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66 HISTORY OF MARYLAND.
and to such other Public uses as to them, or the major Part of them, shall
appear to be for the Interest, Profit, and Conveniency of the Inhabitants of
the said Town," and to lease the rest of the public squares for not more than
twenty-one years. They may lay out one hundred acres of the Town Common,
as timber land for the use of the town, no tree above the girt of eighteen
inches at three feet from the ground to be cut down by any one, without
leave of the commissioners. A ship-yard of two acres is also authorized to be
laid out at Seneca Point, near by Charlestown. The vacancies in the Board
of Commissioners are authorized by this Act to be supplied by election by
the qualified, inhabitants, the election to take place at the same time as the
election for burgesses. Elaborate provisions are also made for the annual
Fairs to be held in the town, one in the spring, another in the autumn,
each to last three days and persons attending them to be free from arrest,
except for felony. The Act of 1750, chapter XII., provides for a town overseer,
with power to clear streets, make bridges, &c. The inhabitants are required
to grub their lots and keep them clear of undergrowth, and are forbidden
from barking or cutting down trees in the common, or making coal or brick
kilns therein. The commissioners are authorized to lease the town marsh to
any one who will dyke, drain, and make good meadow of it. And, whereas a
public market-house has been built in the town, forestalling, huckstering and
hawking from house to house are forbidden, and all provisions are required,
under penalty, to be sold in the market-house. Swine, sheep and* geese are
forbidden to be raised in the town, unless enclosed in a lot or pen, and persons
letting their chimneys take fire, so as to blaze out at the top, are fined ten
shillings for each offence. Every person not having a ladder high enough to
reach to the top of his roof is in like manner fined ten shillings. A further
Act of 1753, chapter XXVIIL, authorizes persons having water lots in the town
to build wharves or other improvements as they may see fit, as far as to the
channel of the river.
Such is the history of what may be properly called a " paper town " in the
Province of Maryland, for it was nothing else but a speculative enterprise to
which was sought to be given a start and stability by the most careful and
liberal legislation. We have given the various Acts on the subject with
fulness, because they throw light upon many important particulars in the
history of the times, but still more because they illustrate the difference
between a town which grows and one that is attempted to be made. You
find none of these careful Acts of Assembly in connection with the history of
Baltimore, such as may be discovered in connection with Williamstadt
(or Oxford), and Charlestown. The latter, indeed, is given a much greater
space in the early laws than St. Mary's or Annapolis. Baltimore started out
in 1729, with a modest sixty acres, and made but very small and infrequent
appearances in the statute-book, never to create for it something which it had
not. Yet, Charlestown and Joppa have no places on the map, and their sites
are known to very few, while Baltimore is the greater half of the State of
| Title | History of Maryland - 2 |
| Creator | Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas) |
| Publisher | J. B. Piet |
| Place of Publication | Baltimore |
| Date | 1879 |
| Language | eng |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Title | 00000091 |
| Type | Books/Pamphlets |
| Transcript | 66 HISTORY OF MARYLAND. and to such other Public uses as to them, or the major Part of them, shall appear to be for the Interest, Profit, and Conveniency of the Inhabitants of the said Town," and to lease the rest of the public squares for not more than twenty-one years. They may lay out one hundred acres of the Town Common, as timber land for the use of the town, no tree above the girt of eighteen inches at three feet from the ground to be cut down by any one, without leave of the commissioners. A ship-yard of two acres is also authorized to be laid out at Seneca Point, near by Charlestown. The vacancies in the Board of Commissioners are authorized by this Act to be supplied by election by the qualified, inhabitants, the election to take place at the same time as the election for burgesses. Elaborate provisions are also made for the annual Fairs to be held in the town, one in the spring, another in the autumn, each to last three days and persons attending them to be free from arrest, except for felony. The Act of 1750, chapter XII., provides for a town overseer, with power to clear streets, make bridges, &c. The inhabitants are required to grub their lots and keep them clear of undergrowth, and are forbidden from barking or cutting down trees in the common, or making coal or brick kilns therein. The commissioners are authorized to lease the town marsh to any one who will dyke, drain, and make good meadow of it. And, whereas a public market-house has been built in the town, forestalling, huckstering and hawking from house to house are forbidden, and all provisions are required, under penalty, to be sold in the market-house. Swine, sheep and* geese are forbidden to be raised in the town, unless enclosed in a lot or pen, and persons letting their chimneys take fire, so as to blaze out at the top, are fined ten shillings for each offence. Every person not having a ladder high enough to reach to the top of his roof is in like manner fined ten shillings. A further Act of 1753, chapter XXVIIL, authorizes persons having water lots in the town to build wharves or other improvements as they may see fit, as far as to the channel of the river. Such is the history of what may be properly called a " paper town " in the Province of Maryland, for it was nothing else but a speculative enterprise to which was sought to be given a start and stability by the most careful and liberal legislation. We have given the various Acts on the subject with fulness, because they throw light upon many important particulars in the history of the times, but still more because they illustrate the difference between a town which grows and one that is attempted to be made. You find none of these careful Acts of Assembly in connection with the history of Baltimore, such as may be discovered in connection with Williamstadt (or Oxford), and Charlestown. The latter, indeed, is given a much greater space in the early laws than St. Mary's or Annapolis. Baltimore started out in 1729, with a modest sixty acres, and made but very small and infrequent appearances in the statute-book, never to create for it something which it had not. Yet, Charlestown and Joppa have no places on the map, and their sites are known to very few, while Baltimore is the greater half of the State of |
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