The Peale
The Peale Museum, built in 1814, is the first dedicated museum structure in North America. It was a popular attraction featuring art and natural curiosities: its proprietor obsessively painted portraits of George Washington; the collection included a wooly mammoth skeleton and a “Fiji mermaid”. Exotic wonders, freaks, and plundered artifacts were bathed in the futuristic glow of Baltimore’s first gas lighting. But Peale couldn’t compete with the full-on sensationalism of P.T. Barnum, and in 1829 the museum ran out of money.
The City of Baltimore bought the building to serve as its first city hall. Through the turbulent years of the Civil War and Reconstruction, debates raged inside while protests roiled the streets of downtown. In 1878, the Peale became the first high school for Baltimore’s African American students when black leaders organized to demand better education within a segregated system. By the 1930s, the building had fallen into decay and citizens rallied to turn it into a municipal museum, which closed in 1997.
The restored Peale will host rotating community-generated events and exhibits showcasing Baltimore’s unique culture, history, and neighborhoods — an open museum, an experimental hub for residents to share and test out their visions for the city. We need your support to repair the building and make this possible!
To support the Peale’s restoration, visit their website: www.thepealecenter.org
And follow them on Facebook for upcoming events: www.facebook.com/The-Peale-Center