Sometimes referred to as “America in Miniature,” Maryland is a state boasting so many distinguishable highlights and unique callouts. From diverse landscapes to historic sights, mountains to beaches, cities to farms, a visit to Maryland can entail endless possibilities, and offer drastically different experiences from one location to the next.
Yet sadly, so much of Maryland’s fame and glory goes unnoticed, often slipping into the shadows of its larger Pennsylvania neighbor to the north and being outshone by the District of Columbia to the south. Of course, the state does retain a couple of well-known callouts, like how it was the birthplace of The Star-Spangled Banner. But did you know that there are so many now universally utilized products and inventions that actually got their start in Maryland? For this Friday Flashback Feature, I’m enlightening you to just some of the things you probably never knew actually got started in Maryland.
The World’s First Dredger
While the history of dredging can be traced back thousands of years, the first crude dredger didn’t come about until 1783. That’s when Maryland flour mill owners John and Andrew Ellicott came up with an innovative construct. Known originally as “the Baltimore Mud Machine” this earliest incarnation of a crude dredger was designed as a horse-drawn barge featuring a scoop used to dredge sediment from the Inner Harbor so that ships would be able to arrive at their Baltimore-based warehouse locations on Pratt and Light Streets. The Ellicott Brothers eventually grew the dredging industry, officially establishing Ellicott Machine Company in 1885 (later renamed Ellicott Dredges). Even today, Ellicott Dredges is a global world leader in dredging systems.
The Earliest (Ice Box) Refrigerator
Human beings have been coming up with impromptu methods for keeping things cool since the beginning of time. Yet, it wasn’t until the 1800s that the first real refrigerators—known as “ice boxes”—started being used regularly. Engineer Thomas Moore, of Montgomery County, Maryland gets credit for having invented the first-ever portable “refrigerator” (and coining the official term) in 1802 as a way to transport butter back to his home from Georgetown. His method comprised a tin box with an oval cedar tub inside, with the gaps between tub and box filled in with ice. Cloth and fur were used to insulate the contraption from the outside.
Gas Lighting (Gas and Electric)
Did you know that Baltimore Gas and Electric (BGE) is the oldest utility company in the nation? It got started as early as 1816. Then, on February 7, 1817 the very first public street lamp illuminated the streets of North Holiday and East Baltimore.
America’s First Umbrella Factory
Did you know that the first-ever umbrella manufacturer in all of the United States was actually started in Baltimore Maryland? Beehler Umbrella Factory, founded by German immigrant Francis Beehler, opened to the state (and the nation) in 1828. It was such a success, in fact, that it prompted the establishment of many other umbrella factories to pop up. By the 20th century Baltimore was shipping out more than 1.5 million umbrellas each year.
The Nation’s First Common Carrier Railroad
Steam-operated locomotive innovation may have already been a thing before, but common carrier passenger trains only got started when the famed Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B & O Railroad) was built. The railroad’s earliest section first opened for public usage back in 1830.
The World’s First Dental School
Did you know that Maryland even managed to accomplish a world’s first in the Dentistry industry? The year was 1840 when the Baltimore College of Dental Surgery (now the University of Maryland School of Dentistry) opened as the first-ever school dedicated solely to the practice.
Crown Cork Bottle Caps
Believe it or not, soda bottles didn’t always have bottle caps. Originally, they featured internally attached cork stoppers instead. But that all changed when William Painter, a mechanical engineer from Montgomery, County, went on to invent the first crown cork bottle caps in 1892. His creation was a hit, going on to revolutionize the portability of bottled sodas the world over.
Noxzema
That’s right! That famed cold cream cleanser used by so many far and wide was actually born right on the Maryland Eastern Shore of all places. It was developed by Dr. Francis J. Townsend of Snow Hill, Maryland in the early 1900s to treat severe sunburns that were so frequently burdensome to vacationers at Ocean City, Maryland. Originally known as “Townsend R22,” the product’s various other uses, including that of a daily cleansing regime, didn’t come about until later, when folks started to discover its many wonders for themselves.
Townsend shared his formula with druggist George Avery Bunting in Baltimore, who by the late 1910s and into the 1920s started selling it as “Dr. Bunting’s Sunburn Remedy.” It was also frequently referred to as “the miracle cream of Baltimore,” in its treatment for a whole host of skin conditions, including eczema. As the story goes, the name “Noxzema” was eventually developed as a combination of the words “no” and “eczema,” along with “knock” in going back to a supposed account where one satisfied customer made the claim, that it “Sure knocked my eczema!”
Old Bay Seasoning
It’s hard to imagine a time when Old Bay Seasoning wasn’t around, but this was indeed the case prior to the 1940s. That signature blend of 18 different spices, which is so iconic and synonymous as a crab and other seafood accompanying mix today was invented by none other than a German Jewish refugee named Gustav Brunn. Brunn didn’t arrive in Baltimore until 1939, settling here after he fled the Nazis. He named the specialty spice blend he would go on to create after a Chesapeake Bay ship line. But as we all know today this novelty product didn’t stay docked locally. It is now the popular seafood seasoning go-to all throughout the Mid-Atlantic region, the Northern and Southern East Coasts alike, and is even a hit with folks living around the Gulf of Mexico.
Maryland is home to many other great firsts in addition to all the ones highlighted on this list. It also may be the founding region of so many other unconfirmed products and inventions too. There is that ongoing debate on whether or not Baltimore really is the birthplace of the traditional shaved ice snowball, after all. Whether it is or isn’t, you can’t deny that Maryland has a rather impressive resume, as far as humble little states go.