Phase II and Phase III Archaeological Database and Inventory
18BC38 Clagget Brewery
Diagnostic Artifact Data
Features
Summary
The Clagget Brewery site (18BC38) consists of the archeological deposits associated with a late 18th-late 19th century brewery as well as a late 19th-late 20th century casket factory in the Old Town (or Jones Town) area of downtown Baltimore. The site is situated along President Street near the intersection with Lombard in Baltimore City Block 12. Old Town is an urban area of mixed commercial and residential properties. At the time of the first archeological work at 18BC38, the site was largely a parking lot area. Most of the area surrounding the site is heavily developed. Soils mapped for the area are classified as “Urban Land” meaning that 80% of the surface is covered either by buildings or by impervious surfaces such as asphalt or concrete.
Historically, the westernmost 2/3 of Block 12 was associated with a single, large industrial complex continuously occupied as a brewery from 1784 to 1880. The site location consisted primarily of either natural high ground or “made land” created by a Brian Philpot during the mid 18th century. On March 5th, 1783, Brian Philpot sold Thomas Peters Lots #252-255 and Lot #231 on the plot of the town in Philpot’s Point. Lots #252-255 were located on the south side of Block 12 fronting Duke (today’s Granby) Street, while Lot #231 was also located in Block 12 on the north side of Lot #255 fronting King George (today’s East Lombard) Street. Within a year, Peters had erected a brewery on the property and on January 20th, 1784, he placed the following advertisement in the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser: “WANTED, Some Hundreds of BEER CASKS, such as DOUBLE BARRELS, SINGLE, and HALF DITTO, with the Sap cut out—Those who are inclined to undertake making the Whole or Part, may apply at the New Brewery on the lower End of JONES FALLS, BALTIMORE.”
The following year, Peters had apparently enlarged the operation, and on October 18th, 1785 placed the following advertisement in the Maryland Journal and Baltimore Advertiser (1785): “To the FARMERS in general. THOMAS PETERS and CO. having enlarged their BREWERY, on the lower End of Jones Falls, Baltimore-Town to a very extensive place, give Notice that they want to purchase a large Quantity of merchantable BARLEY and HOPS, for which a generous Price and Cash only, will be offered. WANTED a Quantity of CHARCOAL for the said Brewery and likewise to employ to experienced MALSTERS who have been brought up to the Business in England. N.B. THOMAS PETERS and Co. being desirous of establishing a greater certainty of their annual Supplies of BARLEY and HOPS, wish to contract with any Farmer or Farmers for any Quantity at a fixed Price.”
The following year, Peters also purchased Lot #227 located on the north side of 18BC38 fronting on King George Street (today’s East Lombard) at Jones Falls. Lots #228-230 fronting on King George Street between Lots #227 and #231 were subsequently added to the brewery site, but it has not be determined whether the property was acquired by Peters or by Edward Johnson, his successor at the brewery.
In 1796, Peters was joined in the business by Edward Johnson, Jr., his brother-in-law. Edward Johnson died in 1800, and was succeeded in the partnership by his father, Dr. Edward Johnson, while Peters continued in the business until 1807. From 1808 until 1819, when the brewery was sold to Eli Clagett, Johnson retained his interest in the brewery in the company of various partners.
On October 3rd, 1808, the brewery site was insured by Edward Johnson, William Patternson, and Solomon Rutter for $7,400. The two policies written on the brewery complex provide the only detailed description of the original brewery complex. The complex included 2 two-storey malt houses with granaries on the upper floors, a two storey brick dwelling house with a brick kitchen to the north, and a backbuilding attached to the east side of the house.
On November 21st, 1812, the brewery complex was destroyed by fire. According to the minutes of a special meeting of the insurance company’s board of directors held on November 28th, 1812: “On the 21st Ins in the evening, a fire having taken place and totally destroyed the Brewhouse and malthouse belonging to Johnson, Patterson, and Rutter on the East side of Jones Falls—on which was Insured $6,000—a survey having been taken whereon, it is the opinion that it cannot be repaired for near the sum Insured—it is therefore Resolved—That a Contribution of 8 ½ % on the original Deposits to be raised to defray the said loss…” On March 15th, 1813, a notation in the insurance company’s day book shows that Edward Johnson was paid the full sum of $6,000 for the losses incurred as a result of the brewery fire.
