Eminent Domain

According to the National Association of Realtors (2023):

Eminent domain refers to the process by which the government may seize private property with proper compensation, but without the owner’s consent. The Fifth Amendment to the Constitution stipulates:

1. that the property must be claimed for “a public use;” and,
2. that "just compensation" must be provided to the property owner.

In order to claim eminent domain over a property for the purposes of economic development, the government must establish that the property is “blighted."

Possibly the largest use of eminent domain by the City of Baltimore to date is the creation of the water supply for the city which had the added advantage of reversing the pollution of the Gunpowder River. See:

marylandarchivist.blogspot.com/2014/02/water-water-everywhere-but-is-it-safe.html and http://www.rememberingbaltimore.net/2020/09/baltimores-thirst-for-water-bringing.html

Many of the records of the City that related to the creation of the city reservoirs in Baltimore County (e.g. Loch Raven) and the purification facilities at Montebello were stored at Montebello where Ron Parks, a Department of Public Works Employee found them. Ron inventoried well what he found, copying much of the photographic evidence. A virtual collection of his work was created online at the Maryland State Archives as part of a cooperative agreement with the City to improve the management of the Baltimore City Archives. Subsequently some of the records stored at Montebello were transferred to the Baltimore City Archives while the remainder were moved to the Back River water treatment facility. At some point an unidentified lawyer "borrowed" a partial duplicate copy of a 1921 report on the acquisition of the properties along the Gunpowder river and its tributaries through eminent domain and gave it to the Baltimore County Historical Society.

Research notes relating to Ron Park's work including images are stored on the Google Drive associated with this wiki.