Edward Fell

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Fell was the son of English immigrants who arrived in the United States in 1730. Although little is known of his early life, he served as a militia officer in the Virginia Regiment. His foray into military service alienated his fellow Quakers, and it is possible that he formally renounced his faith. His father, William, a carpenter and Quaker, had purchased a 100-acre wooded plot at Copus Harbor, and through real estate speculation and a successful ship-building business had amassed large tracts of land on both sides of Baltimore’s Jones Falls. After his father’s death in 1746, the younger Fell inherited most of the family estate, including the landholding around the harbor, a mansion on Lancaster Street, and the extensive property of his uncle. In 1758 Fell married his first cousin Ann Bond, a wealthy woman in her own right, and in 1761 he began to consolidate the 3,000-acre area surrounding Copus Harbor into a town called Fell’s Point, overseeing the development of the property, laying out a street grid, and designating lots. The streets had English names, such as Thames, Shakespeare, and Queen, alluding to Fell’s English heritage. Fell died at the age of 33, before the development of the area was complete. He bequeathed two-thirds of his extensive estate to his son William. In 1773 Fells Point was annexed by Baltimore City, and by the end of the 1780s the waterfront was entirely occupied by wharfs and warehouses, making the area the center of the ship-building industry in Maryland.