Program

NYS Historic

Subject

People

Location

105 8th St, Troy, NY 12180, USA

Lat/Long

42.7309361, -73.6843267

Grant Recipient

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Garnet Douglass Baltimore (1859-1946) was a civil engineer and landscape authority. He was the first African American graduate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, earning his degree in 1881. Notable projects he worked on included the planning of Prospect Park, Troy, after the land was acquired by the city in 1903, the construction of the Albany and Greenbush bridge between Rensselaer and Albany, the Shinnecock and Peconic canal on Long Island, and the mud lock on the Oswego Canal. In 2024, the lock was still visible along the Seneca River from Onondaga Lake Parkway. (Troy Times Record, 16 April 1943)

Born in Troy, Mr. Baltimore was the son of Peter F. and Caroline Newcomb Baltimore. He attended the former Troy Academy. He is interred in Oakwood Cemetery with his wife, Mary E. Lane Baltimore (Findagrave.com, accessed 2 December 2024).