The brewery was apparently rebuilt immediately and, six months after the fire, on May 29th 1813, the premises was advertised for sale by auction and is described as containing a brewhouse, two malt houses with granaries above both and an arched cellar beneath one, a brick counting house, a cooperage, and other facilities necessary to running a brewery. On October 2nd, 1815, Edward Johnson and two new associates, George I. Brown and James A. Buchanan, were issued a new insurance policy on the brewery which was described in the same way (same descriptions and dimensions) as the buildings originally insured in 1808.
To summarize, the insured buildings standing on the site in 1808 were, in all likelihood, the original brewery buildings erected by Peters between 1783 and 1785. Since the total amount of $6,000 was paid off by the insurance company after the fire in 1812, it can be assumed that both buildings insured in 1808 were destroyed or severely damaged by the fire. However, rebuilding was completed and the brewery was operational within 6 months of the fire, suggesting that major structural elements such as walls and foundations were probably reused when the brewery was rebuilt. This supposition is supported by the fact that the dimensions of the buildings insured in 1815 exactly matched the dimensions of the buildings insured prior to the fire. It could not be determined whether the counting house and the cooperage mentioned in the 1813 newspaper advertisement were functional areas located in the various insured buildings or buildings considered to be too unimportant to warrant insuring. A stone coach house and stable mentioned in the 1813 advertisement may have been located on the south side of Granby Street opposite the brewery (on City Block 14). A lot at this location was conveyed to Clagett with the brewery property in 1819 and subsequently assessed as “Clagett’s Stables”.
From 1819 when Eli Clagett purchased the premises, until the death of William Clagett in 1879, the brewery was operated as a family business with the Clagetts taking an active role in the management of the works during most of this period. In 1846, Clagett’s brewery complex included 7 buildings including, a brick and stone brewery, a two storey brick malt house, a two storey brick warehouse, a stone stable, a two storey brick dwelling, a brick cooper shop with backbuilding, and a carpenter shop. Twenty years later, a somewhat different arrangement of building was extant, including a two storey brick warehouse, a two storey brick malt house, a two storey stone and brick malt house (probably the building described in 1846 as the brewery), a two-storey brewhouse, a frame brewhouse, a two storey brick office (probably the building described in 1846 as a dwelling), sheds, and shops. At this time, the stable (on Block 14) was assessed separately. Apparently, a substantial reorganization had occurred between 1846 and 1866 which involved both the construction of new buildings and the reuse of existing buildings for different functions. The brewery site as it appeared at the end of William Clagett’s life is illustrated in an 1869 bird’s eye view of Baltimore and an 1876 map of the city.
In 1880, Ramonia Clagett, trustee of William Clagett’s estate, sold the brewery complex to Henry Bolte and others who subsequently incorporated as the Maryland Burial Case Company, a division of The Atlantic Furniture Company. The premises remained under Bolte’s control until 1904, when it was sold to the National Casket Company of New York to satisfy a mortgage of $50,000 outstanding at Bolte’s death. The National Casket Company, later trading as the Walco National Corporation of New York, retained their interest in the property until 1970 when the property was acquired by the City of Baltimore.
The site as it appeared in an 1890 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows 9 buildings, none of which can be specifically identified as structures associated with the original brewery complex. However, many of these buildings were apparently standing when the aforementioned 1876 map was plotted, and hence, they were brewery related. It is very likely that these 19th century brewery buildings incorporated structural elements of the original buildings as walls and foundations were reused.
It would appear on the basis of archival evidence alone that the most intensively developed and utilized parts of the brewery site were associated with the areas east of President Street, while areas west of President Street were associated with peripheral activities such as storage, shipping and receiving (activities that involved minimal building construction and surficial disturbance).
The first documented archeological project at 18BC38 was Phase II testing conducted in the spring of 1983 in the proposed corridor of the Boulevard Alternative for I-83 between Fayette Street and Aliceanna Street in Baltimore. This testing program was part of an on-going series of investigations designed to identify potential archeological resources in the proposed highway corridor, evaluate their significance, and recommend management strategies to mitigate any adverse effects of the proposed highway construction. This investigation was undertaken for the Maryland Department of Transportation, Interstate Division for Baltimore City and constitutes compliance with federal legislation regarding preservation of cultural resources.
The site was investigated with four machine-excavated test units. Three of the test units were 3.05 X 6.1 m (10 X 20 ft) in size and one was 3.05 X 3.05 m in extent. Where necessary, a jackhammer was used to break up paved areas which were subsequently repaved following excavation. The testing program throughout the project corridor was scheduled in such a way that each test unit was excavated, recorded, and backfilled in a single working day leaving no excavations open overnight.
