Page 24 - Port of Baltimore - Issue 5 - 2024

PORT BUSINESS
Baltimore’s Yard
Celebrates 100 Years
AS OTHER SHIPYARDS DISAPPEARED,
GENERAL SHIP REPAIR CORPORATION
STAYED THE COURSE
BY TINA IRGANG LEADERMAN
like Bethlehem Steel’s shipbuilding division constructed,
Baltimore’s waterfront was once lined with shipyards. Giants
converted and serviced vessels for decades. But as in other
waterfront cities, a lot of those shipyards eventually failed,
giving way to residential and leisure uses of the harbor area.
Through it all, The General Ship Repair Corporation prevailed. And
now, the Key Highway institution can look back on a century in business.
Originally called The Obrecht-Lynch Corporation, the company
officially incorporated on September
13, 1924, as a simple machine shop.
Its founder was Buck Lynch and its
original location was on property
purchased from the estate of the late
Charles Frederick Obrecht at 316 Light
Street — approximately where the
Hyatt Regency operates now.
Only five years later, in 1929, the
company moved to its current location
on Key Highway. The market crash of
[22] The Port of Baltimore ■ ISSUE 5 / 2024