The Carettis’ case occurred at a time when Baltimore was undergoing several reforms. At the beginning of the 20th century, Baltimore was a large city with a growing population, and public health concerns warranted the necessity of adequate disposal of waste. By the early 1900s, officials in the city had begun to implement changes in the sewer system and city planning. After the Annexation of 1918, the city needed a way to extend the municipal sewer system to the newly annexed areas of the city and to beautify the areas, including Herring Run.

These issues would all come to affect the Carettis’s case and property in some way. This paper will begin by exploring the historical context in which this case arose and how the case was affected by it.

The story of Memorial Stadium is really the story of those in the community that surround it. As the use and popularity of the Stadium grew, so too did the annoyances associated with living near the 20th century Baltimore landmark. Memorial Stadium would become and is most known as the home of both the professional baseball and football teams of Baltimore, the Orioles and the Colts. However, before professional sports teams labored under the lights of the Old Gray Lady, the Stadium was home to some of the most important collegiate football games in the United States, and used as a gathering place for community events and symphonic concerts.

This shift in use from civic-based events and the occasional college football game, to almost exclusive professional sports use spurned consternation and complaints from those that called the surrounding neighborhood home….

The company had its roots in the “downtown” Eastern European Jewish neighborhood while Eutaw Place was home to a number of “uptown” German Jews who were integrated with wealthy gentiles. Not only did the Supreme Court’s decision thwart Mr. Lewis’ aspirations to develop his business in a residential district, but it also closed the doors to other potential renting/leasing families on the second and third floors of the building. A few years later, however, this very same company would reopen their uptown business on 2102 Eutaw Place, a few blocks away but zoned for commercial use, while maintaining their downtown funeral parlor. Yet what is intriguing about this case goes beyond the legal process that delayed Mr. Lewis’ financial ambitions. Instead the underlying social and economic factors of the period demand our studious attention.

State and city government produced the same debate, but in a somewhat different fashion. Baltimore’s government expanded in the 1870’s with the creation of City Hall, the City Library, the harbor board and several other municipal services. The health commissioners alone hired as many as six hundred city employees after a single snowstorm. The expansion of government brought about an era of economic liberalism under the Democratic mayoral administration of Joshua Vansant. Subsequent administrations were forced to curtail spending and restrict the expansion of government, bringing an economic depression to the city. William L. Garitee found himself caught in the middle of this debate. As a businessman, it would seem as if Garitee would hail the city’s expansion; however, he seemed to endure the negative effects of the growth, including hosting a dumping ground for the city. His lawsuit, thus, became a microcosm of the power struggle between the objectives of the government and the individual businessman. Overall, Garitee v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore challenged the role of and established limits on the powers of local government.