A MDBayNews America 250 Independence Day Sidebar | July 4, 2026
Our main feature today runs seventeen sections covering Maryland’s contributions to the American republic — the anthem, the capital, the Naval Academy, the railroad, the medicine, the people. We stand by every word of it.
But in the interest of full disclosure, there are a few Maryland exports we chose not to lead with. History demands they be acknowledged.
David Hasselhoff. Born in Baltimore, 1952. The Hoff went on to become one of the most globally recognized American cultural figures of the late 20th century — lifeguard, talking-car enthusiast, the man who may or may not have single-handedly brought down the Berlin Wall, depending on which Germans you ask. His 1989 New Year’s Eve concert at the Brandenburg Gate, performed in a light-up piano-key jacket to a crowd of a million newly free people, is either one of the most surreal moments in Cold War history or the greatest diplomatic achievement ever accidentally produced by Baltimore. Possibly both. Maryland made him. The world got him. He’s still a Ravens fan. We’re still processing this.
The Greatest State Flag in America. This is not a close competition, and we will not be taking questions. The Maryland flag — the black and gold Calvert family cross botony quartered with the red and white Crossland family colors — is regularly ranked by vexillologists as the best state flag in the country and one of the finest flags in the world. It is derived entirely from English heraldry, has appeared on the state seal since 1876, and predates the United States by centuries. While other states are flying blue rectangles with their seal crammed in the middle in 8-point font, Maryland is flying a medieval heraldic battle banner that looks like it belongs outside a tournament at Agincourt. It has been put on everything: helmets, license plates, crab mallets, cornhole boards, socks, wedding cakes. No other state flag has achieved this level of civilian deployment. The flag won. Maryland won. This is settled.
Lewis Black. Born in Silver Spring, 1948. The angriest man in American comedy — a figure so reliably furious at the state of the republic that he has spent five decades making audiences feel better about their own rage simply by watching his. His work on The Daily Show defined a generation of political comedy. Maryland produced him. America’s blood pressure is simultaneously higher and lower as a result.
Martin Lawrence. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, raised in Landover, Maryland. One of the biggest comedy stars of the 1990s — Martin, Bad Boys, Big Momma’s House — Lawrence built a career on a persona that was unmistakably shaped by Prince George’s County. Maryland gave him the material. Hollywood gave him the budget. America gave him its box office.
Goldie Hawn. Born and raised in Takoma Park, Maryland. Two-time Oscar winner — Cactus Flower and Private Benjamin — and one of the most bankable stars of the 1970s and 80s. Takoma Park, which we have noted elsewhere in this sidebar is also a self-declared nuclear-free zone, has therefore produced both one of Hollywood’s most beloved actresses and a municipal foreign policy. It contains multitudes.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Raised in the Washington D.C./Bethesda area of Maryland. Seven Emmy Awards. Elaine Benes. Selina Meyer. The most decorated actress in Emmy history. We already noted in this sidebar that Larry David — co-creator of Seinfeld — attended the University of Maryland. Julia Louis-Dreyfus grew up in Maryland. Seinfeld was, structurally speaking, a Maryland production wearing a New York costume. George Costanza was the only one actually from there.
Tupac Shakur. One of the most influential artists in American cultural history lived in Baltimore from approximately 1984 to 1988 and attended the Baltimore School for the Arts on scholarship, where he studied acting, ballet, jazz, and poetry. He has said Baltimore and that school were where he first took his creativity seriously — where the raw material became something intentional. He left for California before recording a single song. But the artist who made those songs was shaped in a Baltimore classroom. Maryland didn’t get credit for it at the time. We’re taking it now.
PRS Guitars. Paul Reed Smith founded his eponymous guitar company in Annapolis in 1985, and today manufactures his instruments in Stevensville on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. PRS Guitars is one of the three great American electric guitar brands — alongside Gibson and Fender — and the only one still building its instruments in the United States. Carlos Santana, John Mayer, Mark Tremonti, and thousands of working musicians at every level play PRS. While Gibson is Tennessee and Fender is California, the third pillar of American guitar-making is a Maryland company, built on the Eastern Shore, by a luthier who started selling handmade instruments out of the back of his car at concerts. The American guitar is, in significant part, a Maryland product.
The Crown Cork. In 1892, Baltimore inventor William Painter patented the crimped metal bottle cap that seals every beer, soda, and beverage bottle on earth. Before Painter, bottled carbonated beverages were a logistical nightmare. After Painter, the bottled beverage industry became possible. Every bottle opened at every cookout today is opened with a mechanism a Baltimore man invented. Maryland quietly made modern refreshment possible, and has never once been thanked for it.
