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A City Rediscovers Her PrideThe Renaissance BeginsIn 1975 after many years of slow decay and decline, Baltimore was struggling to reinvent itself - to become once again the kind of vibrant center for business, commerce, and comfortable living that she had been in previous decades - indeed, in previous centuries. The old piers around the Inner Harbor had been cleared and a Promenade built around the water's edge. Citizens were beginning to discover that the harbor could become a magnet for people and recreation, as it had once been a magnet for shipping and trade. But something was still missing - a symbol, a trademark, an icon to link Baltimore to its harbor.
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City officials cast about for possibilities and an idea eventually emerged that
captured the theme. Former Mayor William Donald Schaefer credits then Housing
Commissioner Bob Embry with the idea _ "Let's build a ship in the Inner Harbor to
draw folks downtown." With that seminal thought, a great sailing adventure and
tradition was launched that would soon catapult Baltimore back into the
imagination of the nation and the world as the home of adventurous seamen and
romantic ships. A name was soon selected, a choice so natural as to be almost
automatic - Pride of Baltimore. The name captured the spirit of the
phoenix-like town. It also tapped into her maritime heritage since "Pride of
Baltimore" was the nickname of Chasseur, the largest and boldest of the
legendary, Baltimore-built topsail schooners that helped win the War of 1812, a
conflict that first launched the city as a commercial and maritime center.
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