BNHA Federal Hill Main Street Visitor Center

Located in a former public bathhouse, the Federal Hill Main Street Visitor Center provides a variety of information and brochures about the Federal Hill neighborhood. Rotating displays of photography highlight the neighborhood’s past and present.  The center is generally open during business hours Monday through Friday.

Baltimore philanthropist Henry Walters gave money to the city to build bathhouses for its working class citizens adjacent to a number of the city’s public markets, such as the nearby Cross Street Market. Rowhouses in Baltimore’s working-class neighborhoods originally did not come with bathrooms. Most families owned a portable tub that they set up in the kitchen and filled with water heated on the kitchen stove for their Sunday night baths. A warm bath was a luxury; many people simply washed up with a washcloth, a bar of soap, and a bowl of water.