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Maryland Historical Society

In Baltimore, only months after the Civil War ended and nearly two years after Maryland's emancipation of its slaves, the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company opened for business. The company symbolized the possibilities of the day, as the nation attempted to leave slavery behind. Symbolism aside, however, whatever civil rights and social access blacks achieved in the first decade following emancipation was directly related to their struggle for economic survival.

For most of the antebellum era and well into the post-bellum period, Baltimore's smaller black community held greater numbers than whites among ship caulkers, hod carriers, barbers and brickmakers. Though not as dominant, blacks were also counted among the city's blacksmiths, silversmiths, iron molders, sailmakers, and numerous other trades. Several even belonged to unions. Yet, as the decades unfolded, blacks increasingly found themselves on the defensive occupationally. For skilled and semi-skilled craftsman, the attacks emerged from the need of a growing native and immigrant white population for employment, and the white workers' fear of job competition.

In 1865, only months after the war ended, white ship caulkers working at Henderson's Wharf on Fell Street in East Baltimore put down their tools and walked off the job, vowing to return to work only after black caulkers had been fired. Soon, whites called a general strike, and work all but stopped in many Baltimore shipyards, though black caulkers kept working. Some in the press empathized with the rights of blacks to work, and the rights of shipyard owners not to be intimidated. Ultimately, however, loss of business and other considerations saw the shipyard owners submit to white worker demands. Blacks were summarily dismissed.

Several business and civic leaders from the black community saw opportunity in this setback. They held meetings, and a movement began to develop a black-operated shipyard. Among the leaders of this effort were John H. Smith, William Applegarth, who was white, John W. Locks, Joseph Thomas, Walter Sorrell, and Isaac Myers. The organizers leased an existing ship yard (though, for a time, many thought that the property had actually been purchased) at the corner of Philpot and Point streets in Fells Point, the very neighborhood where, three decades earlier, a young Frederick Douglass had learned the caulking business. On February 7, 1866, the yard was assigned to "John H. Smith & Co.," and work began soon after. Two years later, a charter announced its new name, the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company.

Business growth was promising during its first several years. The company won a number of lucrative government contracts, helping to bolster its operations overall. Even though government work fell off after a few years, other opportunities allowed the company to meet its many expenses, including a payroll of nearly 200 employees. However, by the beginning of its second decade, rapid turnover among management and workers, along with the results of poor long-term planning, began to take its toll. Worn-out equipment needed replacing, and operating with a sometimes make-shift staff earned the company an unwelcome reputation for shoddy work.

Although the owners appeared willing to do the hard work necessary to replenish their coffers and rebuild their reputation, intensified competition and technological advances conspired against them. By the 1880s, larger wooden ships and steel-hulled ships were coming into greater use, and the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company could accommodate neither. Added to this, the fact that the company's plant was leased, not owned outright, came to light, and investor confidence waned. Finally, in 1884 the leaseholders declined to renew with the company, and management had no choice but to close shop.

Given the circumstances of its beginnings and the context of the times, the almost twenty-year run of the Chesapeake Marine Railway and Dry Dock Company was impressive. Black workers had protected their old economic turf and proven their proficiency in all manner of labor.

—David Taft Terry