HEADQUARTERS BUILDING 1925

THE CORNER STONE

A Link To The Past……..

For nearly six decades the old Headquarters Building stood vigil over downtown Baltimore. And during those years, a legend had grown as to the contents of the building's cornerstone. In this concluding article about the old Headquarters Building and cornerstone, the legend becomes fact.

In 1967 the voters of Baltimore authorized a Loan Referendum of $11,600,000 for the construction of a new Police Headquarters Building. On a sunny, cold winter's day in 1969, officials gathered at Fayette Street and Fallsway, in the shadow of the venerable brick Headquarters, where another Police Commissioner and Mayor stood to mark the beginning of a new Police Headquarters. The 11 story, reflective bronze, showcase structure was completed in the early Fall of 1972. The end was near. The same plans that called for a new Headquarters also provided for a new Central District.

All Headquarters activities moved from the "old" building across the street to the "new" building by mid-1973. The second through fifth floors of the old building were vacant.

The Central District remained on the first floor. For the first time in over a century the physical link between the Central District and Headquarters was broken ... but not for long. Four years later, the new Headquarters Building was again linked to a new modern Central District Building on Baltimore Street by an over-the-street passageway.

In the Fall of 1977, the hallways of the old Headquarters Building and Central District were silent. Some 51 years after it first opened its doors, the building fell victim to change. A short reprieve came, however, as the Tactical Section continued to use its basement as a Motor Pool and a city agency converted part of the first floor into temporary office space. Even in its abandonment, it still found use as a movie studio for a major motion picture, "And Justice For All", starring Al Pacino.

In April 1984 the end at last came when a demolition company began bringing in heavy equipment. A few days later a wrecking ball swung forward and struck the first blow to the northwest corner of the tired building. Those who watched were awed at the tenacity of the old structure as the 3 1/2 ton ball pounded again and again at the walls. The building fought the wrecking ball with all the valor imparted to her corridors and offices by the men and women who walked them for 51 years, but to no avail. Each day more and more bricks, windows and mortar crashed to the ground. She was dying in front of everyone. Her entrails were being unceremoniously exposed. Occasionally, a person in uniform or a citizen would slowly walk to the site, reach down, pick up a brick and quietly walk away.

Sometimes we need a reminder of the past to hold onto for the future. Once the bricks and mortar were torn away, all that remained were the steel beams which formed her skeleton, those too fell to the wrecking ball and acetylene torches. After a few weeks, it was almost over. Only a portion of walls remained to remind passers-by of what once proudly stood.

There was hardly anything left worth seeing ... except the cornerstone. In the rear of Headquarters, officials, reporters and the curious moved closer to get a better look at the box imbedded in the stained granite stone.

With a screwdriver, the lid of the box was carefully pried open. Those standing nearby strained forward to see what had been sealed inside on that cold day 58 years ago.

An official on the scene reached inside and began lifting out small cards. Closer examination revealed the stained and fragile pieces of paper to be the business cards of City Officials. Also inside were two pennies, one dated 1918, the other 1925, and a streetcar token for the United R. Y. and Electric Company. Of the 17 business cards in the box, only 9 were still legible. The others were illegible, the victims of time, moisture and chemical reactions over the years. The 1925 penny had also partially corroded.

The surviving business cards belonged to Mayor Howard W. Jackson; Police Commissioner Charles D. Gaither; Mr. William Mohr, Secretary to the Mayor; A. J. Cilento, Register of Wills Office; G. H. Osborne, Chief of the Department of Public Works and an unusual card marked "Charles A. McNally and his Maryland Merrymakers." Curiously, one card was signed in pencil by four members of the Police Department, they were: Inspector George E. Lurz, Inspector John J. Lantry,Captain Charles Burns and Captain Stephen G. Nelson.

The box contained nothing else, no gold coins, no newspapers, no photographs, no important documents.

We will never know why the officials of 1925 chose to only put 17 business cards, two cents and a trolley token into the box for future generations. But perhaps we can speculate on their significance to ,the officials and, if we use our imagination, how they were placed inside.

Imagine if you will, a cold New Year's Eve day in 1925. Fallsway and Lexington Street was blocked by uniformed policemen while scores of dignitaries and citizens shook hands and clustered around a freshly cut and engraved granite stone. On top of the stone sat an open solid copper box, burnished to a high gloss. The stone was suspended with a crane just above its eventual resting place in the corner of the building.

At the prescribed hour the dignitaries mounted a gaily festooned platform. One by one they addressed the crowd. Mayor Jackson, no doubt, spoke of the new "Civic Center Area." He pointed with pride to the new War Memorial and to an area beside City Hall where a new Municipal Office Building would soon be built. He expressed his best wishes to Commissioner Gaither and those who would occupy the new Headquarters.

Following his remarks, he solemnly dropped a business card into the box.

Next, Commissioner Gaither spoke to those present. He thanked Mayor Jackson and the people of Baltimore for their support. After dedicating building to Baltimore’s citizens, he too, dropped a business card into the box.

Mayor Jackson and Commissioner Gaither then stood back, perhaps, as each invited guest said a few words and dropped their business card into the box.

Finally, the Mayor and Police Commissioner were each presented a shiny new penny. The Mayor dropped in the first penny, minted in 1918. This penny, he said was in honor of those members of the force who went overseas to fight and, in some cases, died during World War 1 which ended in 1918. Then the Commissioner dropped in a penny minted that year, 1925. This coin, he said, would commemorate the building of the finest police facility in the nation.

Someone then dropped a new fare token into the box for ,the United Railways. Perhaps this item commemorated the development of a modern Mass Transit System in Baltimore or to note one of the first bus lines on nearby East Fayette street.

Eventually the box was closed, and placed in the stone. A capping stone was placed over the box, the mortar spread and' "As the' Mayor and General Gaither shook hands the stone was lowered into place." (The Sun, December 31, 1925).

Nothing remains on the corner of Fallsway and Fayette Street where the old Headquarters stood for so many years . . . nothing but a bit of rubble and a lot of memories. And those memories will be bittersweet.

We will remember the many times we laughed in its. corridors and rooms. We'll remember the thousands of young men and women who, matured to become leaders in the Department. We'll remember the peeling green paint, cramped quarters, and the old clock on the wall. We'll remember the constant "busyness" of the place overseen by a shaggy brown excuse for a dog who moved for no one, no matter what his rank. Perhaps we'll most remember the humanity we dealt with within its walls and the too many times we mourned the loss of friends assigned there who died in service, to the' Department, ''the City and citizens of Baltimore.

Nothing remains . . . except the cornerstone. That granite stone, which for so many years rested inconspicuously in the walls of the old Headquarters, is now on permanent display in the “new” Headquarters Museum. As long as it is there, we will never forget.