Here also was the old second building of the famous Maryland Institute ( then a college founded 1826 , of various curriculums including mechanical arts besides today 's art and design for which it is now world-famous ) , which was built on brick arches above a second markethouse with two large clock towers at each end in 1851 , and held an additional large assembly hall/auditorium and classrooms on the second floor . This was one of the largest and notable buildings in America at that time , and was the site of several pre-Civil War national political party conventions ( when Baltimore preceded Chicago as the common compromise city for presidential nominations , where both candidates Millard Fillmore and Franklin Pierce were nominated to be President . Another famous President , Abraham Lincoln gave his " Liberty Speech " ( also known as the " Baltimore Address " ) on April 18 , 1864 , at the " Sanitary Fair " event , one of several held throughout the Civil War-torn nation , to raise money for the support and assistance of wounded soldiers , widows and orphans and other domestic needs by the United States Sanitary Commission , ( a precursor to the later American Red Cross ) . Although he passed through Baltimore numerous times , it was the only occasion that the 16th President spoke in the city . He noted the calmer differences in the southern-oriented city , especially then three years after the secessionist tumult resulting in the disastrous Pratt Street Riots of April 19 , 1861 which had solidified Baltimore 's reputation and nickname as " Mobtown " . It was also the only time that he spoke alive in the city although having traveled through several times in his earlier brief congressional career and presidential administration . The Maryland Institute and the second markethouse below was unfortunately destroyed and lost near the end of the Great Baltimore Fire of February 7 – 8 , 1904 , on the eastern edge of the blaze along with the rest of the downtown Baltimore business district in the Nation 's third largest conflagration ever to hit an American city ( Chicago 's Great Fire of 1871 was first , followed by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire )
Great Fire of 1871
Great Chicago Fire
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