Long cherished as the cultural heart of Baltimore, Mount Vernon Place arose in the wake of a contested idea: the construction of America's first freestanding monument to George Washington. Responding to opposition from local residents, Revolutionary War hero and Federalist statesman John Eager Howard offered part of his wooded estate as an alternative site for this bold and graceful Doric column. After its dedication in 1829, Howard's heirs developed the area into public parks and individual building lots. Mount Vernon Place became an early and successful model of nlightened civic virtue and...