Harry Streett Baldwin
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Maryland's 2nd district
In office
1943–1947
Preceded byWilliam Purington Cole Jr.
Succeeded byHugh A. Meade
Member of the Maryland House of Delegates from the 11th District
In office
1931–1935
Personal details
Born(1894-08-21)August 21, 1894
Baldwin, Maryland, U.S.
DiedOctober 19, 1952(1952-10-19) (aged 58)
Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.
Resting placeChestnut Grove Cemetery
Political partyDemocratic
Spouse
Mary Virginia Smith
​
(m. 1916)​
Children5
EducationMaryland Agricultural College
Occupation
  • Politician
  • farmer

Harry Streett Baldwin (August 21, 1894 – October 19, 1952) was a U.S. Congressman who represented the second congressional district of Maryland from 1943 to 1947.

Early life

Harry Streett Baldwin was born on August 21, 1894, at the family farm in Baldwin, Baltimore County, Maryland.[1][2] His father was a farmer and a canner.[1] He attended a one-room schoolhouse.[2] Baldwin graduated Towson High School in 1912.[1][2] He attended the Maryland Agricultural College, but left school after his father died from an accident at the cannery.[1][2]

He was a descendant of Lieutenant Colonel John Streett.[1][2]

Career

Baldwin ran dairy farms for seven years before turning to truck farming.[1][2] He then specialized in farming green beans.[1] He turned to politics after getting involved locally in the 1928 presidential campaign of Al Smith, and the local Democratic headquarters considering him as a candidate for the Maryland House of Delegates.[1]

He represented Baltimore County's 11th district in the Maryland House of Delegates from 1931 to 1935.[1][2] Baldwin served on Baltimore County's Board of County Commissioners from 1934 to 1942.[3] He led a reform drive to modernize the police department, fire, sewage, garbage disposal, and purchasing operations in the county. Opposition in the board to his reform plan led him to run for president of the board in 1938. His campaign was successful and he served as president from 1938 to 1942.[1][4]

Baldwin was elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-eighth and 79th United States Congress, serving from January 3, 1943, to January 3, 1947.[1][4] He was not a candidate for renomination in 1946, but was an unsuccessful Democratic candidate for the Maryland gubernatorial nomination against Preston Lane and Millard Tawes in the 1946 election.[1][2] After his tenure in Congress, he resumed agricultural pursuits, and was again elected to the board of county commissioners in 1950 and was serving as chairman at the time of death.[1][3]

Personal life

Baldwin married Mary Virginia Smith of Sunnybrook, Maryland in 1916.[1][2] Together, they had four sons and one daughter:[1]

Death

Baldwin suffered an intracerebral hemorrhage on October 9, 1952, at his home in Hydes.[5] He died shortly after on October 19, 1952, at Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore.[5] He is interred in Chestnut Grove Cemetery of Jacksonville, Maryland.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "H.S. Baldwin is Dead at 58". The Baltimore Sun. October 20, 1952. p. 18 – via Newspapers.com.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i O'Neill, Thomas M. (May 26, 1946). "Profile of a Candidate - H. Streett Baldwin". The Baltimore Sun. p. A1. Retrieved May 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  3. ^ a b "BALDWIN, Harry Streett". history.house.gov. Retrieved May 8, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c d O'Neill, Thomas M. (May 26, 1946). "Profile of a Candidate - H. Streett Baldwin". The Baltimore Sun. p. A3. Retrieved May 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ a b "H. S. Baldwin, County Board Head, is Dead". The Baltimore Sun. October 20, 1952. p. 30. Retrieved May 8, 2021 – via Newspapers.com.
U.S. House of Representatives Preceded byWilliam Purington Cole Jr. U.S. Congressman from the 2nd district of Maryland 1943–1947 Succeeded byHugh A. Meade
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