History of the Germans in Baltimore

The history of the Germans in Baltimore began in the 17th century. During the 1800s, the Port of Baltimore was the second-leading port of entry for immigrants, after Ellis Island in New York City. Many Germans immigrated to Baltimore during this time.

In 1920, 19,813 foreign-born White people in Baltimore spoke the German language.

In 1940, 9,744 immigrants from Germany lived in Baltimore. These immigrants comprised 16% of the city's foreign-born white population. In total, 23,889 people of German birth or descent lived in the city, comprising 17.1% of the foreign-stock white population.

As of 2000, 18.7%, or 478,646, of the Baltimore metropolitan area's population were of German descent, making it the largest European ancestral group. In the same year Baltimore city's German population was 48,423, 7.4% of the city's population.

In 2013, an estimated 45,217 German-Americans resided in Baltimore city, 7.3% of the population.

As of September 2014, immigrants from Germany were the seventeenth largest foreign-born population in Baltimore and the German language was the sixteenth most commonly spoken language other than English.

German immigrants began to settle along the Chesapeake Bay by 1723, living in the area that became Baltimore when the city was established in 1729. German Lutheran immigrants established Zion Lutheran Church in 1755, which also attracted Pennsylvania Dutch settlers to the region. Early German settlers also established the German Society of Maryland in 1783 in order to foster the German language and German culture in Baltimore.

Following the War of 1812 in North America, a wave of German immigrants came from the Palatinate, Hesse, Bavaria, and Bohemia. Many fled from Germany between 1812 and 1814, during the War of the Sixth Coalition, (1812-1814), the last of the series of French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, in order to avoid military conscription into the Royal Prussian Army. The port of Baltimore was developed as a gateway for immigrants during the 1820s, and soon became the second largest gateway to America after New York City, (and Ellis Island), especially at the terminals of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad on Locust Point, Baltimore, which had made an agreement with the Norddeutscher Lloyd (North German Lloyd Line). By 1850, 20,000 German-born people lived in the city. Between 1820 and 1860, Germans were the largest group of immigrants to Baltimore. This wave of immigrants created numerous German institutions, including banks, insurance companies, and newspapers. German immigrants also created a thriving German-language press, including publications such as the "Baltimore Wecker" ("Alarm").

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