Archaeology

Arts

Economy

Education

Historical Overviews

Science, & Technology

Sports & Recreation

Transportation

Wildlife & Natural Resources

Search:

Annapolis from the water

Maryland Historical Society

Annapolis (pop 35,838) is a government town, serving as capital of the State of Maryland, and as county seat of Anne Arundel County. Governor Francis Nicholson and Maryland's General Assembly established Annapolis as capital of the Maryland Colony in 1694-5. The governor and the Assembly had moved the colonial capital north from St. Mary's City because of geography and religion.

State House

Maryland Historical Society

St. Mary's was the site where Maryland's first settlers had landed in 1634. Most of these original colonists had been Catholics escaping Protestant rule in England. They wanted to establish a safe haven for Catholics. As England went through its religious wars, usually between various Protestant sects, St. Mary's City clung to its Catholic roots. This religious iconoclasm, and the town's location far to the south of almost all further settlement, isolated it from the rest of the colony. This came to a head with the ascendancy of Protestants, William and Mary, to the British throne. Under their rule Catholics saw many of their protections fail. One result of the upheaval was the transfer of the Calvert family's proprietary powers to the Crown. Another was the removal of the capital from its Catholic roots.

Governor Nicholson knew his duty, as did the members of the Assembly, so they sailed north to a tiny port on the Severn. This town had been known first as "Providence" and more recently as "Anne Arundel's Town." The newcomers called it, "Annapolis," and this name stuck.

View of Annapolis

Maryland Historical Society

Nicholson had grown up in a London rising from the wreckage of its devastating 1666 fire. He'd played in the newly-laid streets designed by Christopher Wren. With this as background he laid out his capital in a plan based on two circles. The streets follow his design to this day. A State House was built atop the highest hill in 1696, but was badly damaged by lightning and fire only three years later. In 1704 the building burned completely. The second State House was built in 1706 but was torn down in 1769. On the same site in 1772 work began on the present State House. It was completed in 1780, and served as the capital of the United States for a few months in 1783-84.

In 1742 Governor Thomas Bladen drew up a grand design for a Governor's Mansion using funds approved by the Assembly. The building was huge, but only the walls and most of the roof were up when the money ran out. Bladen asked the delegates for more, but they refused. That mansion, nicknamed "Bladen's Folly," stood unfinished and empty for over 40 years, until the Assembly gave it to the newly chartered St. John's College. A second governor's residence sat on ground which was later transferred to the U.S. Naval Academy. The present governor's mansion, Government House, was built in 1868, and was renovated into its present form in the 1930s.

View of 19th c. Annapolis

Maryland Historical Society

Through the eighteenth century, Annapolis grew into one of Maryland's largest towns. Though Baltimore surpassed it in size not long before the Revolution, Annapolis was still a central hub for traffic on the Chesapeake Bay. Throughout this period its status as Maryland's primary government town remained secure.

Growth slowed in the nineteenth century. Shipping went north to the deeper port of Baltimore, and the rich tobacco land of Anne Arundel Country remained stubbornly rural. Still, Annapolis kept the seat of government, adding the Naval Academy and expanding ferry crossings on the bay as anchors. It was an area where slavery thrived, and when the Civil War began Annapolis was a secessionist stronghold. In April 1861, Union troops seized the capital, forcing the Assembly to meet in Frederick for its vote on secession. This, and some arrests, guaranteed a pro-Union vote. Through the Civil War much of Maryland was held by the threat of Union arms. The state's government functioned, but it was closely monitored by Washington. Annapolis and its environs became a holding area for Confederate prisoners-of-war. The real power in Maryland shifted from Annapolis to Washington for the war's duration.

View of Annapolis' waterline

Maryland Historical Society

Well into the twentieth century, Annapolis remained a town of only about 10,000 people. By mid-century many of the newer state offices were being built in Baltimore, twenty-six miles by road to the north. It often seemed that tradition was all that was holding the capital in Annapolis. In the 1960s a turnaround began. History became the source of economic boom times. A nationwide movement toward historical preservation found Annapolis to be curiously well-preserved. New blood mixed with old. A powerful tourist-based economy revived the town, ending any threat to its status as capital.

Today Annapolis is a thriving city of nearly 40,000 residents, with suburbs adding 100,000 more. The state and county governments have added new buildings and thousands of new jobs to the area's economy, while creating a solid foundation for the future. These commitments assure that Annapolis will remain Maryland's capital for generations to come.

—Peter Heyrman