Page 46 - Port of Baltimore - May/June 2019

PORT VIEW
1936 | BOSTON STREET
STORY BY KATHY BERGREN SMITH
Tomatoes on the Pier
Summers along the coast of the Chesapeake Bay provide the ideal conditions for growing tomatoes. The hot, dry days ripen and sweeten the fruit. When the hermetically sealed canning process was patented in the late 19th century, the bumper crops were processed and shipped to stores far from the farms
that grew the produce.
In 1936, when this photo was taken, Maryland was the third-largest producer of canned tomatoes in the country.
The produce of the Eastern Shore and Southern Maryland arrived under sail
at the Boston Street piers. The baskets were carted to the nearby canneries in East Baltimore. Here, women from the surrounding community, mostly Poles and Eastern Europeans, peeled and packed the tomatoes in grueling 10-hour shifts.
The regional cargoes of fresh produce stopped arriving via small boats in the 1950s, when trucking overtook the waterways for economical and fast transport of fresh produce. Today, the piers at Boston Street are home to a city waterfront park. 􏰀
This image is from the archive of A. Aubrey Bodine (1906–1970). During his nearly 50-year career as a Baltimore Sun photographer, Bodine captured the city with an artist’s eye. His fine art work is known worldwide. Bodine’s work is available for viewing and prints and books may be purchased at www.aaubreybodine.com.
[44] The Port of Baltimore ■ May/June 2019