But the occasional pedestrian passing through South Dallas Street might just notice a clue to the block’s unusual history. A plaque dedicated to Frederick Douglass is posted on the row house at 524. The marker tells the familiar story of Douglass, born into slavery on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, who was leased out at the age of ten to his owner’s brother-in-law in Baltimore, Hugh Auld. Douglass famously learned to read from Auld’s wife, Sophia, who inadvertently taught the young boy how to decipher the abolitionist writings that would later inspire him to escape slavery and go on to become one of the most influential advocates for black freedom in the nineteenth century. Decades later, Douglass would recall that he had “much interest and affection for this old spot around Fell’s Point, where I first felt that I might be useful in advancing and elevating our race.”1
Almost as an afterthought, a single sentence appears at the end of the marker to explain Douglass’s connection to the block. At the ripe age of 74, Douglass bought a plot of land on 516–524 South Dallas Street in 1892 and proceeded to construct a row of five houses to lease to renters. Douglass’s foray into real estate development may seem like a surprising turn for the legendary freedom fighter. But the history of the five homes marks a fitting end to Douglass’s time in Baltimore, embodying his remarkable personal transformation from property to property-owner. Indeed, the houses on Dallas Street—which became known alternately as Douglass Place and Douglass Row—represent the most meaningful (and possibly only) extant property in Baltimore with a direct connection to Douglass.