History of Hamilton

Walking Tour of Downtown Hamilton

Historical Photgraphs of Hamilton

The following was taken from Baltimore Living, 1999.  “What’s in a Name” by Michael Sachdev, published in the City Paper.

Hamilton, in the city's northeast corner, could have just as easily been named Tamesville. In the mid-1800s, when the Tames brothers were born in a log cabin in present-day Hamilton, the neighborhood was called North Lauraville, because of its location in relation to Lauraville. The Tames brothers opened a general store at what is now the corner of Harford Road and Hamilton Avenue, selling farm equipment and other staples to the agricultural community. Before long, the store became the business center of the area, and the street it was on was named Tames Lane.

But retired sea captain Hamilton Caughey had other plans for the neighborhood. Adjacent to the Tames brothers' log cabin was Fair Oaks Farm, Caughey's estate. Caughey donated land on his property's southern border to Baltimore County for the construction of a road to Towson; in return, he wanted the road named after him. At this point, what we now call Hamilton Avenue was called Hamilton Lane west of Caughey's land and Tames Lane to the east. Eventually, though, the whole stretch became known as Hamilton Avenue.

Caughey got more than just his street. In 1900, when the community had grown big enough to separate from Lauraville, postmaster S. Davies Warfield took his cue from the main drag and named the new neighborhood Hamilton.