History
On the 1612 John Smith map, it was called the Bolus River. It has never been a major path of commerce since it is not navigable further upstream than Elkridge. However, the Patapsco valley was used as the route of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's original main line west constructed from 1829 onwards, and this route remains, though much altered. Many old railroad bridges lie along the valley, most notably the Thomas Viaduct and the ruins of the Patterson Viaduct. Flour mills and a hydropower dam were formerly powered by the river.
The valley is prone to flooding, though at long intervals. The most recent severe flood occurred in 1972 as a result of rainfall from the remnants of Hurricane Agnes, in which Ellicott City and the Old Main Line sustained serious damage.
The Patapsco River featured prominently in the Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812. This is where Francis Scott Key, while aboard a British ship, wrote a poem which would later become the national anthem of the United States, "The Star-Spangled Banner". Today, a red, white, and blue buoy marks the spot where the HMS Tonnant was anchored.
Read more about this topic: Patapsco River
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of all countries shows that the working class exclusively by its own effort is able to develop only trade-union consciousness.”
—Vladimir Ilyich Lenin (1870–1924)
“The history of literature—take the net result of Tiraboshi, Warton, or Schlegel,—is a sum of a very few ideas, and of very few original tales,—all the rest being variation of these.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“A country grows in history not only because of the heroism of its troops on the field of battle, it grows also when it turns to justice and to right for the conservation of its interests.”
—Aristide Briand (1862–1932)