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The history of the Czechs in Baltimore dates back to the mid-19th century. Thousands of Czechs immigrated to East Baltimore during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, becoming an important component of Baltimore's ethnic and cultural heritage. The Czech community has founded a number of cultural institutions to preserve the city's Czech heritage, including a Roman Catholic church, a heritage association, a festival, a language school, and a cemetery. During the height of the Czech community in the late 1800s and early 1900s, Baltimore was home to 12,000 to 15,000 people of Czech birth or heritage. The population began to decline during the late 20th century, as the community assimilated and aged and many Czech Americans moved to the suburbs of Baltimore. By the early 1990s, the former Czech community in East Baltimore had been dispersed.
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Demographics
By 1870, there were approximately 1,000 Czech Catholics in Baltimore. Within a decade that number increased to over 5,000. In 1870 there were 766 Bohemian-born residents of Baltimore, making Bohemia the third largest source of immigration to Baltimore after the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Germany.
According to the US Immigration Office, the Baltimore Czech community numbered around 10,000 people between 1882 and 1910.
In the 1920 United States Census, there were 7,750 Czechs, making Baltimore the fifth largest city for Czechs in the United States. Only Chicago, New York City, Cleveland, and St. Louis had larger Czech populations. In the same year 3,348 people spoke the Czech language, making Czech the third most commonly spoken Slavic or Eastern European language after Polish and Russian. During the same year, 7,000 Czech Roman Catholics belonged to the St. Wenceslaus Roman Catholic parish.
By the 1930 United States Census, the Baltimore Czech population decreased slightly to number 7,652 people.
In 1940, 1,816 immigrants from Czechoslovakia lived in Baltimore. These immigrants comprised 3% of the city's foreign-born white population. In total, 4,031 people of Czech birth or descent lived in the city, comprising 2.9% of the foreign-stock white population.
In the 1960 United States Census, Czech-Americans comprised 57.5% of the foreign-born population in Southeast Baltimore's tract 7-3. The Czech community was then centered in Baltimore's Ward 7.
According to the 1990 United States Census almost 22,000 Americans of fully Czech or Slovak ancestry lived in Maryland, most of whom lived in or near Baltimore.
The Czech community in the Baltimore metropolitan area numbered 17,798 as of 2000, making up 0.7% of the area's population. In the same year Baltimore city's Czech population was 2,206, 0.3% of the city's population. 27,603 people of Czech descent lived in the greater Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area.
In 2013, an estimated 1,290 Czech-Americans resided in Baltimore city, 0.2% of the population.
As of September 2014, immigrants from the Czech Republic were the fifty-eight largest foreign-born population in Baltimore.
19th century
The first Bohemian Jew to arrive in Baltimore immigrated in 1822. Between 1820 and the Civil War, around 300,000 Central European Jews arrived in the United States, many of whom were Bohemian Jews. Around 10,000 of these Jews passed through Fell's Point and settled in Baltimore.
Early Czech immigrants to Baltimore came from the regions of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia, which at the time were part of the Austrian Empire and later the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Because the United States Census Bureau counted the Czechs as "Austrians" until 1881, it is difficult to know an accurate count for Czech immigrants before that time. Even after 1881, many Czechs were still listed as Austrians because of their Austrian citizenship.
These early Bohemian immigrants to Baltimore in the years following the Civil War first settled in Fell's Point, then moved further north along Barnes and Abbott Streets near Broadway, eventually settling in large numbers along Collington Avenue near the Northeast Market.
The largest great wave of Czech immigrants occurred from the late 1800s through the early 1900s. Enough Czechs had immigrated by 1860 that a small colony was formed. The developing community was thriving by the 1870s (construction had commenced in 1867), which was known then as Little Bohemia or Bohemia Village. Numerous rowhouses were built to accommodate the growing Bohemian community, which continued to grow throughout the 1880s and 1890s. The homes were constructed by Bohemian immigrants, most notably the architect Frank Novak (1877-1945). Many of the immigrants who settled here worked as weavers and tailors or owned market stalls.
The majority of the Baltimore Bohemians were Roman Catholics. In 1870, there were around 1,000 Bohemian Catholics and within a decade that number had increased to over 5,000. The St. Wenceslaus parish was organized in 1872, in order to serve the needs of the growing population, becoming the Bohemian National Parish of the Roman Catholic Church in Baltimore.
Sokol Jednota Blesk (now called Sokol Baltimore), a Czech gymnastics association, was founded in 1872. Members met on Frederick Street near Fell's Point.
In August 1879, the Fairmount and Chapel Streets Permanent Building, Savings and Loan Association No 1 Inc. was founded to serve the needs of Czech immigrants. The bank was located on the second floor of Anton Rytina's Bar at 1919 East Fairmount Avenue. All bank records were written in the Czech language until 1948.
