In 1796, the General Assembly passed a law authorizing the
extension of Light Street to the south so as to join it with
Forest Street into one, new Light Street. Once extended and
filled behind, Light Street would be the second leg in the
conversion of the harbor basin into a rectangle. Venture capital
to accomplish this was not forthcoming until after Baltimore was
incorporated as a city.134

XXII. The Incorporation of Baltimore City

The Maryland General Assembly incorporated Baltimore City in
1796. The mayor and city council became the governing body. The
newly created body politic assumed control over matters of
sanitation, and police and fire protection for the twenty
thousand inhabitants. The port wardens were abolished as the
municipal corporation took charge over port development.135

By 1796 there about three thousand five hundred dwellings.
Yellow fever epidemics in Fell's Point determined that original
Baltimore Town would be the preferred residential growth area.136

Once builders discovered the excellence of local clay
Baltimore became a bricks and mortar town. Wealthy merchants
constructed distinctive townhouses along Calvert and Gay streets,
and speculative builders built rowhouses all around the basin.
Economies of scale and of space saved rowhouse builders up to
twenty-five per cent of the construction cost. The ground upon
which most of the new middle-class and working class houses were
built was leased for ninety-nine years, renewable forever,

51	.