We’ve tried for years to explain our fair city. The answer was here all along.

Baltimore has long been searching for the right tagline.

Back in the day we tried The City That Reads, which has to stand as the strangest city motto of all time (the fact that it was easily manipulated into “The City That Bleeds” didn’t help). For awhile after that we were The Greatest City in America, which was kind of fun but ultimately silly. Former mayor (and current governor) Martin O’Malley spent $2 million asking us to BELIEVE, and his efforts were met with a collective shrug.

Nowadays we’re asked to Get In On It, which works as well for Baltimore as it would for any other city. Take that for what it’s worth.

Each of these is an interesting exercise in branding, and I fully respect the effort that went into them. I’m more partial, however, to the possibilities suggested by the pic above (click for full size), which I found while digging around the archives of the Maryland Historical Society. Wherein Baltimore is described like so:

The City of Baltimore, the metropolis of the South, the entrepot of the Imperial West, remarkable for commercial activity, fine monuments, beautiful parks and environs.

It doesn’t work as a tagline per se, but damn if it isn’t both inspiring and accurate.

It reflects our status as a hub, highlights our importance both regionally and nationally, and imparts the idea that the city is both beautiful and desirable. In other words, what was true in the 1800s is still true now. Maybe even more so. With a little bit of tweaking you could turn these 25 words into an entire identity system.

And even if you don’t agree, you have to admit that “Entrepot Of the Imperial West” is a wicked turn of phrase.

The city is doing OK these days and probably doesn’t actually need to be (re)branded. But if and when it does, I’d suggest this pic as a lesson. Whoever wrote this copy seemed to know what’s up.