History of Fells Point

In 1730 an English Quaker names William Fell purchased 100 acres on the northern banks of the Patapsco river and established a shipyard. In 1763 William's son, Edward Fell, plotted out streets on the land and sold lots. This is how Fell Point was born.

In 1797 the tiny community was incorporated into Baltimore. Fell's property included the land close to the harbor and higher ground to the north, then called Fells Prospect and kown today as Upper Fell's Point.

An 1822 map of Baltimore shows S. Broadway as S. Market Street and Eastern Avenue as Wilkes Street. Today’s E. Lombard Street was Pinkney Street, with its western terminus at a canal running from north to south. However, the map shows both E. Baltimore and E. Pratt Streets with bridges carrying them over the canal. This canal, called City Canal, runs under what today is Central Avenue, explaining why Central Avenue was formerly called Canal Street and why that street is so wide in an area where most streets are fairly narrow.(Fell’s Point Streets; Then and Now)