The Linotype Machine. Invented by Ottmar Mergenthaler, a German immigrant working in Baltimore, and first demonstrated there in 1886. The Linotype mechanized typesetting and made mass-circulation newspapers possible. It democratized information. It ran virtually every major newspaper in the world for the better part of a century. The modern American free press, as a mass medium, was made possible by a machine built in Baltimore. Mencken would have appreciated the irony of that being left off the list.
The First American Telegram. On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse transmitted the first long-distance telegraph message in American history from Washington to his partner Alfred Vail at the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Mount Clare Station in Baltimore: “What hath God wrought.” The age of instantaneous long-distance communication — direct ancestor of every text, email, and social media post ever sent — was inaugurated on a wire between Washington and Baltimore. You have been messaging Maryland this whole time.
Old Bay Seasoning. Created in Baltimore in 1939 by Gustav Brunn, a German Jewish immigrant who fled the Nazi regime, arrived in Maryland, and invented the spice blend that now coats roughly 40 percent of all food consumed within 50 miles of the Chesapeake Bay. Old Bay is not merely a seasoning. It is a regional identity, a bumper sticker, a lifestyle, a tattoo choice, and the only thing that makes steamed crabs taste like steamed crabs. It has been applied, with varying degrees of success, to popcorn, potato chips, bloody marys, french fries, and at least one documented wedding cake. The can has not changed in 87 years. Gustav Brunnn fled tyranny and gave America its spice cabinet. That is, in its own way, as American a story as any in the main feature.
Duckpin Bowling. Invented in Baltimore in 1900, allegedly by two Baltimore Orioles — Wilbert Robinson and John McGraw — at the Diamond Bowling Alleys on Howard Street. Duckpin bowling uses smaller balls and shorter, stubbier pins than standard bowling, and nobody has ever bowled a perfect game in its entire recorded history. It remains a Maryland regional institution: beloved, slightly absurd, and stubbornly resistant to perfection. It is, in this way, a metaphor for many things.
The Ouija Board. Invented in Baltimore in 1890 by Elijah Bond, a local attorney who patented a “talking board” and presumably did not anticipate that it would spend the next 135 years terrifying teenagers at slumber parties across the known world. Maryland gave America its most enduring instrument of adolescent supernatural anxiety. We feel this deserves recognition alongside the Star-Spangled Banner. It does not receive it. This is the burden Maryland carries.
The First Dental School in America. The Baltimore College of Dental Surgery, founded in 1840, was the first dental school in the world. Modern dentistry as a formal academic discipline was invented in Baltimore. Every dentist who has ever told you to floss more received a professional education that traces its lineage to a Baltimore institution that has been operating for 185 years. You’re welcome, and also please floss.
First Commercial Ice Cream Factory. Jacob Fussell, a Baltimore milk dealer, opened the first large-scale commercial ice cream factory in the United States in Baltimore in 1851. Before Fussell, ice cream was a luxury for the wealthy. After Fussell, it was an American staple. The birthday party, the summer cone, the Fourth of July sundae. Maryland industrialized joy. And he did it entirely without refrigeration — using natural ice harvested from frozen ponds and rivers in winter and packed in sawdust in icehouses until needed. Maryland was making commercial ice cream for 70 years before anyone on earth had a refrigerator to store it in. We figured it out anyway.
The First Portable Handheld Drill. Black & Decker, founded in Baltimore in 1910, invented the first portable handheld electric drill in 1916. The pistol-grip trigger design they patented is the same basic form factor used by every power drill sold on earth today. Every home improvement project, every contractor’s truck, every DIY weekend warrior owes the basic shape of their most essential tool to two Baltimore men. Every father who has ever received a power drill as a gift has, in a sense, received a piece of Baltimore.
Under Armour. Founded in 1996 by Kevin Plank, a University of Maryland football player tired of his cotton undershirt soaking through during games. He started the company out of his grandmother’s basement and built it into a global athletic apparel brand headquartered in Baltimore. The moisture-wicking performance apparel industry — now worth billions — began because a Maryland football player had a problem with a wet t-shirt. This is how American industry actually works.
“Take Me Home, Country Roads.” John Denver’s most iconic song — officially about West Virginia, blue Ridge Mountains, almost heaven — was inspired by a Maryland road. Songwriters Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert conceived the melody while driving along Clopper Road (now MD Route 117) in Gaithersburg on the way to a family reunion in 1970. The finished song name-checks West Virginia. The creative spark happened in Montgomery County, Maryland. West Virginia has been taking credit for a Maryland road trip for 55 years, and we are only now formally objecting.
