Statsraad Lehmkuhl visits Baltimore, January 31 - February 5, 2026
What is now Baltimore had no permanent settlement before Europeans arrived in the 1700s. Indigenous peoples used the areas inside the Chesapeake Bay as hunting grounds.
A port city
British immigrants arrived in 1634, but it was not until after 1706 - when a port for exporting tobacco was established, that the city began to take shape. Growth was slow at first. In 1752, the town consisted of just 27 houses, including a church and two taverns.
Then things accelerated. Baltimore became the county seat and gained a courthouse, the first postal system in the United States, its own water company, and gas-powered street lighting was installed as early as 1816. By 1820, the population had risen to 60,000, and the economy shifted from tobacco production to sawmills, shipbuilding, and textile manufacturing.
Racial tensions
Maryland was a slave state and sided with the South during the American Civil War from 1861 to 1865. The years that followed were also marked by segregation between white and Black residents.
When Baltimore was rebuilt after a major fire destroyed parts of the city in 1904, a law was passed that prevented Black residents from settling in certain areas.
Population decline
Baltimore had nearly one million inhabitants in the 1960s. From the 1970s onward, many shipyards and other industrial jobs were shut down. At the same time, banks were reluctant to issue loans to Black residents, and inner-city neighborhoods fell into decline.
Those who could afford it moved to suburbs outside the city.
Today, the population has fallen to about 568,000, more than 60 percent of whom are African American.
Around one third of the workforce is employed in low-paid service jobs, but there are signs of improvement. The port is now among the ten largest in the United States, and employment in science, technology, and engineering is growing.
Mild and humid
Winters in Baltimore are cool, with temperatures around 10°C from November to March, and freezing temperatures and snow are not uncommon. Summers are warm and humid, with temperatures around 30°C in June, July, and August.
Baltimore receives 1,143 mm of precipitation annually, fairly evenly distributed throughout the year, though with slightly higher rainfall in summer.
Normal maximum temperature in February: 8.0 °C
Normal precipitation in February: 74 mm
