BGE-393.B – National Casket Company, Lombard and President Streets, ca. 1930-1940.

In a city full of significant historical sites, few are as rich as the property at the corner of Lombard and President Streets. The site’s history began in 1783 when brewer Thomas Peters founded the Baltimore Strong Beer Brewery to manufacture beer for American and French troops fighting against the British. By July 1813, the brewery had been sold to local merchant George I. Brown, who allowed Mary Pickersgill to use one of the property’s malt houses to sew the Star Spangled Banner Flag that flew above Fort McHenry during the British bombardment the following year. Run by Eli Claggett, a former soldier wounded during the attack on the fort, the site continued as Baltimore’s largest brewery until 1879, when it was sold to the National Casket Company.

(Take photo from the median strip in the middle of President St., looking east between Lombard St. and Pratt St.)