Who Dubbed Baltimore "The Monumental City"?-- Part 2: A Put-Down Then Honor

What Wilber Hunter didn't have available to him when he said John Quincy Adams had been first to use the term were the thousands of historic newspapers as are available today.

The words "Monumental City" were used to refer to Baltimore in 1823 by the editors of the Daily National Intelligencer, the main newspaper in nearby Washington, D.C., and most likely by its main editor, Joseph Gales Jr..

On February 3, 1823, there was a big political debate going on over Maryland's support of the Potomac Canal (later named the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal).  Gale was scornful of Baltimore for not supporting the canal and he was flabbergasted that "the monumental city" was not supporting  this grand civic work for the betterment of the country.

Gale was being sarcastically, but his term was picked up all over the country and in Baltimore and by the early 1830s, American and foreign publications and travel books were using "The Monumental City" to refer to Baltimore.

--Brock-Perrt