Editing Baltimore County, Maryland (section)

===19th century===
The city of Baltimore, [[Jonestown, Baltimore|Jonestown]], and [[Fell's Point, Baltimore|Fells Point]] were [[municipal corporation|incorporated]] as the [[Baltimore|City of Baltimore]] in 1796–1797. The city remained a part of surrounding Baltimore County and continued to serve as its [[county seat]] from 1768 to 1851.<ref name="Maryland Manual">{{cite web| url=http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/36loc/bcity/html/bcity.html| title=Baltimore, Maryland—Government| work=Maryland Manual On-Line: A Guide to Maryland Government| publisher=Maryland State Archives| date=October 23, 2008| access-date=October 27, 2008| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080919221820/http://www.msa.md.gov/msa/mdmanual/36loc/bcity/html/bcity.html| archive-date=September 19, 2008| url-status=dead}}</ref>

The site of the courthouse is now "[[Battle Monument|Battle Monument Square]]", constructed 1815–1822 to commemorate the city and county defense in the [[War of 1812]], including the bombardment of [[Fort McHenry]] by the British [[Royal Navy]] fleet in the [[Patapsco River]], the two-day stand-off in fortifications dug east of the city on Loudenschlager's Hill (now "Hampstead Hill" in today's [[Patterson Park]]) and the earlier [[Battle of North Point]] in "Godly Woods" on the "Patapsco Neck" peninsula in the southeastern portion of the county, during September 12–14, 1814. These events have been commemorated ever since by [[Defenders Day (Maryland)|Defenders Day]], an annual city, county, and state official holiday on September 12.

A second city-county courthouse constructed in 1805–1809 was moved to the western side of the Square at North Calvert and East Lexington. A third courthouse including the lower magistrates, commissioners, [[Government of Maryland#District Court|district]] and [[Maryland Circuit Courts|circuit courts]], orphans (inheritances/wills) court, small claims court and the old [[Courts of Maryland|Supreme Bench of Baltimore City]] was constructed on the entire western block of [[St. Paul Street-Calvert Street|North Calvert]], East Lexington, East Fayette and [[St. Paul Street (Baltimore)|Saint Paul]] Streets from 1896 to 1900. 

In 1816, the City of Baltimore annexed from Baltimore County several parcels of land known as the "Precincts" on its west, north, east and southwest sides. The County separated from the city (which it surrounds on the east, north, and west) on July 4, 1851, as a result of the adoption of the 1851 second state constitution. Baltimore became one of the few "[[Independent city (United States)|independent cities]]" in the United States, putting it on the same level with the state's other 23 counties and granting limited "[[home rule]]" powers outside the authority of the Maryland General Assembly.

[[Towson, Maryland|Towsontown]] was voted in a referendum by the voting citizens as the new "county seat" on February 13, 1854.<ref name="GR6">{{cite web|url=http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx|title=Find a County|publisher=National Association of Counties|access-date=June 7, 2011|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110531210815/http://www.naco.org/Counties/Pages/FindACounty.aspx|archive-date=May 31, 2011}}</ref> The City of Baltimore continued annexing land from the county, extending its western and northern boundaries in 1888. The factory and business owners in the eastern industrial communities of [[Canton, Baltimore|Canton]] and [[Highlandtown, Baltimore|Highlandtown]] resisted and opposed annexation, but were annexed 30 years later. The last major annexation took place in 1918–1919, which again took territory from the county on all three sides (west, north, and east) and to the south for the first time from Anne Arundel County, along the south shores of the [[Patapsco River]].