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The Wayback Machine: Those Fabulous Baker Boys

Learn how these five sons of G.W. Baker did their father proud.

It’s always nice to see a family business carried forward by successive generations.

The five sons of George Washington Baker (1815-1888) not only continued their father’s work, but they ran with it.

Perhaps the most well-known of the Baker sons was Charles Winfield Baker (1848-1919). He was the richest man in Aberdeen at the time.

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In 1876, Charles built a canning house behind his home on Paradise Rd. where he canned tomatoes, peaches and corn. An amazing 10,000 cases were processed there in the course of a season, according to a thesis written by Richard F. Cronin for Johns Hopkins University in 1932.

If you’ve ever wondered about that huge, Victorian home on the corner of W. Bel Air Ave. and Paradise Rd., wonder no more. Charles built it in 1885. The next time you drive by, notice the initials C.W.B. in the scrollwork of the ornate iron gates at the home.

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He was also a civic-minded man, as he served as Aberdeen Town Commissioner from 1892-1894, a position he shared with his older brother, James. Charles was also a member of the board of education.

Over the years, Charles amassed five farms with a total of 5,000 acres used for growing corn, according to a lecture at the Historical Society of Harford County by Bernie Bodt.

In 1908, Charles picked the location for a cannery. He built it on the corner of W. Bel Air Ave. and Baker St., right across from the old B&O Railroad station. The cost of getting his product to market couldn’t have been more minimal. 

This plant turned out 75,000 to 100,000 cases of corn each year. Considering each case held 12 cans, roughly a million cans of Aberdeen sugar corn were exported to dinner tables as far west as the Mississippi River.

Charles also built a brokerage office on W. Bel Air Ave and contracted with growers to supply him with a specified amount of a particular type of produce at a set price. Each cannery had at least two grades of product, which would have been sold under different brand names and different labels.

Some canneries would exclusively can the produce from an individual farm when their crop was ready, such that if someone bought a can of tomatoes with a certain label, they knew they were getting the best tomatoes grown by one particular farmer.

However, in 1917, Aberdeen Proving Ground was established and threw a monkey wrench into the canning industry.  

The government bought 1,300 acres of Charles’ “good corn land” for a minimal price. He was forced to sell that acreage to the government, which acquired the land through eminent domain.

Apparently, that deal was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Charles retired from canning and left the business venture, mostly in the form of the brokerage, to his sons, P. Tevis, Frank E. and A. Lynn Baker.

“It is said that he [Charles] made and lost three fortunes, yet he left his sons and daughter nearly a million when he died,” Cronin said.

Older brother James Bramwell (1845-1912) also made his mark in the family business. According to the Maryland Historical Trust (MHT), he was “a leading entrepreneur in the canning industry.” 

James built his Queen Anne-style home in 1896, located at 452 W. Bel Air Ave. It’s on the National Register of the MHT.

As a young man, James worked as a butcher in Kentucky and joined the business with his brother Charles. It was there that he met Frances Richardson, his future wife. They had four children, Bertha Hastings, Mabel Elizabeth, George Harold and Maude Richardson, according to “The Bakers of Aberdeen,” an article by Jon Harlan Livezey. It was published by the Historical Society of Harford County, in Bulletin #16.

Aside from serving as postmaster from 1881-1884, James was also the Aberdeen Town Commissioner from 1892-1896, along with his brother Charles.   

James also had his own claim to fame. He invented a machine that could fill multiple cans at one time. Having grown up in the business, he had a unique perspective on canning.

In patent #240,072, dated April 12, 1881, his idea became a reality. There’s no record of how much he earned through this invention, but it no doubt revolutionized the canning industry.

The achievements of George Washington Baker’s sons didn’t end there. Join me next week as we find out how one of the Bakers was written out of his father’s will.

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