The University of Maryland, College Park. One campus, and it gave America: Sergey Brin, who grew up in Prince George’s County and co-founded Google; Kevin Plank, who built Under Armour; Jim Henson, raised in Hyattsville, who created the Muppets — Kermit the Frog is a Maryland product; Larry David, who co-created Seinfeld and created Curb Your Enthusiasm; Connie Chung, raised in Bethesda, one of the first women to anchor a major network evening news broadcast; and Aaron McGruder, who launched The Boondocks comic strip in 350 newspapers while still a student and spent the next two decades being one of the sharpest political satirists in American popular culture. One state school in College Park. Not bad.
Professional Wrestling’s Maryland Caucus. Maryland produced a disproportionate share of the people who defined professional wrestling for a generation. Scott Hall — Razor Ramon, one of the most charismatic performers in WWE history and a founding member of the nWo — grew up in St. Mary’s County. Shane McMahon grew up in Gaithersburg. Stacy Keibler, the Baltimore-born WWE personality turned actress, briefly became the most internationally recognized person from Baltimore who wasn’t Babe Ruth or Edgar Allan Poe. And LA Knight — born Shaun Ricker in Hagerstown — is currently one of the hottest acts in professional wrestling, a crowd-reaction phenomenon whose “Yeah!” has stadiums on their feet. Maryland did not set out to become a wrestling state. And yet.
The Apache Software Foundation. Incorporated in Forest Hill, Maryland, in 1999, the Apache Software Foundation stewards open-source software projects — including the Apache HTTP Server, which at its peak powered more than half of all websites on earth. You have never heard of Forest Hill. Forest Hill helped build the web you are reading this on.
Mike Rowe. Born in Baltimore. Made a career celebrating the dignity of American labor — the pipe fitters, the coal miners, the septic tank technicians — at a moment when prestige television was busy celebrating antiheroes in expensive suits. Dirty Jobs ran for eight seasons. His advocacy for vocational training and skilled trades has probably done more for the American workforce conversation than any policy paper written in the last 20 years. Maryland produced the man who reminded America that the people who keep the lights on deserve some respect.
Mel Kiper Jr. Born in Baltimore. Invented the NFL Draft as a media event, has been analyzing college football prospects with supreme confidence since 1984, and has been wrong about first-round picks with such extraordinary consistency that it has become its own art form. He is beloved anyway. Possibly because of it. Baltimore made him. ESPN gave him a microphone. America has been arguing with him every April for four decades.
Toni Braxton. Born in Severn, Maryland. Seven Grammy Awards. “Un-Break My Heart.” One of the best-selling music artists in American history. Maryland produced her and then watched her become famous everywhere else, which is also a very Maryland thing.
The Blair Witch Project. Filmed in Burkittsville, Maryland in 1999 on a budget of approximately $60,000, it grossed nearly $250 million worldwide and invented the found-footage horror genre that has terrorized multiplex audiences ever since. Three filmmakers went into the woods outside a small Frederick County town and came out with one of the most profitable films ever made. Burkittsville has never quite forgiven them. The woods are still there.
Maryland’s Basketball Factory. At some point, the volume of elite basketball talent produced by this state stops being a coincidence and starts being a civic achievement. Carmelo Anthony, born in Brooklyn but raised in Baltimore, became one of the top ten scorers in NBA history and a ten-time All-Star. Kevin Durant, from Seat Pleasant in Prince George’s County, is a two-time NBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, and by most reasonable arguments one of the three best basketball players of his generation. Sam Cassell, born in Baltimore, won three NBA championships. Steve Francis, from Takoma Park, won NBA Rookie of the Year. Juan Dixon, born in Baltimore, lost both parents to AIDS as a child, won a national championship at the University of Maryland, and played six seasons in the NBA. Muggsy Bogues, born in Baltimore, stood 5 feet 3 inches tall and played 14 seasons in the NBA — the shortest player in league history, and proof that Baltimore will send someone to prove you wrong at whatever scale is available. Josh Hart, newly crowned NBA Champion with the New York Knicks. Reggie Lewis, born in Baltimore, was the captain of the Boston Celtics before dying at 27 in 1993 — one of the most devastating losses in NBA history. And then there is Len Bias — the University of Maryland star who was selected second overall in the 1986 NBA Draft by the Boston Celtics, celebrated with his family, and died of a cocaine overdose two days later. His death so shocked the country that Congress passed the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 within months, reshaping federal drug sentencing policy for decades. Len Bias changed American law from a gym in College Park. Maryland did not set out to become one of the great basketball states in America. The box scores suggest otherwise.
