1923 Demolition of the Hotel Baltimore

The North Baltimore Beacon’s January 1, 1923 issue carried this news article (photo right) on the demolition of the old Hotel Baltimore. The structure stood on the southeast corner of the intersection of South Main and East State (then named Railroad) Streets. The hotel was built in 1874. In the late 1890s, one of the hotel’s owners changed the name to the Pennsylvania House, but a subsequent owner renamed it the Hotel Baltimore.


The Hotel Baltimore, on South Main Street, was constructed of wood with a metal roof, as it looked, circa 1910. The tracks to the right are Interurban Trolley tracks - the CSX (old B & O) tracks run left to right through the middle.

By Tom Boltz

The cheapest of North Baltimore’s three hotels in the early 1900s, the Hotel Baltimore catered to traveling salesmen and others seeking inexpensive lodging. The hotel also contained a restaurant and a bar which operated until the beginning of the Prohibition Era. Its barroom was the scene of frequent fights, and the town authorities did not mourn its closing. Today, the site is occupied by a Marathon convenience store.

During the height of the Oil Boom (1886-1915) Hotel Baltimore was one of six hotels in operation in town. The others were the Central, Columbia House (Burke), and Cost hotels located on Main Street; the Green Hotel on North Second; and the Commercial Hotel on West Railroad Street. There may have been a seventh, the Star, but its location is unknown and it may have been another name for one of the other hotels. The Central Hotel, built in 1873, was the town’s first hotel. North Baltimore’s last operating hotel, the Columbia House, closed in the early 1930s.

Although their facades were greatly altered in the late 1930s and 40s, both the Columbia House and Central Hotel buildings are still standing on North Main Street in 2013. If you can correctly identify the location of both of these buildings, call the Historical Society at 419-257-2266 or visit the North Baltimore Historical Center on any Tuesday morning after March 1st with your answer. The Historical Society will give a prize to the first three people to furnish us with the correct answer. Note: Current and former officers and board members of the Historical Society are ineligible to participate in this contest.


Columbia House Hotel - The 1923 B&O Golden Jubilee celebration was going on when the Columbia House photo was taken.


Central Hotel - There is a circus parade going by the Central Hotel when the photo was taken.