Notice the aroma of Old Bay seasoning that has drawn Baltimoreans here since 1782. Lexington Market was established in 1782 when General John Eager Howard donated two acres of land on the western edge of Baltimore Town as a public market — named for the first battle of the Revolution, fought at Lexington, Massachusetts, just seven years earlier. The market began as an open-air gathering of farmers and vendors and grew into one of the great indoor markets of the American nineteenth century, a vast enclosed hall where Baltimoreans of every class and neighborhood came to buy provisions.
At its peak in the mid-twentieth century, Lexington Market stretched over two city blocks and housed over 140 merchants selling seafood, produce, meat, baked goods, and prepared foods. The market was famous above all for Maryland blue crabs — steamed, seasoned with Old Bay, and eaten at long tables with wooden mallets and brown paper. Lafayette visited in 1824 and proclaimed it the greatest market in the world.
The market survived the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904, multiple floods, and decades of urban disinvestment. A long-awaited modern facility opened in 2022, replacing the mid-century building while preserving the market's essential character as a place where every corner of Baltimore comes together. The smell of Old Bay seasoning drifting from the crab stalls is as close to a Baltimore signature as anything on earth.