In 1880, the politician Vaclav Joseph Shimek helped establish the Grand Lodge Č.S.P.S. of Baltimore, the Baltimore chapter of the Czech-Slovak Protective Society. Shimek was the owner of the Bohemian Hall and the six-time president of Sokol Baltimore; he was also instrumental in helping found the National Sokol Organization. Shimek's Bohemian Hall, now the United Baptist Church at Barnes Street and Broadway, was located in the heart of Little Bohemia and was established as a meeting place for the Czech community. Shimek allowed the Hall to be used to hold Knights of Labor meetings for working-class Czech tailors and garment workers.
In 1884, the Grand Lodge Č.S.P.S. of Baltimore constructed the Bohemian National Cemetery, a cemetery for irreligious and Protestant Czechs and Slovaks. While the majority of Baltimore's Bohemians were Catholic, the Czech-Slovak Protective Society was largely composed of secular and religious freethinkers. The cemetery served as an alternative to the Catholic cemeteries where other Bohemians were buried.
During the 1890s, there were over 300 sweatshops in Baltimore, many providing sewing rooms for immigrants working in the garment industry. Most of the workers toiling in these squalid sweatshops were of Bohemian, Italian, Lithuanian, and Russian-Jewish ancestry. Around half of the garment workers were women and girls, many in their early teens.
20th century
A newspaper geared towards the Czech community titled Palecek was established in 1902. The same year Sokol Baltimore moved to a new location at Shimek's Hall.
The Bohemian Building, Loan and Savings Association was established in 1900, in order to serve the needs of Czech immigrants. Two years later, in 1904, the Madison Bohemian Savings Bank was also founded in order to aid Czech immigrants, particularly the Czech farmers of the Hereford Zone of Northern Baltimore County. The mainstream banks during the 1800s and early 1900s would ignore or turn away customers who were Eastern European or Southern European immigrants, so Czechs and other non-WASP immigrants would establish their own banking institutions to serve the specific needs of their communities. These banks for white ethnics had hours and customs that seemed less alien to immigrants and often had translators on staff. Discrimination against Czechs and other white immigrants persisted in banking until the 1930s. As late as the 1930s and 1940s it was not uncommon for Slavic Catholics, such as Czechs and Poles, to be called ethnic and religious slurs such as "bohunks" and "fish eaters." Slavs were often stereotyped as stupid and superstitious. White Protestants coined the term "fish eater" to refer to Catholic immigrants because the Catholics did not eat meat on Fridays.
The Baltimore Telegraf, a Czech language newspaper founded by Vaclav Shimek, began publication on February 20, 1909. The newspaper would continue in print until 1951.
The Golden Prague Federal Savings & Loan Association was founded in 1912. The bank was created to aid the Czech community, but later expanded to serve non-Czechs as well.
A Czech immigrant living in Little Bohemia named William Oktavec invented screen painting in 1913. Screen painting became a popular form of folk art in Baltimore's working-class immigrant communities. During the peak of screen painting in the 1930s and 1940s there were approximately 100,000 painted screens by over 100 artists.
In 1914, the Bohemian Catholics built the church of St. Wenceslaus in Baltimore, which by now had 7,000 members. St. Wenceslaus held services in both the Czech and English languages. At its height in 1920, the parish was the fourth largest Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Baltimore.
In 1915, August Klecka became the first Czech-American to be elected to the Baltimore City Council. Klecka represented Czech voters and ran the Slavic Building and Loan Association.
During World War I (1914-1918), most of Baltimore's garment industry workers were still of Bohemian, Lithuanian, and Russian descent, the majority of whom were Jewish and many of whom were young women.
Many working-class Central and Eastern European immigrants, including Czechs, settled in the Curtis Bay neighborhood in the late 1800s and early 1900s, where many attended the St. Athanasius Roman Catholic Church. However, by 1925 the church had become majority Polish as many Polish immigrants settled in the neighborhood.
With further construction in Little Bohemia the Czech community continued to grow. By 1927, the construction was finished in Little Bohemia. As the Czech population continued to expand, Czechs began to move into Patterson Park and became an important component of the neighborhood's growth.
The Czechoslovakian Society of America founded a duckpin bowling league in 1946. Many of the early members were Czech-American soldiers returning from World War II.
During WWII, many Czech and Slovak coal-miners from Pennsylvania settled in South Baltimore, particularly in Curtis Bay. Many of these Czechs and Slovaks from Pennsylvania joined the St. Athanasius Roman Catholic Church, adding to the number of Czech congregants that already attended the church. The church still had a number of Czech-American members by 2003.
Czech-Americans and Slovak-Americans in Baltimore during WWII were strongly opposed to Adolph Hitler and the German occupation of Czechoslovakia.
After the War, the Czechs and Slovaks concentrated in the Collington Avenue area began to move out of the neighborhood and dispersed widely across Baltimore city.
In 1954, Sokol Jednota Blesk moved its organization to a new building on the 2900 block of East Madison Street. A few years later in 1962, the organization changed its name to Sokol Baltimore.
In the 1960 United States Census, Czech-Americans comprised 57.5% of the foreign-born population in Southeast Baltimore's tract 7-3. The Czech community was then centered in Baltimore's Ward 7. The Fairmount and Chapel Streets Permanent Building, Savings and Loan Association No 1 Inc. changed its name in 1960 to the Fairmount Federal Savings and Loan Association, Inc. In 1963, they moved their headquarters to Baltimore's suburb of Rosedale.
