Page 30 - Port of Baltimore - Issue 3 - 2024

PORT VIEW 1963 | CANTON
BY TINA IRGANG LEADERMAN
Traces of a Once-Great Port Business
These images, thought to be taken in 1963, show aerial views of the old Baugh Chemical Corporation factory and pier. They were located at the foot of Clinton Street in Canton, in the area known as Lazaretto Point.
Baugh Chemical was sold to Kerr-McGee the same year these images were likely taken, according
to a researcher at the Baltimore Museum of Industry. Kerr- McGee ceased to exist when Anadarko Petroleum of Texas acquired its assets in the early 2000s.
Baugh Chemical had been founded in 1855 to produce fertilizer. In the late 19th through mid-20th centuries, it became one of the largest fertilizer manufacturers in the United States, with corporate offices located in Philadelphia.
Little is known today about Baugh Chemical’s one-time
Baltimore operations. In Baltimore history, Lazaretto Point is mostly familiar as the home of a historic lighthouse built in 1831. The lighthouse was turned off in September of 1926, allowing the Lazaretto Point area to be put to other uses.
In 1985, with Baugh Chemical already sold, local business- man Norman Rukert Jr. built a commemorative new light- house at Lazaretto Point, based on blueprints of the original obtained from the National Archives. The replica lighthouse stands only 50 feet from the lighthouse’s original spot. 
The display image above is provided by The Baltimore Museum of Industry. Visit the museum for exhibitions and collections that document the lives of the workers who helped to propel this city to greatness. thebmi.org
[28] The Port of Baltimore ■ ISSUE 3 / 2024