“I think my initial response was, well, at least he’s going to keep the name,” she said. “Well, the more I thought about it, the more I thought keeping the name and keeping McKeldin Square are kind of two different things…. I wish he had said we’ll keep the square there. But he said we’ll have his name somewhere. And the more I thought about it, the more I thought, Nah, that doesn’t sit too well with me…There’s a whole square there dedicated to him, as well there should be. It was too general. It was just too general.”
Search for a compromise
Can there be a compromise? Would the family be satisfied with a sign that reads The Park at Freedom’s Port at McKeldin Square?
McKeldin said that’s why she wants the preservation commission to get involved and have a say. She said she remains optimistic that a compromise can be worked out, given the amount of land involved.
“I do think there is a compromise,” she said. “It’s a very logical compromise. You name that area which encompasses McKeldin Square whatever you want to name it. But inside the area, because I think he’s talking about a pretty big park area there, you name that area whatever you want to name it and then McKeldin Square still stands.”
McKeldin said she’s hopeful that CHAP’s involvement will help the two parties reach a solution that protects her family’s name and legacy.
“I think [Bramble] can have his cake and eat it too, so to speak,” she said. “I can’t imagine not having a compromise.”
At the same time, she said, “I have a singular focus and so do all of us in the family: Please keep McKeldin Square intact… I just don’t want to see McKeldin Square’s name removed and I don’t want to see the park itself removed…Somehow we’ve got to get it retained. That’s why we’re going to CHAP.”