During the 1964 presidential election, leaders of the Maryland Democratic Party directed a campaign against George Wallace in the ethnic neighborhoods of East Baltimore, which included deploying "big name" politicians and dispensing free beer to the locals. Senator Daniel Brewster's election campaign especially targeted the Bohemian, Italian, and Polish areas of Baltimore populated by unionized skilled workers.
In 1970, the Bohemian Building, Loan and Savings Association changed its name to the Slavie Savings And Loan Association Inc.
In 1986, the Czech and Slovak Heritage Association of Maryland, Inc. was founded in Baltimore. It has since grown into a national organization that offers courses on the languages, culture, and history of the Czechs and Slovaks. In 1987, the association started the Czech and Slovak Heritage Festival. Early festivals were held at War Memorial Plaza and Patterson Park. Later the festival moved to Dundalk and eventually to its current home in Parkville.
The Slavie Savings And Loan Association Inc., changed its name to the Slavie Federal Savings and Loan Association in 1987.
The Czech and Slovak Language School of Maryland was founded in 1988. The school was held at the parish hall of the St. Wenceslaus Church. After a few years the school moved to the Towson Unitarian Universalist Church and then to the Maryland School for the Blind. The school offers the only Czech and Slovak language courses in the Baltimore area.
By 1996, little of the Czech community remained in East Baltimore. The Baltimore Sun described the former community as "now scattered."
As of 1998 the Czechoslovakian Society of America, by then called the Czech Society of America, still operated its duckpin bowling league in East Baltimore. As late as 1994, 80-90% of the members of the league were of Czech descent.
The Slavie Federal Savings and Loan Association closed its original location on Collington Avenue near Johns Hopkins Hospital in 1993.
Ze Mean Bean Café in Fell's Point opened in 1995. It is a restaurant which offers Slavic and Eastern European fare, including Czech cuisine. The restaurant was founded by Yvonne Dornic as an ode to her Czechoslovakian-born father Ivan Dornic.
In 1998, Sokol Baltimore moved to a new location at St. Patrick's Parish Hall on Broadway in Fell's Point.
21st century
In 2000, the Slavie Federal Savings and Loan Association became the Slavie Federal Savings Bank. The bank's headquarters were moved to the Baltimore suburb of Bel Air in 2001. By 2008, people of Slavic descent still made up ten percent of Slavie's customer base.
In 2007, the Golden Prague Federal Savings and Loan Association was purchased by the Bradford Bank and merged into it.
After the 2011 Virginia earthquake damaged St. Patrick's Church, Sokol Baltimore had to move their organization to a different location. The new Sokol building is on Noble Street in Highlandtown.
The National Slavic Museum opened in 2012. The museum focuses on the Slavic history of Baltimore, including Baltimore's Czech history.
In 2014, after 114 years of business, federal banking regulators closed Slavie Federal Savings Bank after the bank's capital was depleted by bad loans.
As of 2014, there is still a small Czech population in Baltimore, but only a few traces of the community still remain. Little Bohemia is no longer a majority Czech neighborhood, as many Czechs have moved to the suburbs. While St. Wenceslaus still exists, the ethnic character of the parish has undergone a gradual change from a mostly Czech parish to one that is multicultural and multiracial, first as many Poles and Lithuanians moved into the neighborhood, and then as the neighborhood shifted to having an African American majority.
The Madison Bohemian Savings Bank is still in business, but is now headquartered in Baltimore's suburb of Forest Hill. The bank no longer limits its loans to Czechs.
Culture
Between the 1860s and the 1910s, Bohemians chartered at least 20 building and loan associations. The first Bohemian organization was chartered in 1877, around 20 years after Bohemians started to arrive in the city in large numbers. Some of these associations were Jednota "Blesk", "Vlastimila" (sisters' benevolent union), the "Ctirada", the "Jaromíra", and the "Zlatá Praha" ("Golden Prague").
The annual Czech and Slovak Heritage Festival still exists and is held in Baltimore's suburb of Parkville.
In Ellicott City, located not far from Baltimore, there is a Czech pastry shop named Kolache Kreations that offers Czech cuisine, such as kolache. It is the only kolache shop in Maryland.
As of 2014 there were only 1,000 screen paintings left.
The American Visionary Art Museum features a permanent exhibition on screen paintings, including a re-creation of a row house and a documentary titled "The Screen Painters" made by folklorist Elaine Eff.
Historically, there was a strong connection between the Czech and Slovak communities in Baltimore and the Czech and Slovak communities in Prince George County, Virginia. The members of the two communities would often travel back and forth between Baltimore and Prince George County in order to cooperate on events.
Religion
In addition to St. Wenceslaus church, there have been two other churches in Baltimore that have specifically catered to Baltimore's Czech community. Both of these churches, the Mount Tabor Bohemian Methodist Church and the Moravian Presbyterian Church, were established for the Protestant minority.