A backhoe with a 91 cm (3 ft) bucket was used to remove the modern overburden and expose potentially significant resources at depths ranging from 91 to 152 cm (3 to 5 ft) below the modern surface. All potentially significant features were fully exposed and cleared by hand. Artifacts were recovered from both in situ contexts and from backhoe spoil in situations where contextual associations were clearly preserved. A deep test pit was subsequently excavated by machine in each test unit to a depth of roughly 3.05 m below the modern surface. The exact location, dimensions and depth of the deep tests were determined by the prevailing field conditions encountered in each test location. All test units where potentially significant resources were encountered were recorded in plan and profile drawings. And soil levels were described by texture, composition, and color. A photographic record of all test units was made and a general photographic survey of the contemporary built environment was also made.
Excavations revealed that the site had some subsurface integrity. Stratigraphy within each of the four test units was very complex and is described in detail in the full 1983 report. Fourteen soil levels and one potentially significant feature were recorded during the excavation of the smallest unit at 18BC38, which was situated west of President Street, in the area where less industrial activity took place during brewery operation. The identified feature (Feature 37) was a drain complex which trended east/west and was constructed of brick and a 9 inch soil pipe. A total of 298 artifacts were recovered from this unit, the majority of which were pieces of broken bottle glass. None of the artifacts were recovered in situ.
One of the 3 larger units was situated in a grassy verge on the east side of President Street. A total of 10 soil levels and one potentially significant feature were recorded, but only 10 artifacts were recovered. The lone identified feature (Feature 38) was a stone structural corner in the southeastern corner of the test unit. This feature was located exactly 9.14 m (30 ft) from Granby Street and may have been the northwestern corner of the malthouse on Granby Street described in early 19th century insurance surveys of the brewery. No other walls were identified. All 10 of the artifacts recovered from this unit were modern in origin.
Just to the north of the unit with the stone corner feature, and also on the east side of Presidents Street was a second large unit. This unit was placed in the purported brewery location, based on historic representations. A total of 10 soil levels were recorded and 16 artifacts were recovered from the unit. No potentially significant features were identified and extensive disturbance from a pipe/utility trench was encountered. Of the 16 recovered artifacts, 4 came from the pipe trench and 12 came from backhoe spoil. They do not constitute a potentially significant resource.
The fourth test unit (and 3rd of the larger units) was, again, located on the west side of President Street in an area associated with late 19th century interior space and peripheral brewery activities. A total of 12 soil levels and 3 potentially significant features were recorded and a total of 1,127 artifacts were recovered from the unit. The potentially significant features encountered in this unit included a stone wall (Feature 35), a concentrated deposit of bottle glass and some ceramic bottles against the east face of the stone wall (Feature 34), and an area of tightly laid stone paving west of the stone wall (Feature 36). The stone wall was interpreted to be part of an early 19th century retaining wall along Jones Falls. The bottle dump likely accumulated along the wall as a result of site-related activities. The function of the paving is unknown, but was of historic origin because a section of it had been removed to accommodate installation of a later iron pipe. Unlike the artifacts in the other units, in situ contexts were identified. One context was the late 19th or early 20th century soils above the paved surface. It contained diagnostic glass, metal and 1 piece of bone. The other contexts were bottle dumps dating to the 19th century. It was generally thought that casks and barrels were used exclusively and no bottling was undertaken at the brewery site. However, the deposits of bottle glass in this unit, both of which appear to be extensive, required reevaluation of this inference.
All artifacts are cataloged in the table above simply as 1,451 miscellaneous objects.
Additional work appears to have been undertaken at the site immediately after the 1983 I-83 project under the direction of the Baltimore Center for Urban Archaeology (BCUA). A final report of this excavation was eventually produced, but no copy is available in the MHT library. Following the dissolution of the BCUA, the disposition of this report is unknown, but most of their collections (and likely the report) went to the Maryland Historical Society. No additional work at the site has been documented.
It was determined that the archeologically productive portions of this site (those parts where buildings and activities were thought to be concentrated) lay outside the I-83 project area and the areas west of President (where less activity took place) were already sufficiently documented. The western portion of the site was destroyed by the construction of the Jones Falls Expressway (I-83). The Baltimore Brewing Company now stands just to the east of the site and uses part of Brewer's Park for warm-weather restaurant seating. Brewer's Park was created to highlight several features found at the site and to provide open space for local area residents. The park is located at the southeast corner of President and Lombard Streets. The primary business and debris producing area is located under the Crown Quill Co. parking lot east of President Street. Thus, much of 18BC38 may remain intact, preserved in the Brewer’s Park.
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