Maryland’s Olympic Royalty. If Maryland’s basketball output is a factory, its Olympic output is a dynasty. Katie Ledecky, from Bethesda, is the greatest female swimmer in the history of the sport — so dominant in distance freestyle events that her margin of victory over world-class competitors is measured in body lengths rather than tenths of seconds. She has won seven Olympic gold medals and counting, and holds or has held every major world record in her events. Dominique Dawes, from Silver Spring, competed in three Olympic Games, won a team gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games, and became one of the most decorated American gymnasts in history. Helen Maroulis, from Rockville, became the first American woman ever to win an Olympic gold medal in wrestling at the 2016 Rio Games, defeating the reigning world champion in the process. And Sugar Ray Leonard — born in Wilmington, North Carolina, raised in Palmer Park, Prince George’s County — won Olympic gold at the 1976 Montreal Games and went on to become a five-division world champion and one of the greatest boxers who ever lived. The Palmer Park rec center, where he learned to fight, still stands. Maryland produced four of the most decorated Olympic athletes in American history. It has never once been given a parade for it.
Paul Rabil and the Lacrosse Question. Lacrosse is not a Maryland invention — it was played by Native Americans long before Europeans arrived. But the modern American game of lacrosse, as a competitive and cultural institution, runs through Maryland so completely that the distinction barely matters. The sport’s college powerhouses, its high school pipeline, its professional infrastructure — Maryland is at the center of all of it. Paul Rabil, from Bethesda, is the most recognizable figure in the sport’s modern era — a dominant midfielder, a co-founder of the Premier Lacrosse League, and the closest thing the game has ever had to a transformational ambassador. He is to lacrosse what Arnold Palmer was to golf: the person who made the broader public aware that the sport existed and was worth watching. Maryland grew him. The sport needed him.
Maryland’s Brand Cabinet. Beyond the institutions and the inventions, Maryland has quietly assembled one of the most distinctive consumer brand identities in America — a collection of products so embedded in regional life that they function less like companies and more like cultural inheritance. McCormick & Company, founded in Baltimore in 1889, is the largest spice and flavoring company in the world. The spice rack in your kitchen is, in significant part, a Baltimore product. Old Bay — already covered — is McCormick’s most famous Maryland child. Berger Cookies, the Baltimore bakery institution since 1835, produces the fudge-topped shortbread cookie that Baltimoreans treat less as a snack and more as a sacrament. National Bohemian Beer — “Natty Boh” — was brewed in Baltimore beginning in 1885 and its one-eyed mustachioed mascot Mr. Boh has been staring down from a neon sign above the Baltimore skyline for generations. It is no longer brewed in Maryland, which remains a source of genuine civic grief. Thrasher’s French Fries, the Ocean City boardwalk institution since 1929, serves fries in a paper cup with apple cider vinegar and Old Bay and no ketchup — ketchup is not offered, ketchup is not discussed, ketchup is not welcome. J.O. Spice, the crab seasoning blend used by serious Maryland steamed crab operations, is the less famous but arguably more important sibling to Old Bay in the Chesapeake seafood canon. Mission BBQ, founded in Glen Burnie in 2011, stops at noon every day to play the national anthem, built its entire brand identity around military and first responder appreciation, and has expanded to dozens of states. Maryland exported patriotism and brisket simultaneously. Jimmy’s Famous Seafood in Baltimore is the self-proclaimed and largely undisputed home of the Maryland crab cake, and has become additionally famous for its social media feuds with PETA, which are their own form of American entertainment. There are so many other great Maryland brands. Maryland’s brands do not merely sell things. They carry a way of life.
Travis Pastrana (Annapolis), doing things on motorcycles that should not be physically possible. Scott Van Pelt (Brookeville), who turned a late-night SportsCenter into the most watchable hour in sports television. Tori Amos (raised in Rockville), one of the most distinctive voices in alternative music. Joan Jett (also raised in Rockville), who formed The Runaways at 15, recorded “I Love Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame — Rockville apparently being where Maryland keeps its rock stars. JC Chasez (Bowie), *NSYNC, a hundred million records. Goldie Hawn’s Takoma Park. Martin Lawrence’s Landover. The list does not end. It just keeps going, the way Maryland does — quietly, productively, without nearly enough credit.
For the full accounting, the Wikipedia list of people from Maryland is long, humbling, and highly recommended: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_people_from_Maryland
Maryland: We gave you the national anthem, the capital, the bottle cap, the power drill, the telegraph, the dental school, the Muppets, Seinfeld, Google, Tupac, half the internet, professional wrestling, ice cream, Old Bay, the Ouija board, and the Blair Witch. Also “Take Me Home, Country Roads” — which is technically about West Virginia, but we know what we know. You’re welcome, America. We’re sorry about the Blair Witch.
MDBayNews is an independent Maryland civic accountability publication. For story tips, corrections, and correspondence: mdbaynews.com
Discover more from Maryland Bay News
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.