Series Information
BALTIMORE CITY
BALTIMORE CITY ARCHIVES
(Health Department)
1798-1984
BRG19

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Series Description

The Baltimore City Health Department dates back to 1793 when the Maryland Legislature authorized the appointment of a quarantine physician for the port. A severe outbreak of yellow fever in nearby Philadelphia and the belief that disease was transmitted through spoiled ship cargoes also led to the formation of a voluntary committee of health at the same time. In 1797 the newly formed city government established a health officer and the Commissioners of Health to take preventive measures against disease.

In an effort to save money the City Commissioners (see RG.3) and Commissioners of Health were merged in 1809. Following a serious outbreak of yellow fever during 1819, a separate health board composed of three commissioners was formed in 1820; in 1844 this board was combined again briefly with the city commissioners. For the remainder of the nineteenth century the health board was concerned primarily with containment of infectious disease, abatement of unsanitary conditions, and other remedial measures.

The new 1898 municipal charter placed a health department in the administrative framework of the department of public safety and gave functional authority within the agency to a single health commissioner. As concern for public welfare expanded, this agency soon acquired many additional responsibilities such as child health care, food inspection, occupational safety, and enforcement of housing hygiene. In recognition of this, the 1946 charter made it a fully independent city agency, a status it currently retains.

For additional information see: Laws of Maryland, 1793, Ch. 56; Ords. 11 and 15 (1797); Ord. 3 (1819); Ord. 6 (1844); Baltimore City Charter of 1898, 71-78; Baltimore City Charter of 1946, Sect. 81; and Jacob H. Hollander, The Financial History of Baltimore (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Press, 1899).

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